Your V-Day Date Delivered
2-Day Date Shipping
Forget Hinge and Bumble. The "Everything Store" is now shipping its latest sku: your next date. Or is it?
This past week Amazon Dating debuted, a parody of the e-commerce behemoth, mimicking its UX and UI so well that many were duped. While the site is still up and running, visitors can browse "Hot Singles Near You", add them to their cart, and select next day shipping. Teddy, Amazon Dating's current highest rated bachelor, is 87, has 52,336 ratings and will watch the sunset with you.
While Amazon Dating's viral traction speaks to the dissatisfaction of today's current available swipe-apps, the concept may hit too close to home. The fictitious site offered a sign-up form for anyone to be included, and so far has over 10,000 applicants. Ani Acopian, "CEO of Amazon Dating" and Suzy Shinn, “COO”, shared that the site will be updated with new profiles in small batches.
Amazon Dating reflects the trends of Defictionalization and Post-Truth: As we attempt to bring the fictional to life, the line between fantasy and reality blur. Further, media-literacy is an epidemic as we continue to mistake parody for truth. “Amazon’s cultural impact is so apparent in this signal because we question if it’s possible, joking or not, to deliver people, not just groceries, to your door. That coupled with people’s willingness and interest in submitting themselves into this fake dating marketplace and being part of the parody speaks to the evolution of how we think about meeting people in-person and online,” said Brendan Shaughnessy, senior cultural strategist.
The media has already reported the story as an internal Amazon play in the lead up to Valentine's Day, and not as the independent internet experiment that it actually was. This is a wakeup call that a single actor, benevolent or malicious, can now masterfully hijack a brand… even the largest in the world.
Puzzling Tensions of Puzzles
Instagram and TikTok have seen an explosion of puzzle posts on, as thousands look to jigsaws as a solo or social therapeutic release. On TikTok, #jigsawpuzzle already generated over one million views, and on Instagram, the same hashtag has over 220,000 posts. While money shot is often the placement of the last piece, this movement tracks to our Elements of Culture: Digital Detox, Refreshed Classics and Mind Management.
What's worth unpacking here is the tension of ‘pace’. Social media is fast and evolving, completing a puzzle is innately slow and tedious. The synthesis and translation of these multi-daylong efforts into 10 easily digestible seconds is as satisfying as unsettling. “Unlike finishing a Rubik’s Cube or cup stacking, which always had an element of ‘fastest finish’ to them, jigsaw puzzles are an intentionally slow, deliberate, even cathartic or meditative process. Placing them in the fast, bite-sized context of Instagram and TikTok reveals a juxtaposition between our need to share our accomplishments, and the lengthy processes it takes to achieve them,” said Kevin Echavarria, senior cultural strategist.
Similar to E-sports, spectating may be the path of least resistance to "participation”. However, while we may experience some semblance of relief and accomplishment, neuroscience may question whether this experience is merely synthetic and in fact unrivaled to picking up a puzzle ourselves.
The greatest irony in this craze is that technology is helping puzzlers find each other and broadcast their pieces to millions, which signals a motivation and appreciation of disconnecting with technology. Can we bring ourselves to truly disconnect from social media without sharing our disconnection on social media or can we disconnect through proxy?
The Burden of Activism
In a special briefing on campus activism, we lauded the energy and moral imperative of the students today across campuses. The theme of our discussion, however, was the unspoken role of the university.
As college is a place and period of transition from adolescence to adulthood, and from supervision to freedom, there is often confusion as to how hands-on or hands-off an institution should be when it comes to their students organizing and taking a stand. Institutions today are confused as to whether they adopt a proactive or reactive approach.
Campus activism may not be new, but what is new is the presence of safe spaces, trigger warnings and canceled guest speakers now in conjunction with campus campaigns. This was confirmed by our cultural intelligence system Q™, which noted the growth of Squealing over the next two years. With the predicted continuation of intense debate, the college's responsibility only becomes that much more important.
“There needs to be a re-branding of higher-education," said Olivia McLean, director of cultural strategy. While institutions were once able to promise fruitful employment after providing a set of skills and knowledge to students, this is no longer the case. There must be a refocus on teaching students how to be life-long learners. And as such, teach them how to activate against their values while tactfully addressing the other side of their belief.
Matt is a Director of Cultural Strategy at sparks & honey. When not unpacking cultural contexts, drivers and tensions, he’s cycling, in downward dog or building his startup PRSNL Branding.