Trend Consuming Shouldn’t Be Your Personality By Kayla Doria Ward

I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve bought more Hello Kitty merchandise than I’ve needed over the years. But I’ll also admit I didn't buy the promotional Hello Kitty Spam and keep the tin as a decoration. I wish that were a joke, but I’ve seen a concerning amount of reselling TikToks doing this… 

Trend consuming has millions of victims each year. Whether it's for food, movies, or brand collabs, strategic marketing has made it harder for the average consumer to avoid spending extra on cheap products. From over 100 brand collabs with the Barbie movie to movies collaborating with fast-food chains. 

Most of the trending or popular consumption trends will end up in a landfill or take a pit stop at your local TJ Maxx. I’ve gathered a few that will hopefully be ridiculous enough to shock you out of the consumption coma. 

Pop-Up Events

A recent Rhode pop-up was the subject of controversy, with some influencers even captioning the event as “my first public humiliation ritual” and “one of the worst days of my life”. 

Rhode, or Rhode Skin, is the trending skincare and beauty brand founded by Hailey Rhode Bieber. She recently had a pop-up for her Summer ‘26 collection in Newport, Rhode Island. The collection includes five newly released items. However, they are available on the Rhode website, so why are people waiting 10 plus hours for this pop-up? 

According to the Rhode website, limited-edition Peptide Lip Tints, Snap-On Lip Cases, and Terry Bags will also be available for purchase. Along with a Hoodie designed for each specific location, available only at the pop-up. Right, right, so we’re still just waiting in lines of 700+ attendees for a hoodie? 

Many attendees took to social media to express their frustration with the event. Claims range from “I got in line a little before 9:00 a.m. and didn’t check out with my products until 7:45 p.m” to “you should have enough product so that every person who waited all day for a brand they love has at least the opportunity to purchase what they came for”. 

While the frustration is valid, the other side of the spectrum argues for common sense. The comment section of influencer attendees is flooded with suggestions to order online or in-store, research the Rhode website/social media prior for information, and the expectation of large crowds due to the brand's popularity. 

Personally, I’ve got a foot in each camp. Yes, a billion-dollar company should have expected and prepared better for a massive turnout. But, you do have to step out of the consumer bubble and think, Why? Why am I standing in line for a hoodie? Will I actually use this, or will it end up in the bottomless pit of other branded hoodies? 

If you want to support and show your love for Rhode, buy and use the actual products. In fact, some customers who bought the Terry bag online are frustrated with its quality and availability, given the collection's trendiness. So if you find a product of good quality and longevity, that's a better testimony than buying an exclusive, popular item. 

You don’t need to be a walking billboard. That is when you cross the line between a customer and a trend consumer. Sure, some resellers and influencers will earn money just attending and filming the event. But the average consumer like you and I will have been tricked by trends and marketing once again. And the trophies for most consuming attendees were sunburn and free water/juice.

Another popular, slightly less controversial pop-up event was Wendy’s Los Angeles “drive-thru takeover” in collaboration with Illumination's Minions and Monsters movie. 

The themed menu based on the new movie is available at most Wendy’s locations. The exclusive consumer items include six themed toys and four blind-box collectibles. While the theatrics of the pop-up drive-thru were impressive, it wasn’t impressive enough to justify four-plus hours sitting in a line. 

The payout for waiting in a comically long drive-thru line for most was a choice of burger or chicken sandwich, fries, a drink, and the exclusive banana Frosty swirl. With the meal, you also got your chance at one of the four exclusive blind boxes. As you can see in the photo above, the “collectible” is about as tall as a sad burger and is made of cheap plastic. And where do we usually see these cheap fast-food toys next? A garage sale or trash bag. 

Don’t go out of your way to contribute to that garage sale. If you decided to go to Wendy’s after months of forgetting about the fast food chain, then the marketing worked once again. You may remember the McDonald’s and Minecraft movie collaboration. I bet you know someone who bought meal after meal to collect all 12 toys. Do you know where those toys are now? When is the last time you felt you needed to buy or collect even one? I am begging you to get a regular meal because you’re hungry, not because you have the urge to collect a yellow team to steal the moon. 

Movie Marketing and Collaborations 

In past years, we’ve seen some of the biggest brand-movie collaborations. In 2023, the Barbie movie collaborated with over 100 brands globally, and officially registered over 2,000 Barbie-related products and merchandise. We saw this same phenomenon with Wicked and Wicked: For Good in 2024 and 2025. 

While the Barbie movie was getting promoted, tons of products were plastered with her signature pink as well. Pasta shapes, fast fashion brands, luggage, and even a “Barbie Dreamhouse Xbox”. You may have seen soda brands in your local grocery store partnering with the movie. 

The biggest issue with this is the novelty of it all. This kind of marketing and collaboration taps into consumers' strongest urge. Once it's gone, it's gone forever. If you’re a longtime fan or even collector of Barbie, some of these collaborations might be worth the investment. However, getting a $30 t-shirt made from a spandex or polyester blend should not be a collector's item. 

The same issue occurred when the Wicked movie took over stores, from grocery stores to clothing stores. You couldn’t dodge Glinda’s pink or Elphaba’s green, even in your own home. And stores couldn’t either. Some of the most ridiculous collaborations for this movie rollout are the same as Barbie's, but they extended the promotion to Hovis bread, Cascade dishwasher tablets, and Swiffer.

Neither collaboration was safe from cheap plastic surprise boxes or slimes, either. The same formula that follows the Wendy’s and Minion collaboration applies here, but at a much larger scale. High-budget movies like Wicked and Barbie have an advantage due to greater coverage in retail stores and on sites. So the question remains: if you’ve purchased Wicked or Barbie merchandise, do you use it, or do you know where that item is now? 

Company Collaborations 

Tote bags are a great example of something that many companies try to cash in on while forgetting their purchase. Just like reusable water bottles, tote bags are supposed ot be used in lieu of plastic. So, why do people feel the need to buy dozens with different designs? 

Trader Joe's released a limited-time Striped Mini Canvas Tote Bag. The tote measures 13 inches long, 11 inches tall, and 6 inches wide. More often than not, a recurring customer at Trader Joe's is shopping for a week or a few days' supply of food and household items. This tote can barely hold a smaller laptop and a full-sized water bottle. This was likely more of a novelty or “aesthetic” item. This means consumers shouldn’t be buying more than one, maybe two.

In-store, these totes were sold for $2.99 each. If you look for one of the four totes on reseller websites like Poshmark or eBay, it can cost between $14 and $50. If you are trying to get a bang out of your buck while avoiding plastic, don’t spend $50 on a mini bag. Just because it has a trending pattern or logo doesn’t mean the price should go up or the quality should go down. 

This leads us to another company-and-brand collab: Target x Parke. Parke is a loungewear and apparel brand launched in 2022 by Chelsea Parke Kramer. Many credit her with building a multimillion-dollar company by relying solely on scarcity marketing and influencer word-of-mouth. Since its launch, many customers and consumers have been split on the brand's overall quality. Some say a $130 “Gildan dupe” crewneck with the company's logo is nothing more than successful influencing. Others praise the quality and simplicity of the designs. The recent collaboration with Target reignited this conversation due to the design and price point of the “Women's Mockneck Pullover Sweatshirt”. 

I think the harsh truth is, even if the quality “feels” or “looks” great, it’s still just a trend. My middle school’s dress code didn’t allow for much self-expression, beyond hoodies and crewnecks with logos. So every semester, there would be a new, trending branded sweatshirt. You would see $70 hoodies worn religiously for a couple of weeks, then never seen again.

Parke just announced a collaboration with Dunkin that includes sweatshirts, cups, and hair accessories. But the only “design” being used is the Parke logo and signature Dunkin' colors. If I had to bet, I’d bet that once consumers stop debating the hype around Parke, it will lose consumers' interest and become another Thrasher or Lyrical Lemonade hoodie in the back of the closet. 

Consuming vs Collecting vs Community 

I’ve been very critical of some cherished fandoms and communities in this article. However, I’m here to clarify the difference between consuming an item for a trend, collecting an item as a fan, and attending these pop-ups and retail stores for the sense of community they create. Let me explain. 

At this point, it should be obvious what trend consuming is. Buying an overpriced piece of plastic or material that has a popular, trending logo or face slapped on it. Before this item was trending, you had no idea what it was. Or if you did, you didn’t take much time to explore the fandom or community around it. It was simply just another word or logo. This is the root issue in this category of consumption, as it contributes to numerous harmful impacts on the environment, labor exploitation, and, in some cases, health hazards. 

To sum it all up, the only win for you as a consumer is the flash of dopamine you receive from the consumption. In the end, it still comes out negative since the hit is disrupting your nervous system and bank account. 

As a fan of numerous communities, my living space and daily media consumption are directly tied to these interests. It’s nearly impossible to wake up and walk to my kitchen without seeing some sort of K-Pop or Five Nights at Freddy's memorabilia. For others, Wicked or the Minions could be something they can’t walk to their kitchen without seeing. As a fan, you have to be careful of overconsumption, such as the Hello Kitty-branded Spam I mentioned earlier. But if you buy a few quality items you’ll use or display because of a genuine interest in the brand, you can limit the trend-consumer mindset. 

This also leads to the community. Many people document themselves in line for Pokémon card restocks, or earlier in the 2000s, video game releases. Yes, some intend to overconsume or resell. But the beauty of community in physical spaces is meeting like-minded fans. Sitting in line for hours or camping out overnight is not ideal. Add some community, and you could end up meeting a friend or two and bonding over the experience and interest. While some influencers and fans may be criticized online for experiences such as the Rhode pop-up, try to keep in mind that some may be going to find community rather than product.