Continued from Flux Trend’s annual 6 Trends of 2018…

Socio-cultural.

Woke to Wide Awake

Issues of identity – specifically those of race, gender and culture – played a critical role in shaping pivotal social movements in 2017. Joined by the #metoo viral campaign at the end of the year, these movements will ensure that brands, businesses, and politicians tread carefully as they navigate a changed socio-cultural landscape of what is, and is not, acceptable. In 2018, additional (and more complex) undercurrents of gender fluidity and gender neutrality will come to the fore, as seen with the banning of gender stereotype advertising in the UK. As brands shift their focus to Generation Z, they will need to be hyper aware of Gen Z’s broad yet defiant stance on identity.

By Dion Chang and Khumo Theko

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Image credit: CSICOP