Power, Packaging & Permission: What Defined April’s Cultural Shift

As spring bloomed, so did a new wave of debates about representation, power, ethics, and who really holds influence in 2025. From space missions to sauce sachets, we’re tracking the bold, the misguided, and the moments that got everyone talking.

1. Consent-Led > Content-Led in Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is entering a new era, where the focus is shifting from just creating engaging content to respecting the rights and consent of the creators. In a recent case, Revolve is facing a $50M class action lawsuit for allegedly failing to disclose paid partnerships, while in a separate incident, TikToker @ariellelorre called out a skincare brand for using an AI-generated video of her without consent. The brand blamed an agency, but the damage was done, sparking conversations around image rights, accountability, and the legal implications of influencer exploitation.

These cases signal what’s ahead as the demand for authenticity is now matched with legal structures designed to protect consumers and creators.

Disruptor Factor: The future of influence is consent-led, not content-led. Respect creators’ rights. Build transparent vetting and processes. The legal and ethical frameworks around influencer marketing are tightening, and brands that don’t evolve will find themselves on the wrong side of both creators and consumers.

2. Coachella’s Evolution from #Spon to Ownership

This year’s Coachella made it clear the influencer-brand model is evolving. Influencers weren’t just featuring in campaigns, they were engineering their own. From the Kardashian clan taking over with individual pop-ups to creator-run collectives, the shift was undeniable. The old playbook—brands leading, influencers amplifying is being replaced by a new structure with creators shaping experiences, building ecosystems, and inviting brands in on their terms.

Coachella isn’t just a stage for content anymore it’s a canvas for creative ownership.

Disruptor Factor: Don’t treat creators as billboards—treat them as brand architects. The next era of influence belongs to those who co-create, co-own, and build cultural capital from the inside out.

3. Symbolic Representation… Fails to Land

Blue Origin sent an all-female crew into space - activists, journalists, pop stars, and engineers—in a mission positioned as a historic milestone. It was designed to inspire. Instead, it triggered a wave of criticism - from the climate implications of the launch to the privilege of those chosen, many questioned its relevance and timing.

It’s a reminder that visibility alone isn’t enough. When representation lacks intersectionality, context, and nuance, even well-meaning gestures can feel hollow.

Disruptor Factor: Just because it looks like progress doesn’t mean it lands as impact. Ask not only who’s visible, but what context is missing and who’s still excluded?

4. Friction as fuel for cultural creativity.

Heinz Brazil turned a universal frustration—impossible-to-open sauce sachets—into a playful, culturally sharp moment: gold tooth grillz designed to tear them open with ease.

Crafted for a market known for bold, irreverent storytelling, the campaign resonated locally, blending humour with real consumer insight. But when the creative crossed borders, it landed less smoothly. Western audiences, already critical of Heinz’s recent ads, called it tone-deaf. The takeaway? What works brilliantly in one market can falter in another.

Still, it’s a lesson in local-first creativity: Brazil remains one of the few markets where daring work thrives.

Disruptor Factor: Don’t globalise what only works locally. Insight-led storytelling lands when it speaks the language of the culture it’s in.

5. Should Womanhood Be a Trend?

Remember," Very Mindful", "Very Demure" and soft vibes?... Last year’s aesthetic trend has evolved. Now, the tradwife and hyper-feminine aesthetic is gaining traction, presenting a new visual ideal: perfectly polished, quietly composed, wrapped in nostalgic femininity—dainty and slimmed down into a palatable mould.

A mould that’s squeezed size inclusivity out of the frame. According to the Vogue Business Autumn/Winter 2025 size inclusivity report, just 0.3% of the 8,703 looks across 198 shows were plus-size (US 14+), down from an already dismal 0.8% last season.

It’s a familiar cycle: visibility dressed as progress, diversity reduced to trend, and identity flattened into aesthetic. But womanhood isn’t one thing. It never was. And it’s time the systems—and the language—reflected that.

Disruptor Factor: If your inclusion strategy can vanish in a season, it was never strategy.

You can’t reflect everyone at once—but you can build in difference. Real representation isn’t seasonal. It’s systemic.