Why are some consumers suffering from wellness burnout? How will International Women’s Day be marked in a climate of anti-DEI sentiment? And how are cozy hobbies offering escape and relief in challenging times?
Below we explore three topics on our radar this month and their impact on consumers. By scanning the headlines, keeping tabs on social media conversations and tuning into the zeitgeist, we connect the dots between our trends and the wider world so that you can make sense of what’s happening now and what it means for you.
1. The rise of wellness burnout
What’s happening?
In recent years, the wellness industry has become a cultural force. But while wellness is intended to promote balance and health, some consumers are finding that the constant pressure to self-optimize is causing stress, exhaustion and mental fatigue – aka wellness burnout.
Consumers are sharing their experiences of wellness burnout on social media platforms such as Reddit and Instagram, using hashtags including #wellnessburnout and #thedarksideofwellness. Common topics include the overwhelming nature of wellness expectations, and the guilt felt at not following wellness habits or reaching specific goals. Some influencers are also acknowledging the phenomenon, such as self-awareness and mindfulness coach Caroline Zwickson (@carozwickson).
We have been tracking signals of wellness burnout for some time; for example, we wrote about the emergence of orthosomnia, “the obsessive pursuit of optimal sleep metrics based on fitness tracker or mobile phone app data,” in 2023. Our trend Personal Pace, which emerged in the post-COVID-19 environment, explores how consumers are reassessing their priorities, often in favor of slowing down and scaling back. And in our Trending 2024 report we highlighted the brewing backlash against the wellness industry, predicting that consumers would opt out of the pressures of health optimization and turn to intuitive living instead.
Brands are recognizing the phenomenon too. Lululemon’s Global Wellbeing Report released in late 2024 found that “the constant pressure to improve our wellbeing is actually making us less well”. 61% of respondents they surveyed reported feeling “pressure from others and society to support their wellbeing in specific ways”. Virgin Active launched a campaign in 2024 asking consumers to “Leave the Cult, Join the Club”, mocking some of the more toxic elements of the fitness industry, including fakefluencers and scams. And in February 2025, running brand On launched its global Soft Wins campaign featuring Sesame Street’s Elmo, designed to remind runners to be less hard on themselves and find the fun in running. As explained by the brand’s CMO Alex Griffin, “As a performance-driven brand, we wanted to challenge the idea that success in running is defined by intensity alone…encouraging runners to embrace self-compassion, community and personal growth”.
One contributing factor to wellness burnout is an overload of information, much of which is conflicting or confusing. As per Atmos, wellness culture has become “a breeding ground for misinformation”. And wellness is becoming increasingly politicized – especially in the US, where politicians such as Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have made misleading claims about topics including vaccine safety and fluoride in drinking water.
Actions for brands:
Alert consumers to the dark side of wellness. Wellness fads aren’t just overwhelming – in some cases, they’re even causing real physical harm. For example, the US has seen a rise in supplement-related liver failure. And in early 2025, a man following the carnivore diet sought medical attention after he noticed yellow nodules on his hands, feet and elbows – a sign that cholesterol was leaking from his body.
Rewrite the wellness narrative to be more forgiving – across all sectors. As consumers become increasingly wary of wellness fads and the pressure to constantly self-improve, brands need to rethink their strategies. Consider how you can lead the way in redefining wellness – embracing imperfection, supporting rest, advocating for health equity and reframing success as balance rather than achievement. And as teen wellness offerings and influencers become more visible, it will become even more important to shift towards more sustainable approaches to health and wellness, to protect future generations from wellness burnout. Other sectors such as beauty and personal care are also feeling the effects of wellness burnout, with things like blue light and pollution adding to consumers’ already long list of skincare concerns. Across industries, brands should aim to relieve the pressure consumers may feel to be or own “the best”, encouraging them to accept who they are and what they have rather than continually upgrading.
2. Slow hobbies are growing fast
What’s happening?
Despite the arrival of spring in the Northern Hemisphere later this month, consumers will continue enjoying a season of “cozy hobbies” – which have less to do with staying warm in winter weather and more to do with enjoying a slower pace of life. Activities like knitting, baking and journaling keep consumers engaged without demanding high levels of energy. Much like how a low-impact workout is still beneficial for fitness routines, cozy hobbies are seen as valuable to overall entertainment and even identity. Indeed, nearly half (47%) of global consumers say their leisure pursuits are important to their sense of personal identity (source: Foresight Factory, 2024). Embracing cozy hobbies is also being used as a way to take a break from the cycle of personal optimization that’s leading to the wellness burnout explored above.
The prioritization of slower activities has gone viral on TikTok as an aspect of “grandmacore”, which is largely made up of Gen Z and Millennial women seeking out facets of life that are typically associated with senior citizens. As an aesthetic this includes things like lace doilies, florals and vintage dishes; the activity angle includes thrifting, gardening and embroidery. Influencers in this space – including Kentucky-based @humblehomeky, who has more than 92,000 followers – are sharing their inviting interiors and their favorite cozy hobbies.
Whether they consider themselves followers of the grandma lifestyle or not, the majority of consumers do consider themselves fans of hobbies and crafts; one-quarter globally even say they are super fans (source: Foresight Factory, 2024).
Another factor driving the popularity of cozy hobbies is fatigue with social media; rather than feeling stimulated, the sameness of scrolling is leading consumers to feel more bored. Rapid switching between content is proving to be less than satisfying, leading people to seek alternative pastimes. The cozy hobby of “slow TV” offers an antidote by focusing on long-form content. Slow TV is the concept of watching something happen at the rate it is actually experienced, partly for entertainment and partly for relaxation – for instance a train journey, sheep grazing in a meadow or the famous fireplace scene that Netflix offers during the holidays.
Actions for brands:
Support consumers’ desire for simple pleasures and low-stakes pastimes. Doing puzzles and baking bread harkens back to the early days of the pandemic when lockdowns prevented consumers from pursuing hobbies outside of the home. Returning to these safe hobbies may also be a way to counteract the social and political unrest presently felt in many parts of the world.
3. Will this be the last International Women’s Day?
What’s happening?
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day on March 8th is “Accelerate Action”, a call for people to take swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality. It comes at a time when many are questioning the future of progressive social values such as women’s rights, as the Trump administration continues to roll back Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies, causing some big brands to follow suit.
In mid-February, Google courted controversy when it removed references to Black History Month (February) from its Calendar app. It also got rid of Pride Month (June) and Women’s History Month (March), claiming that maintaining such a broad list of cultural events and holidays was “not scalable or sustainable”. But critics assert that this change was made to comply with President Trump’s executive order to curb DEI in the US government and its federal contractors, one of which is Google. For example, the company also rescinded its commitment to hiring more leaders from underrepresented groups, and it has renamed landmarks like Denali (now called Mount McKinley) and the Gulf of Mexico (now called the Gulf of America) in its Maps app, in accordance with Trump’s demands. Meta, McDonald’s, Target and more are also making sweeping changes.
Institutions are also starting to heed these calls. Grand View University in Iowa canceled its planned International Women’s Day activities after the US Department of Education told academic institutions to remove DEI policies within two weeks or risk funding cuts. These kinds of changes beg the question of whether holidays celebrating marginalized groups are at risk of being canceled altogether, at least in the US.
This shift may have been accelerated by the Trump administration, but we were already starting to see signs of polarization around the topics of DEI and feminism well before he took office. And our latest data shows that young men and women in the US remain strikingly divided over the impact of feminism on society: men aged 16-29 are twice as likely as women of the same age to say that it has a negative impact overall (source: Foresight Factory, 2025). Surveys in other markets seem to confirm this divide, with young men in Norway and Germany, for example, significantly more likely than women to vote for right-wing parties.
Social media analysis shows, however, that posts about International Women’s Day in the past month are still associated with positive words like “power”, “action” and “equality”. And already, a number of brands are marking the day with initiatives celebrating women. In the UK, Manchester City football club is looking to inspire the next generation of female athletes by partnering with Buy Women Built, an organization aiming to shine a light on products created by women. In China, L’Oreal has launched a podcast series discussing the lived experiences of real women around the country, with the theme “It’s OK, every step was worth it”, alongside a livestream on Weibo and Rednote. And LEGO has challenged consumers to build something out of LEGO bricks that expresses what the day means to them. “You could explore themes of solidarity, empowerment or strength in numbers. Or create a build about lifting others up, speaking up or being heard,” reads the website. “Whatever means most to you, we would love to see you interpret it in brick form.”
Actions for brands:
Don’t forget to consider the counter forces within trends. Society’s understanding of gender has evolved in recent years, with many consumers questioning traditional gender roles and accepting a more diverse range of gender expressions. But we also acknowledge that there are tensions within this theme as some sections of society push against such developments. Examples include the so-called tradwife movement and those who hold gender-critical beliefs. For brands developing messaging around such issues, it’s important to be aware of cultural, regional and audience nuances, and avoid targeting consumers who may not subscribe to these attitudes.
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These signals are part of a longer report published on Collision, our dynamic trends intelligence platform. Members get access to these reports at the beginning of every month, so they always have a finger on the pulse of consumers and culture. If you’re interested in learning more about Collision and how the platform can make a difference to your business, get in touch today.
