Brands try to reflect culture, and in 2025, culture was prone to getting riled up. Don\u2019t believe it? Just look at Oxford University Press\u2019s word of the year. That\u2019s right. It\u2019s \u201cragebait.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout the year, brands like American Eagle, Skims, e.l.f., Dunkin\u2019, Swatch, and The Ordinary, to name a few, made people very mad\u2014so mad, in fact, that those brands got a lot of attention. And, as marketers previously told us, in the age of the attention economy, any kind of engagement\u2014even angry engagement\u2014can sometimes be worthwhile.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrands are desperate right now,\u201d Sam Ogborn, a marketing strategist and consultant, told Marketing Brew. \u201cBrands have recognized that they can game the system, the system being the algorithm, to get attention, and free attention at that. The way that they\u2019ve learned they can get this cheap, easy, free attention is through ragebait, but it\u2019s fleeting and it\u2019s volatile.\u201d<\/p>\n
The surge in ragebait comes at a time when getting consumer attention has only gotten harder. For years, though, algorithms have favored rage, and the ripple effects of how the algorithms work have seemingly trickled into every facet of culture. But the year of ragebait marketing isn\u2019t as simple as it may seem.<\/p>\n
This year, some marketers found that even efforts that had been routine, like rebrands, could land them smack in the middle of the culture wars. What\u2019s more, it\u2019s harder to know what\u2019s real: As Marketing Brew previously reported, some of the rage that brands like Cracker Barrel and Tylenol faced this year was found by researchers to be manufactured or boosted by bot traffic. Even Taylor Swift may have faced a coordinated online attack this year, per Rolling Stone.<\/p>\n
Intentional or not?<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn the case of American Eagle\u2019s \u201cSydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,\u201d arguably the most-talked-about ragebait ad campaign of the year, the ads starring the actor dominated the headlines for nearly half the year. In November, Sweeney riled the internet up once again for her reaction to the controversy: \u201cI did a jean ad,\u201d she said in response to a question from a GQ editor about the campaign. In early December, the actor spoke to People with a more direct response, where she clarified that she was opposed to \u201chate and divisiveness\u201d and said that she had come to realize her silence only exacerbated the issue.<\/p>\n
\n\nGet marketing news you’ll actually want to read<\/h5>\n
Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Douglas Brundage, founder and CEO of brand studio Kingsland, said he sees many of the campaigns at the center of the ragebait marketing conversation as \u201cunintentional\u201d examples. If brands don\u2019t understand or know how to execute the cultural marketing they seek to do, he said, it could easily be read as brands intentionally angering their audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think brands need to learn to actually read culture, which means understanding things before they happen or when they\u2019re still nascent,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of brands are very reactive, and so they probably have put campaigns out there that they didn\u2019t expect people to get upset about, and then pivot to crisis management mode, which, in my mind, creates even more opportunities to mess up your brand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Understanding culture<\/strong><\/h2>\nReading the culture is a key part of any marketer\u2019s job, but there\u2019s risk if brands don\u2019t make time and resources to do it, Lola Bakare, a CMO advisor, inclusive marketing strategist, and owner of marketing consultancy be\/co, previously told Marketing Brew.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarketers are being held responsible for the importance of having a high level of cultural literacy, which has always and should always have been part of the job,\u201d Bakare said at the time. \u201cA lot of people have not nurtured and invested in that education, so they\u2019re falling short.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regardless of marketers\u2019 intent or investment, the proliferation of ragebait in marketing may have some marketers more skittish about their campaigns, afraid to take a stance or ruffle any customers\u2019 feathers with something provocative or spending too much time worrying about how it could be received in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s created a marketing industry that\u2019s afraid,\u201d Eunice Shin, founder and CEO of brand consultancy The Elume Group, said. \u201cI think in many cases, fear and being super cautious is holding back creativity and unique identity and a voice that could be important for brands\u2026what it\u2019s caused is this timidity that I think is hurting marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Get marketing news you’ll actually want to read<\/h5>\n
Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Douglas Brundage, founder and CEO of brand studio Kingsland, said he sees many of the campaigns at the center of the ragebait marketing conversation as \u201cunintentional\u201d examples. If brands don\u2019t understand or know how to execute the cultural marketing they seek to do, he said, it could easily be read as brands intentionally angering their audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think brands need to learn to actually read culture, which means understanding things before they happen or when they\u2019re still nascent,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of brands are very reactive, and so they probably have put campaigns out there that they didn\u2019t expect people to get upset about, and then pivot to crisis management mode, which, in my mind, creates even more opportunities to mess up your brand.\u201d<\/p>\n