How to Kill a Consumer Brand with a Single Scan

All it took was one TikTok showing my 14 year old daughter how she could use the Yuka.io app to identify toxicity in hair products.

Oh, the disappointment of standing in Blue Mercury to discover the product she had purchased at the salon at her last hair appointment was a 40/100.

Not good. On the other hand, I was kind of happy not buying an over priced hair mask for a kid who has perfectly healthy hair.

So, we went across the street to check out another shop with more brands. No luck there either. Bummer for her. Not for me.

And then finally we landed at the grocery store, where we scanned several hair brands, and I became slightly obsessed with asking her to scan products that were positioned as “clean and pure”.

We ended up buying a niche, independent product that cost far less than any of the CPG brands.

Assuming Gen Z will operate with Eyes Wide Shut is not a viable strategy.

Gen Z will use apps like Boomers used Consumer Reports. With two key differences. One is scale due to social media. And two, Boomer adults who wanted to be informed read Consumer Reports. This was a limited, contained segment of people.

In the case of Gen Z they are in the formative, adolescent stage of life, meaning that this instant shift in purchase choice (like my daughter’s) will have a profound impact on their longterm buying behavior, which will ultimately force CPG companies to position their products as being hype-free.