TR.BIZ: 7.16.2026
From a summer of shit to a ceiling of creators, this is your late-mid-week check in đŤ
Welcome to The Trend Report: Business Editionâ˘, a midweek look at top stories, trends, and more of whatâs happening online and off by Kyle of The Trend Reportâ˘. Today, weâre exploring summer shits, Meta glasses as war liability, mouth muzzles as âitâ item, and the failures of the latest TIME influencer list.
đ° NEWS NEWS NEWS: Two quick things, etc.
I wasnât going to mention these, but I have to mention the other so might as well mention this too: Q2 Report⢠is live, and you can watch a walkthrough of it here. Paid subscribersâŚDM for your copy!
Next week in Barcelona! This is what I had to update on, as the event is now happening next Friday, July 24. Join Nicolas Cevallos and I in conversation with mar vallverdĂş for the local launch of Culture Slop at the super cutesy books-and-magazine shop Terranova. You can RSVP here or at the link below ⤾ď¸
NowâŚback to it!!!
đ Hell Care: A shitty summer
I donât need to tell you that there is a massive shit scare in the United States â literally: thanks to a parasite called cyclosporiasis, whose origins are unknown and are carried through produce â which has the country under a brown shadow of concern given encounters with this bug causes explosive diarrhea that sets in weeks after. There are over 1600 confirmed cases and over 5000 being investigated, at the time of writing, which is a huge and small number given America is home to hundreds of millions but also most issues of food recalls can be triggered by even a handful of sicknesses arising. Technically, whatâs happening with cyclosporiasis goes beyond a simple recall and is now an outbreak, when âtwo or more people get the same illness from the same contaminated food or drink.â This issue joins the greats like e.coli and salmonella, landing this issue between the iconic (âiconicâ) outbreaks like 1985âs milk outbreak which affected more than 15,000 and 1994âs ice outbreak which affected approximately 5,000. The rules of thumb here are to wash and cook produce, avoiding bagged lettuces and specific items like raspberries and snow peas. Poop is political! While the ties to Trump and DOGE cuts are questionable, one thing is true regardless of âthisâ: we are in the throes of a literally shitty (Littshit?) summer. Surveillance summer too (More on that in a moment and this weekend.), but literal shit is the theme of the season because of this and because of some other âthings.â Let us count the ways â
Taco Bell, long known for being a causer of rear tears, is one of the main sites being investigated in the cyclosporiasis outbreak. This is because the restaurant has been tied to a few midwestern outbreaks, even if the removal of products by the chain is out of an abundance of caution, as The Washington Post reports. Regardless: people are having a field day with jokes as a result.
The supplement of the summer is psyllium husk, a fiber packed item rivaling chia seeds in how it helps digestion. Another part of its appeal? âIt absorbs water and forms a viscous, gel-like substance, which softens and bulks up stool and speeds its passage through the colon,â as the New York Times reported last week, noting how it can be useful for those with IBS and constipation. âParadoxically, psyllium also helps with diarrhea, another common symptom of IBS, by absorbing fluid in the gut.â If you have stock in this husk, get ready for a windfall.
The âOura Ring for poopâ is getting buzz as, according to The Cut from earlier in the month, it promises to film your shit and tell you about it. Called a Dekoda, the Kohler-made tool goes on the inside of your toilet to monitor whatâs going on in there. âThe camera records every time you use the bathroom, and then uses AI to analyze the contents of your toilet bowl and give you âpersonalized insightsâ into your hydration levels and stool frequency, texture, and quantity,â the story explains. Wild â but honestly? Would.
The fashion brand Fecal Matter is having a big push now, which started with their flashy February show and has extended into Sarah Paulsonâs Met Gala look-and-cringe-statement and Kylie Jenner donning an outfit for Dunkinâ (??) and Zendaya wearing it to an Odyssey premiere. âI love that the clothes are so good we all just ignore the fact that the brand called itself POOP,â Gabriella Karefa-Johnson said. Vogue, noting the brandâs relevance this summer, said the same.
As I spoke about last month, the singer Noah Kahan had a scandal at a show in Philly: a fan shit themself while watching and remained in place, shit on the ground, watching the show. Let this be proof that our shit summer has very deep and very extreme origins.
âŚthese are just a few of the poop things Iâve noticed, as Iâm sure there is more given it is one of two things literally every human does as proof they are alive. This doesnât count evergreen subjects like vacation constipation (Which would make a great drag name!) and the ongoing question of colon cancer (Not a great drag name!). Either way: itâs good time to get your shit jokes in because this is the summer of shit. (As a parting gift, enjoy this post which is one of the best of the year: Lady Gagaâs AI poop song. If you donât find that funny? WellâŚit may be mean something surprising.)
đ˛ Tech Talk: Meta Glasses to international incident pipeline
