TR.BIZ: 9.4.2025

Your late-mid-week check-in, from the economic impact of Jet2 holiday to TikTokers on SNL 💫

Welcome to The Trend Report: Business Edition™, a midweek look at top stories, trends, and more of what’s happening online and off by Kyle of The Trend Report™. Today, we’re a Jet2 holiday recession indicator. TikTokers on SNL, Druski in whiteface, and the death of a beloved queer creator.

📲 Tech Talk, I: LadyAI is already here

People are talking about the Reese Witherspoon tech bubble index after the actor and general make-big-money-blonde-person said “it’s so, so important that women are involved in AI…because it will be the future of filmmaking” earlier this week. This inspired a lot of jokes and observations, particular given her staunch yet failed NFT support and staunch yet failed crypto support, to the point that her support of such smoke and mirrors tech has become a bit predictable, making her a canary looking at itself suffocate in said smokey mirrors. Reese’s AI bit is very whatever when we consider that “women in AI” is already in full swing — a la: it’s not just people like Mira Murati and Fei-Fei Li and Daniela Amodei being overlooked in this statement as they further squeeze out shit from this shit factory, it’s that Lady Gaga’s new, Tim Burton directed Wednesday music video is an embarrassing forced TikTok ploy and an embarrassing example of AI puppetry built upon her already pushing AI products on the same day as SHEIN drops-then-deletes an AI model with the face of Luigi Mangione. While such works are from teams of people who are selling out their respective industries, it’s an example that such slop is “already” in the #GirlBoss house, stanking up the space as it’s less a #diversity win and more emblematic of ship that is definitely nearing an iceberg. Oh, to be bombed by a woman!

📲 Tech Talk, II: Actually no one’s taking a Jet2 holiday

Even though it was our song of the summer, Jet2 actually had a not-great summer: as FT reported today, “Jet2 shares tumbled more than 20% on Thursday after the UK travel operator warned that profits would be at the low end of analysts’ forecasts, as customers cut back on holidays.” The article notes that, yes, part of summer was good but current numbers are a “significant deterioration” from early July, when the company saw record profits. This plays into a pattern though, as Southwest also saw a decline (despite drastic cuts) while Spirit files for bankruptcy. Mind you, all three of these are extreme budget airlines: if people can’t afford flights from them, then woo wee. We in danger, girl! It gets worse too: such news hits as US labor market saw job openings hit a ten month low — with more unemployed people than job openings

• What can you do about this? Pray? Invest in staycations? Understand that TikTok trends and other social expressions will never “save a company” but are crucial as far as raising brand awareness and cultural value. To the point of the “AI women” too: everyone is broke and or without a job as such shit like the aforementioned tech and tariffs have created a spectacular double whammy of a crashing international market. Gird them loins!

🤩 Hollyweird Insider: TikTokers are on SNL now