u/EducationalSmoke5773

the insane beef i have with one of my favourite casual, chill subs

As an older Gen-Z, I remember this being very popular. I may have been working retail at this time, so I got to see it show up on the shelves. I personally thought it was cool and pretty when it first caught on...it kinda felt like a newer, fresher variant of "wine mom" culture and stereotypes.

The pink colour of the wine along with the name itself, which looks like "rose" in English, made it especially appealing. Aesthetically, it felt feminine, fun, carefree, youthful, fresh, and current.

This trend may have also happened around the time rose gold iPhones were released and were a flex, boosting its popularity. Why not match?

If we go deeper, many women love pink. Our sex is associated with the colour due to gender roles and rules around sex, and which favourite colours are socially acceptable to have based on it. Wine is also widely seen as a women's drink, while beer is seen as a men's drink. Which is stupid because they're DRINKS OMG

It's worth saying that these societal rules may have deterred many men who genuinely liked the trend due to fears of being seen as effeminate or receiving homophobic pushback. On the other hand, many women may have concealed how much they liked it out of fear of being seen as "basic" or the "not like other girls" mindset.

Likewise, food-related trends amongst women are subject to more criticism and pushback. Things such as the rose trend would quickly get labelled as "basic", with white women specifically receiving racist and misogynistic treatment despite its mostly innocent, light-hearted nature. This is different than simply thinking that a trend is annoying or played-out, or genuinely important observations, such as the normalization of substance abuse or dependency.

This double standard surrounding food memes/trends can be observed with the early 2010s obsession with bacon, which seemed to be more popular with men. Many people of both sexes found it annoying or simply didn't care for it, but it was not met with the same kind of ire due to misogynistic cultural attitudes. I don't recall men as a whole - or white men and boys specifically - being labelled as "basic" for this despite both trends centering around food. Members of marginalized groups are not afforded the luxury of being seen and treated as individuals instead of representatives of their entire demographic.

At its best, it was a way for many women to simply express enjoyment in the moderate consumption of alcohol, and to share their love for a popular social lubricant and things that make life more enjoyable. At worst, it could normalize alcoholism and be used to manage everyday stressors within professional, personal, and domestic life.

I remember seeing these everywhere as an older Gen-Z. It's interesting to look back and see how people used these as a means of expressing their criticisms or frustrations with people, culture, and society. Others were more lighthearted while still remaining adult, like the ones celebrating the beauty of friendship and social bonds.

There were some feminist ones as well, as seen in the slideshow - maybe they were a precursor to feminism and left-leaning social justice causes gaining more mainstream attention in the mid-2010s? That aside, anyone could make ones that aligned with their political beliefs or opinions.

From a graphic design standpoint, the mellow, often pastel colours and nice artwork paired with adult humour made these a hit. These ecards were a genuinely unique and refreshing new meme format - I just love how they appear unassuming until you actually read them. Feeling really nostalgic for this meme.