Euro RSCG Unveils 15 Global Pop Culture Sightings.

Read the news today? Wherever you live, it’s bad. Economies are under siege, unemployment remains high, a good investment is hard to find. The war that was said to have ended keeps on inflicting casualties — and who knows who will be accused of the next Big Lie.

And yet a new study from communications group Euro RSCG Worldwide shows a crazy quilt of global trends and fads that testify to a planetwide outbreak of pleasure seeking. From flash picnics to psychedelic mushrooms, raunchy fashion
to “smirting” (smoking and flirting) on sidewalks, we see the quest for personal pleasure moving toward the extremes, where the fun and feeling are most intense, raw, and authentic.

“Kids always want to have fun, but the information we’ve collected suggests that more and more adults are looking for youthful, active, community-based kinds of pleasure that used to belong only to young people,” says Ira Matathia, Managing Partner at Euro RSCG MVBMS Partners. “There’s a saying attributed to La Rochefoucauld: ‘Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye.’ We’re seeing that now. People aren’t allergic just to bad news, they’re sick of everything that smells fake, phony, or contrived. And so they turn to available, affordable pleasure — the more authentic the better. These days, ‘real’ rules.”

The following is a sample of the fads and trends Euro RSCG’s global trendspotters have reported in their corners of the world. They’re drawn from the agency’s newly released white paper, “The Power of Pop Culture.”

1. Urban Beaches: These surreal gathering places were all the rage in Europe this summer. In Paris they closed the main roads by the Seine, dumped some 3,000 tons of sand everywhere, placed a few hundred deck chairs and beach umbrellas, and created “Paris-Plage.” Urban beaches have also been spotted in Brussels, Amsterdam, and Germany.

2. Child’s Play: Enjoying a return to the simple innocence of youth is the new activity of choice for hip adults. In Finland, sing-alongs and sledding are favorites among the grownup set.

3. Flash Picnics: Picnics have become very fashionable and specially designed plastic dishes are selling like hotcakes. “Flash picnics” are also organized: A bunch of people text message each other via their mobiles about a meeting place and time, and gather for picnics anywhere. In France, it’s not unusual for more than 50 or 60 people to
gather at once.

4. Girls Kissing: Madonna and Britney may have enjoyed greater visibility, but girls (particularly young girls) kissing in public has been a big thing for a while now in Norway. The fad can be seen in music videos, ads, on the dance floor, and at parties.

5. Drum Circles: What used to be relegated to the hippie-anarchist crowd has suddenly become “family friendly.” Drum circles are cropping up everywhere from urban clubs and coffee houses to parks and Fortune 500 companies. Beyond sheer fun, practitioners claim that drumming has the power to heal body and mind. Also on the rise, drum circles’ second cousin: belly dancing.

6. Pop Culture Exhibits: More and more museums are taking a cue from the Guggenheim’s “The Art of the Motorcycle” by creating exhibits that draw upon pop culture themes. Among the options available in the U.S. this past summer: “Monster Trucks: The Science of Extreme Machines” at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry and “Chocolate: The Exhibition” at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

7. American 1980s: Retro-’80s style and culture is back and being adopted in countries that never experienced the Technicolor, asymmetrical fashions the first time. Miniskirts, heavy jewelry, and brightly colored shoes are all in right now. Any recent visitor to St. Petersburg has noticed that leopard-spotted hotpants and high heels are all the rage. And retailers like Express, Bebe, Esprit, and Hennes & Mauritz are stacking shelves with such ’80s style icons as off-the-shoulder, belted sweaters and leggings. Plenty of websites have sprung up around the trend, including http://www.80snostalgia.com and http://www.nostalgiacentral.com .

8. Drug culture goes retro: Our trendspotters report that speed is the new old drug on the party scene. In mellower locales, drugs are going organic with the reemergence of mushrooms. And in the most retro move of all: Alcohol is the new black.

9. The natural: Perfect teeth? Perfect nails? Perfect is passe, natural is new. Everyone loves the Cuervo Gold Girl with the big gap in her teeth. Unkempt, disheveled, askew: a clear rebellion against the manicured look we’ve seen for so long.

10. Russians: Definitely “dirty hot,” they are popping up more and more in trendy nightclubs and hot spots in the major capitals of the world, particularly London.

11. Provoke me: T-shirt companies with offensive taglines on the front (“Gettin’ lucky in Kentucky” sold out at Urban Outfitters) and very short skirts have people talking. Lingerie boutique Agent Provocateur brings spice and excitement to cities like New York and London.

12. Premium liquors: Now that more people are drinking every night, it stands to reason that they want to be drinking the best. But trendiest is not necessarily priciest: Paris has been invaded by Mantequilla, a green-apple liquor that tastes dangerously good, made by Marie Brizard.

13. Apartment bars: A hot new trend, particularly in Spain, is the act of turning apartments into bars. It’s also becoming more common in New York, particularly since the anti-smoking laws went into effect. Apartment bars are also appealing because they are exclusive-like the members-only Milk and Honey bar in New York.

14. Rugby: The sport is huge right now, particularly in countries where it has not had fans in the past (like the U.S. and France). The Six Nations and Tri-Nations are seriously popular events and are becoming more so in the U.S.

15. Total environments: 1, rue du Pont Neuf is the talk of the town in Paris. On the ground floor is Lo Sushi, hipper than thou; then the Kenzo flagship store; on the fourth floor there’s Labullekenzo (a spa); and on top Kong, the latest Philippe Starck restaurant, complete with retro-chic Hello Kitty decor.