Top Trends for 2019
Top Trends for 2019
Every New Year starts out with a bang and ends with the promise of better things to come. Instead of a bang, last January lurched forward with a cyclone, a missile and laundry detergent. Remember? C’mon, it’s only been a year! The East Coast shivered under a “bomb cyclone” as snow and ice hammered the region, reaching its icy fingers as far south as Florida, while teenagers everywhere demonstrated their stupidity by munching on laundry pods in the Internet inspired Tide Pod Challenge. Meanwhile, almost 5,000 miles away from the snow and ice, Hawaiian residents suffered 40 minutes of panic after an emergency alert told residents that a ballistic missile was inbound and they should seek shelter. Way to kick off a New year! But despite the rough start, 2018 held out the promise that things were getting a little better in the world…
- Saudi Arabia dropped its ban on female drivers, taking one, small step towards treating women like human beings;
- Marvel released blockbusters Black Panther and pulled years of after-credit scenes together to deliver Avengers Infinity War; and…
- Taylor Swift and Katy Perry ended their feud when Ms. Perry sent a wreath of olive branches to Swift, proving that “band aids don’t fix bullet holes”, but a wreath might.
But 2018 wasn’t all about peace and freedom, it was also a year of loss, confusion and controversy…
- Music fans everywhere mourned the loss of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin;
- IHOP briefly changed its name to IHOB (International House of Burgers) in the month of June and then back again to IHOP; and
- Kanye wore a MAGA hat and gave a pro-Trump speech on SNL.
What kind of year can we expect in 2019? Like every year since A Tale of Two Cities, 2019 will prove to be the “best of times and the worst of times.” So here are your top four 2019 trends, adapted from trend forecaster Gerald Celente, with my thoughts sprinkled in…