From internet slang to the social arena

Using zoomer-speak in ads can work only when it aligns with a brand's vision. Otherwise, it's just lazy marketing

- Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran

Raves are happening everywhere, but have you ever danced to house beats next to heirloom tomatoes?

This online promo by a premium Bengaluru grocery store about a 'grocery rave' may have been targeted at Gen Z but it had us bone-weary millennials and Gen-Xers guffawing at the thought of dancing in the aisles next to fancy veggies and cheeses.

It was followed by the algorithm gods making sure I was constantly inundated by posts, emails and invitations for everything from a 'pet rave' to a 'hydration rave'.

The one that took the cake was a press listing for a 'donut rave': the agenda of this particular 'rave' was that one could munch away on donuts as a DJ spun dance music—well, you'd certainly get a sugar high at this party that promised to be a collision of "music, movement and munching".

"Do they even know what raves mean?" asks Sania Padival, 32, a communications and marketing professional with Schneider Electric, rolling her eyes at this gimmicky appropriation.

"Raves in the 80s and 90s were anti-establishment, underground gatherings where people got together to listen to (house and electronic) music that wasn't approved of," says Padival.