The trending promotion tactic just dropped and it’s a tad bit bizarre. Yes, your favorite celebrity is probably gearing up for their shift at Starbucks as we speak. Artists like Sabrina Carpenter are serving coffee in an effort to promote their latest songs, albums, movies, you name it.

Sure, it was funny when Lana Del Rey did it…because she truly had nothing to promote at the time. She said it herself, she started working there by accident after trying on the uniform and promptly taking orders.

But now, it’s sort of a gimmick. Wait in an hours-long line for the chance to be personally handed your lunch by your favorite celebrity. Let them see how it is to be the one making the coffees instead of having their assistant pick their mobile order for them. But isn’t that just a little odd?

Yes, you get the opportunity to meet your favorite artist for a second…but why are we letting every single one of them cosplay as working class for the day? And while it may be a relatively exciting TikTok, I fail to see how this helps a fan connect with a celebrity in any way.

If anything, it just sounds like a lot of line-waiting, and one more way to spend money to see your favorite artist. It makes sense for Sabrina Carpenter - with her recent Billboard hit, “Espresso” - that she’d partner with London’s Blank Street Coffee to serve up her own shot of espresso.

But What About The Rest Of Them?

Back in October 2023, Charli and Dixie D’Amelio - alongside their parents - worked a shift at Walmart to promote their Be Happy popcorn line. They donned the classic blue Walmart vests, they scanned purchases, and they caused an uproar on social media

@dameliofamilyofficial Our mood watching people get their @Be Happy Snacks ♬ IT GIRL (Sped up Version) - Aliyah's Interlude

And yet something about it feels unsettling a bunch of millionaires breezing through the easiest shift of their lives, pretending to empathize with minimum-wage workers when they’re making an exorbitant amount of money from whatever they’re promoting.

And yes, at the end of their shift, they get to go home to their mansions and never clock in again. What a dream.

Of Course, The Kardashians Have Offended Some People

Now, I’m an avid supporter of the Kardashians in that way where I know that their lives aren’t real. I don’t come to them for body inspiration or for them to dictate the brands I buy. Rather, I observe them in a similar fashion to watching Animal Planet.

But on Hulu’s The Kardashians, Season 1, Kris and Kylie Jenner end up catching heat for doing “normal people" things. This includes, car washes, marveling at a “tourist attraction” and going to a grocery store. Shocking!

Some commended the mother-daughter duo for admitting how out of touch they truly are, but others swarmed the comment section in anger. To be fair, the Jenners weren’t really promoting anything, so I see it as one of their lesser offenses. Again, they don’t live real lives, so they would be flabbergasted by car washes and trips to Erewhon.

Did you think Kylie Jenner was able to walk around a Whole Foods on her own and do her grocery shopping? Really?

But That’s Not All!

It’s actually an epidemic, the whole “celebrities pretending to work real jobs” thing. After Lana, there was David Letterman working at a Des Moines Hy-Vee Market. And then there was Ed Sheeran working at Wiener Circle in Chicago before a show.

In a collab with Sorted Food, Prince William (yes, him) flipped burgers in a surprise food truck. Prince William flipping burgers may sound outrageous, but that’s precisely the point.

Sure, there’s the crowd who will disagree with me. They’ll say “let them eat cake!” But if they were doing something more relatable I wouldn’t care. And it’s exactly like celebrities to try to “fit in” with the “people” by doing the one thing they resent the most: working full-time jobs.