Date: August 1, 2025
Duration: 8:28
In the latest episode of the Mason Vera Paine Show, Mason chats with Google Trends expert Jennifer Jones about July’s most popular searches. Jennifer highlights the viral success of Labubu plush keychains, the impact of “No Buy July” on shopping habits and the rise in coffee culture, unique latte flavors, Gen Z’s etiquette trends and more.
Episode Highlights: July’s Top Google Trends with Jennifer Jones
- 0:14 – Labubu Plush Keychains Go Viral:
Jennifer Jones reveals why Labubu plush keychains are trending worldwide, and discusses conspiracy theories about the rumored 24K gold Labubu. - 1:22 – “No Buy July” & Gold Shopping Trends:
Learn about the rise of “No Buy July,” why people are searching “Is gold worth buying?” and the top purchases people are questioning this month. - 2:21 – Google’s Virtual Try-On Feature:
Discover Google’s powerful new try-on tool that lets you test out billions of apparel options virtually before making a purchase. - 2:48 – Coffee Craze & Trending Latte Flavors:
Interest in coffee shops and making coffee at home hits an all-time high, with unique latte flavors like banana, s’mores, and Teddy Graham leading searches. - 4:54 – Gen Z Stare & Etiquette Trends:
Explore how the “Gen Z stare” has become a viral sensation, along with a boom in searches about Gen Z etiquette and online politeness. - 6:10 – AI Tools for Polite Emails:
Jennifer highlights Gemini AI and Gmail’s unsend feature for crafting respectful emails and preventing digital faux pas. - 6:52 – State Parks Eclipse National Parks in Popularity:
Discover why state parks are now more popular in searches than national parks and how Google Maps features are assisting adventure-seekers. - 4:06 & 6:03 – Bonus Tips:
Use Gemini AI to get creative coffee recipes with what’s already in your fridge, and learn strategies for dealing with “rude” online communication moments.
Google Top Searched July Trends
Announcer – 0:00: Mason Vera Paine.
Mason Paine – 0:01: The month of July has come to an end. Find out what were some of the top trends with Google Trends expert Jennifer Jones. Thanks for joining me Jennifer.
Jennifer Jones – 0:09: Hey, I’m so glad to be with you Mason.
Mason Paine – 0:11: So walk me through July. What was trending?
Jennifer Jones – 0:14: It’s been a bit all over the map this month as you can imagine. We’re just going to take a look back at the top trending searches this month. I wanted to go ahead and start with entertainment. I’m sure you have not been able to escape escape the phenomenon that is Labubus. The Labubus and the plush keychains are actually at a global all time high right now. If you’re not familiar with the Labubu, they are the little plush crazy looking dolls that everyone is carrying around on their keychains. A lot of people want to know where to find one. You know we’ve gotten some funny inquiries including, like is the 24K Karat Gold Labubu reel. There’s of conspiracy theories out there like is the Labubu doll evil? Why are they so popular? That kind of thing.
Mason Paine – 0:57: Wow, 24 karat. I have to ask, was it real?
Jennifer Jones – 1:00: The Internet is mixed. Some people think that it is. It is not real. Evidently when you get a Labubu doll you don’t necessarily know what’s inside of the package. It’s sort of like a blind item and someone has claimed that they got a 24 karat gold one. The debate is still out online whether or not that person made that up.
Mason Paine – 1:16: So I got to think it’s made up. That would be heavy, right? I imagine. Unless it was gold plated.
Jennifer Jones – 1:22: Yes. But regardless, you know it would be expensive because. Because gold is pricey right now. Which actually takes us into another relevant trend is right now there’s it’s sort of no buy July and people are asking do I really need this? And trending on number one in is buying blank worth it is actually gold. People are saying is gold worth purchasing right now and in no by July. And just in general, you know people are questioning the retail decisions that they are making. Other areas that folks are questioning are is it worth buying a home or is it worth buying organic food. We do have a tip here and I use this myself is is our try on feature. If you’re thinking do I need to buy this outfit before you impulse buy. You can use Google’s new try on feature which is fully launched in the US you can upload an image of yourself and you can actually try on billions. Billions with A B of apparel items from our shopping graph that might look good on you so you don’t make regrets if you purchase something. Wow.
Mason Paine – 2:21: I didn’t even know that would be a thing this July because I’ve been shopping like crazy.
Jennifer Jones – 2:26: Gotta get on it now. It’s our try on feature. It is available across the US and it helps you really plan anything that you need for summer wardrobe. Now you can find items that are on sale and of course it also helps with any of your upcoming fall or winter wardrobe.
Mason Paine – 2:41: Absolutely. And I do know I need help with some of that sometimes. Is there anything else that was kind of cool going on?
Jennifer Jones – 2:48: Yeah, actually. Then some food interest this month. People always love to talk about food. Of course, the art of coffee is huge. Now of course I’m guessing people are drinking iced coffee. It’s a little too warm in July in most places. But search interest in coffee shop is currently at an all time high. An all time high above everything else above before any trends that we’ve ever begun searching, folks are looking for pour over coffee and drip coffee. They’re at a record high this month. And making coffee at home has actually reached its highest interest point since the pandemic in 2020. You may remember that a lot of folks wanted to learn how to make fancy coffee drinks at home while some of the coffee shops were closed in 2020. Well, it is back. It is the highest it’s been since the pandemic. Other folks are looking for trending latte flavors. Not one that I would want to try, but a banana latte is number one banana lattes. Followed by a s’ mores latte which I would definitely devour and a Teddy graham latte. So the adorable little teddy Graham creatures and the flavor of latte.
Mason Paine – 3:59: Yeah, the banana one, you’re right. If it was free, like a free sample, I would definitely swallow that like 100%. But I’m not buy.
Jennifer Jones – 4:06: I’m not either. But I will tell you that, you know, I, I’m not a great cook, but I have been using four different coffee drinks in my kitchen. Is our Gemini is Gemini live as well. And it can. You can tell the Gemini Live what you have in your fridge and you ask for suggestions on anything that you can make including coffee drinks to help you have a perked up bit of a day when you need the most. Especially at the beginning of the week.
Mason Paine – 4:29: You know what I used to do is I used to buy the chocolate covered coffee beans and and I used to eat like a whole bag of those. I was Buzzed all day long.
Jennifer Jones – 4:38: I bet you were. But I bet it was so delicious.
Mason Paine – 4:40: It was, it was very addicting. You just like the little beans, you just pop them in your mouth and you don’t realize that you’re zooping everywhere. Until the crash came.
Jennifer Jones – 4:49: Zoop. I love that. Just zooping around.
Mason Paine – 4:52: Was there anything like in weird news?
Jennifer Jones – 4:54: Oh gosh, I’m so glad you asked. Yes. So odd news, have you ever heard of the gin Z there? The no Z there as in with your eyes? Yes. So it’s currently at an all time high. And this is also attributed a bit to the pandemic culture when a lot of Gen Z was in middle school and high school and maybe didn’t get the social interaction that most people normally do. You ask a Gen Z or a question and they don’t know how to answer it or they don’t think they have to answer it, they’ll just give you a blank stare back and that is called the Gen Z stare. Interestingly enough, search interest in Generation Z etiquette is also more than doubled over the past month as well as Gen Z etiquette coaches. So a lot of gen zers looking at how to become a little more polite, more etiquette, be a little less potentially viewed as rude. Is this rude? Has also been searched more than ever this year. So another all time high. Is it rude to blank? Has been searched more than ever.
Mason Paine – 6:03: Okay, that is wild. That is just rude. I always thought like people were just tired in the morning like me so I didn’t take it to heart.
Jennifer Jones – 6:10: Yeah, all kinds of etiquette folks are looking for and you know a couple of tips from Google is using Gemini again can help edit and craft emails. You know people mainly communicate now through email and if you are curious if your email is coming off as root, Gemini can help you with that. And Gmail also has an unsend email. So an unsend email feature so you never send something that you regret or that you didn’t mean to. If you do, you can go quickly hit that unsend feature and it will reverse that email and not allow it to go out.
Mason Paine – 6:43: Oh nifty. I know there’s a lot of trends that happens but Jennifer, was there anything that was trending that you had an interest in like oh that’s cool.
Jennifer Jones – 6:52: Oh gosh. Yeah. I will say the interest right now in state parks is huge for me. I was telling you earlier I just got back from vacation. We did a lot of hiking with my kids. This was their first adventure really out in the park. They’re pretty little. And one thing that was really awesome for me is when I was planning for this and I looked up like state parks near me or state parks in the area that we were going to be in. If you take a screenshot of a state park, that spot automatically saves to a map list for you. So when you’re going back to plan, after you’re doing that furious research and you’re like, oh, this looks great and you take a screenshot, it saves it for you. Also, if you’re heading to a remote hiking or camping spot, you know, be sure to download your map, your Google maps for offline access. And just in general right now folks are really interested in being outdoors and being in the state park. State parks are actually more popular search right now than national parks. So a little bit of summer left. Spend some time to get out there in those state parks and do some hiking, get out in nature and let Google help you make the best of your trip along the way.
Mason Paine – 7:53: You know it. Bless you because I refuse to go anywhere where ticks are at. But I appreciate the pictures and the aesthetics that you provide me. Thank you.
Jennifer Jones – 8:02: You are welcome anytime.
Mason Paine – 8:05: Well, Jennifer, thanks again for joining me here today. I really appreciate you being here. And for those listening, where can they find all this cool information we talked about?
Jennifer Jones – 8:13: Oh sure. As always, you can go to Google. Com Trends to see what is trending in your area and across the world.
Announcer – 8:23: This has been the Mason Vera Paine Show. Thanks for listening.
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