What is brainrot content and why we cannot ignore it

Scrolling through the video content on TikTok, you might have come across a shark wearing blue Nike shoes singing 'tralalero tralalà' or a crocodile-headed warplane intent on bombing surreal scenarios? You have ended up in one of the most bizarre trends of the moment: the Italian Brain Rot. Video content generated with the help of generative artificial intelligence, in which absurd characters - such as "Crocodile Bomber" or "Capuchin Dancer" - move against psychedelic backgrounds while a synthetic voice recites nonsensical phrases. Nonsensical videos that mix irony, surrealism and, at times, politically incorrect provocation, often crossing the line into bad taste.

One of the first videos to have defined the imagery of this trend, which rewrites the aesthetics of the contemporary meme, was 'Tralalero Tralalà', in which an anthropomorphic shark, with blue trainers on his feet, recites verses accompanied by an audio generated by artificial intelligence. A video, initially uploaded on TikTok, which triggered an avalanche of imitations and re-elaborations, reaching record numbers: over 3 billion global views.

The term brain rot, literally 'brain rot', was named word of the year 2024 by the Oxford Dictionary. In the Oxford linguists' definition, brain rot is 'the alleged deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, particularly as a result of excessive consumption of material considered superficial or uninspiring'. A slang with a long history: back in the 1990s, it was used to criticise junk TV, video games or comics deemed 'uneducational'. Then came social media and short videos on platforms like TikTok, where the algorithm encourages endless scrolling. The question is: what happens when YouTube and other video platforms also start encouraging the viewing of this content? Simple: many suffer the effect (especially the younger ones), and someone else gains. Several creators sell video lessons, guides, tutorials and courses on how to generate viral content with Ai. Instructions on how to build your own 'brainrot' universe and break through on TikTok. And there are private communities on Discord where users exchange brainrot prompts and techniques for generating 'extreme' content by circumventing software guidelines. According to many observers, it won't be long before brands start exploiting this content for commercial purposes. In short, brainrots - willingly or unwillingly - have become a business model as well as an aesthetic.