By Kayla DeKraker
A new social media trend is leaving parents confused and teachers frustrated. Coined “Italian Brainrot,” the trend features strange AI characters that kids can’t stop talking about.
Parents describes the trend as a “chaotic meme stew” of goofy AI animations, Italian parody and “absurd catchphrases.”
“…kids are repeating lines from it nonstop, leaving many parents wondering if they missed an entire cultural movement overnight,” the outlet said.
This new trend features several absurd characters including Ballerina Cappuccina, a ballerina with a coffee cup head, Tralaero Tralala, a shark who wears Nike shoes, Bobardiro Crocodilo, a crocodile-bomber plane hybrid, and several more.
Do not fear — “brain rot” is not a real medical condition but rather a slang term that describes the mental state of someone consuming mindless social media content.
Oxford named it the 2024 word of the year and defines it as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration.”
Italian brainrot certainly falls into that description.
This trend, despite its name, isn’t actually Italian, although some names are derived from Italian words.
Forbes explains, “They’re given rhyming, Italian-sounding names uttered in an exaggerated male text-to-speech voice alongside nonsensical phrases. Some of the names draw from real Italian, while others simply mimic the rhythm of the language.”
The bizarre characters also have story lines, which some have made videos about to explain.
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But though this trend doesn’t make sense to most adults, brands are exploiting it to capture Gen Z’s and Gen Alpha’s attention, even if for a few seconds.
“Italian Brainrot is ridiculous — and that’s the point,” analyst Francesco De Nittis said. “Gen Z loves content that feels spontaneous, surreal, and made for instant consumption. Smart brands recognize this not just as entertainment, but as a ritual of participation. They’re not just jumping on trends — they’re showing they’re in on the joke.”
It’s worth brands’ attention, too. TikTok is where Gen Z goes for funny videos (in fact, 76% of the generation are on the app simply for that), and one Italian brainrot video amassed “over 7 million views and 600,000 likes within a month.”
Teachers have reported that kids are shouting the brainrot phrases in classes, though most parents find it humorous and harmless.
Italian brainrot seems innocent enough, but just like anything online, parents need to carefully monitor what their kids are consuming and evaluate if it’s impacting child’s day-to-day life in a negative way.
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