Who says unicorns don’t exist? Well, not us!
A unicorn sighting used to be synonymous with something rare, precious, and seldom-sighted. But, the appropriation of this mythical creature as a trend has gone out of control. In the past few months alone we’ve seen unicorn phone cases, unicorn Easter eggs, unicorn eyeliner, unicorn eyebrows, unicorn macarons, unicorn toast and unicorn lattes. You can even get yourself a unicorn vibrator if you want to.
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Unicorn beauty and food trends continue to take Instagram by storm, with unicorn noodles and unicorn bagels the most recent examples.
The straw that broke the unicorn’s back was Starbucks’ Unicorn Frappuccino. The blue-and-pink concoction, which transitioned from sweet to sour, was a veritable Instagram hit. This drink gave rise to its own micro-trends.
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Unicorn Frappuccino-inspired hair art became a real-life thing.
Baristas began making spin-off concoctions like unicorn lemonade.
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According to Google Trends, global search interest in unicorn reached its all-time highest point in April 2017, when Unicorn Frappuccinos exploded onto the scene. According to a Google spokesperson, the related searches in April were primarily focused on the Unicorn Frappuccino. Since peaking in April, search interest has dropped. But, interest is nonetheless still higher than it was at the start of the year.
Now, after peaking in April, unicorns may be seen everywhere. I wonder how much of this trend will be seen done by Nigerians. Hopefully, we will also have actual “unicorns” — startup companies worth more than $1 billion in Nigeria.
