How butter is spreading across social media
InterviewsWith its pastel color, round shapes and melting texture, butter is inspiring creatives and brands around the world. Vincent Grégoire, NellyRodi’s Consumer Trends & Insights Director, gives us a report.
What’s going on with butter these days?
As astonishing as it may seem, butter is fascinating! More than a simple fad, it’s making news. People want butter.
Numerous brands are taking up its world of imagery: the softness, comfort, indulgence and deliciousness evoked by a thickly buttered slice of bread. But they belong to industries that have nothing to do with the product. For example, Butter Wellness is a sex toy and lubricant brand! Butter’s satisfying and slippery – you can’t deny it.
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When I was in South Korea in December 2023, I saw “Tout beurre” slogans printed on striped T shirts and Christmas tree decorations shaped like sticks of butter. In the corner of the Olive Young (the Korean Sephora) flagship show there was a presentation of products to lift the spirits, including “bread and butter” pinot noirs. The Koreans also had fun with the sound of the word “butter,” using wordplay such as “have a butter day” in huge letters in boutiques. We know about the South Korean and Japanese fondness for using French words for brand names, but this obsession with butter is new!
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And, of course, we can’t ignore the fresh butter color we’re seeing everywhere, from GoodMood’s interior design trends on Instagram, to “Vogue’s” beauty update, to “Glamour’s” fashion news.
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Butter is being celebrated esthetically to the point of being an ephemeral art, and foodie artists on Instagram are exploiting this pliable material. Butter sculptures have invaded our algorithms: Greek columns, little fish, seashells, furniture and even real butter candles (not necessarily edible – eating burned butter is unhealthy). Butter is so much in the spotlight that even in ceramic ateliers, the most popular classes today are making your own butter dish.
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And, of course, this is all associated with renewed interest in butter as an exceptional product. A multitude of chefs and producers are taking an editorial role and giving it fresh attention. All Things Butter makes organic butter with salty, chili, and even garlic and herb flavors – all with a colorful and fun artistic approach. Maison Bordier takes a more traditional route and (I quote) “transforms a raw material into a precious material.”
On YouTube, Etienne Foumont (121k subscribers) has even taken the name “youtubeurre” and broadcasts a positive image of agriculture. There are also really cool publications, like “Pur beurre, le guide du bien manger en Bretagne” promoting the region’s new producers, stores and restaurants.
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Where does this fascination with butter come from?
There are several answers.
First, I think it’s a response to an overly violent world. Butter is a bit naïve, maybe even easy going, but faced with traumatic images and an increase in extremism and fear, we need comforting. And as I said earlier, all of butter’s creative language is benign, including the cute butter knives with rounded tips.
In fact, we’re realizing that we’ve mistakenly attributed negative properties to butter, which we judged as too fatty for good health. But we’ve gradually understood how fat can be beneficial for health, and now we’re waging war on sugar (this time with good reason).
I think the other reason behind this enthusiasm is that butter represents the “French touch.” It’s already associated with French pastry, with its indisputable global success. In New York there are even guides for finding the best Kouign Amann cakes, and New York is second only to Paris for the Breton diaspora – people surely searching for a homesickness remedy!
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And then, 2024 is an important year for France, and we’re questioning our identity and place in the world. Between the Olympic Games, the European Elections, the reopening of Notre-Dame and D-Day commemorations, we’re recognizing all our resources. We have a very rich regional heritage, especially in Normandy, butter’s holy land. David Hockney lives there, Monet’s Giverny home is a major French tourist destination and Madonna has said she wants to move there to milk cows and make her own butter.
In fact, butter is a kind of French soft power.
Butter reminds us of animals, it’s not a very vegan-friendly product. Isn’t this buzz slightly against all the current food trends?
Strangely enough – with the exception of Madonna and her cows – I don’t get the impression that butter reminds us so much of animals.
Instead we’re taking a positive approach to focus on butter as a finished product, forgetting that it comes from the transformation of milk. We don’t think about the mistreatment of animals, like we do for meat, and yet the dairy industry can be just as violent.
On the contrary, all these butter producers pay a lot of attention to animal wellbeing and prove that it’s essential to take good care of cows to have a quality product. Butter has this traditional, authentic image with a respectful, French savoir-faire.
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Where is all this leading us? What’s the next step?
It’s an underlying trend that’s gradually becoming stable.
In the food sector, we’re giving it a new place in traditional cuisine and integrating it into more premium concepts.
But butter will also continue to infiltrate other industries. Our new “Color Intelligence Spring-Summer 2026” trendbook presents numerous shades of butter yellow that will inspire tomorrow’s creative industries.
Brands in every sector will make use of the creative possibilities of butter and healthy fat. This is already true in the beauty industry, with a search for skin with the perfect glow and creams with such a satisfying texture that it’s a pleasure to spread them on and rub them in to the skin. When we think about how irresistibly delicious butter is, we imagine pink cheeks that are pretty and round – which is the basis of current blush trends.
And finally, I really thank that more and more people are going to move to Normandy!
