If you see a bunch of otherwise normal people with the same odd behavior then you are probably seeing the effects of a marketing campaign.

I (straight male) think a woman smoking a cigarette is really really hot. Like it turns me feral when I see it.
I have to constantly remind myself that is just marketing from cigarette companies haha
- Motorbikes are only considered cool because of ~~propaganda~~ marketing.
  
  Motorbikes are considered cool cause they're fun as fuck to ride
  
  I was going to disagree but not sure about cool. Bikes are fun to ride though. I miss mine.
- That sounds pretty disgusting honestly
  
  Yeah, but it's really hot ¯(ツ)/¯
  (I do not have the most responsible taste in women haha)
  
  It is.
- Based

About a century, actually. Marketing began in the US after ~~WWII~~ WWI when we suddenly had the ability to create more products than people needed. People needed to be convinced to buy shit they didn't need, and thus marketing was invented.
The first notable marketing campaign was cigarettes for ladies in 1929. Cigarette companies were missing a whole section of consumers because women weren't supposed to smoke, especially in public. A group of beautiful young models were hired to smoke cigarettes at a big important parade that was going to get lots of coverage in the newspaper. A reporter was paid to "report" on their "carefree" and "liberated" manner as they smoked "torches of freedom" out at the festivities. Equality, feminism, yay!
Associating male virility with vehicle choice was next. Both were brain children of Sigmund Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays, who was very interested in his uncle's ideas about people's actions being influenced by their subconscious mind, before it was popular in America.
This is a four hour documentary about the social manipulation of the last century, including the above, getting young progressives to vote for Regan in the 80s and much more. Century of the Self (BBC 2002)
- Marketing began in the US after WWII […].The first notable marketing campaign was […] in 1929.
  🤔
  
  The state needs to be correct with *in earnest.
  Marketing as we know it today has its roots in inter war years but but they really started fucking us properly after WW2
  A lot of new techniques were developed during the war.
  Such as FUD, commonly know online now, was extracted into public knowledge from ww2 sabotage field manual for the army intelligence units.
  
  😂 fixed
  
  Obviously B.S.
  
  Damn. I was just about to reply the same thing. But instead of an emoji, I was going to say "Pick one!"

"WHATZAAAAAAAAAP!!!"
- I brought fish 🐟
- AND A 3D BY THOSE DAMN DUDDLEYS!!!

It could also just be the beginning of a new fad.
Fidget spinners were uncommon and kinda weird before they really took off.
Natural early adoption of a thing solely by word of mouth looks almost the same as marketing.
- A lot of 'word of mouth' fads are initiated by clever marketing pretending to be word of mouth.
  
  I really should have used a better example like a tiktok dance/challenge or a meme format instead of a physical product.
  
  I don't think the "Harlem Shake" had commercial interests. Who was making money off of that?
- You think fidget spinners apparated from thin air?
  
  Obviously not.
  They're created through alchemy.

Or theatre students. They used to send them out to act weird in public to get over feeling self conscious.
- Are you sure that's not just the innate weirdness of theatre students you're seeing? Especially late-night coming down off the high of a show, singing and dancing in the Denny's parking lot...🎶
  
  You got to do it in a dennys? Our post performance was always at some random bar that was still open after we closed up. Greasy fried cheeses and stage makeup is a wonderful combination for falling in love.
  
  Midday on the subway. I knew someone who attended that school and it was literally part of intro performance.

And yes, USAian hollywood films are just ~~large marketing campaigns~~ propaganda.
- Holly creeps shilling regime talking points since they were established.
  The thing is that most people accepted the regime so they "art" was fine enough.
  Now that common pleb is starting to turn on clown regime, all of sudden they are not into trash Hollywood is shilling
  They are also starting to notice that every new "it" celeb is a fucking nepo baby, and that just adds insult to injury
  They expect you to live in poverty while worshiping some third generation's crotch fruits "talent"
  🤡

Social Media, just like all media, does not exist to "earn money with ads", or even profile you. It is about being able to influence you through controlling the availability of content you don't even realize. It doesn't matter if you interact. All the other bullshit is intentionally published to distract, on media. Chat bots have a bias. They don't exist to help you. They exist to control the responses.
- What percentage of the chatters here are bots? Reddit? Facebook?
  Just out of yr ass guess.
  I've come up against some strongly dominant-paradigm-defending responses a lot. So I wonder bot or just normal people.

In all likelihood some of your own interests and habits were put there by a marketing department. Not because it's good or right or useful but because it profited... somebody who could afford to hire a marketing department.
- Looks at Pokemon
  You can take pikachu from my cold dead hands
  
  Scalpers and "investors" are starting to fight people for the product, and they will probably pry it out of your dead hands.
- I’m looking at you, Santa.
  
  Manipulates you into going to the toy store and seeing that there is a boy's section and girl's section. And they are separate. Because there are two genders and they are in binary opposition to each other.
  Marketing, propaganda, and politics is everything that you engage with all of the time. Any time you are in a group of three friends and you have to make a decision, the process by which you do it will be political in nature. The conclusion you reach will be based on the cultural context of the propaganda you were steeped in.
  With this knowledge you can analyze the everyday politics and propaganda you encounter that you never even think about. You can make small changes to the politics you present and the propaganda you spread in the world. Every decision and action you take influences the people around you and all of that ripples out into the world. Something you do can inspire another person to act in a way that you would be inspired by. You may take an action and someone sees you and says "Yeah I've been feeling that, too! I was just too alone to say it, but now I know other people are out there"

[off topic?]
"The Source Of The Nile" by Avram Davidson. Science fiction short story.
Ad man is always looking for the next big thing. One day he notices some kids wearing their sneakers cut up. A few days later he realizes that the fad has exploded. He patiently tracks down where the fad started. It turns out there's one family that starts all the fads. It's never explained why or how, just that somehow these people are the ones who decide what's going to be popular for the rest of the world.

🎵 Rügenwalder Mühlenfest 🎵 ...

I don't even get what behavior you're referring to
- Idiots buying those thermos cups is most recent example
  Social media "organic trends" trust me bro 🤡

or you're just hanging out with your friends re-creating scenes from your favorite movies outside (or LARPing).

Alright, boys. Hear me out. You cut a hole on the inside of your pocket, put on your pants, then pull your penis through the hole so that it is emerging and/or hanging out of your pocket.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

Motorbikes are only considered cool because of ~~propaganda~~ marketing.
- Nothing is cooler than getting rid of cars in favor of more efficient transportation.
  
  Efficient in terms of miles per gallon or liters/100km, sure, but unfortunately they are also heavier polluters. I obviously don't want to give mine up, but the pollution means I would switch to electric as soon as it meets my needs and is affordable.
  
  I like bikes in general, but motorbikes wouldn't be half as popular if they weren't marketed the way they are.
- I was going to disagree but not sure about cool. Bikes are fun to ride though. I miss mine.
  Looks like you posted this twice so I’m replying twice :)

I like this podcast about this subject

People who love to drive longs distances. People who love mayonnaise. People who react strongly at the mention of drugs.
- Wait, what's wrong with mayonnaise?
  
  Don't get me fucking started
  
  Nothing. But there's this segment of the boomer generation that's notoriously obsessed with it. They put it on everything.
  No doubt they all got exposed to the same tv commercial and it took.
- I was scrolling down to actually read some examples and those are it? Seriously?
  
  A little help would be nice.