You must admit, millennials sure have put in work ruining things. They’ve ruined business lunches, crowdfunding, cruises, the 9-to-5 workday, the golf industry, and so much more when they aren’t eating all the avocado toast available in the world. Now millennials might be to blame for killing Hooters and other “breastaurants,” because who doesn’t love a good portmanteau. That’s because millennials are less interested in chests than their elders, according to data compiled by Pornhub.
“Pornhub visitors between the ages of 18 to 24 are 19% less likely to search for breasts when compared to all other age groups, but visitors aged 55 to 64 are 17% more likely to search,” concluded the study.
As Sarah Pedersen, professor of communications and media at Robert Gordon University, told Playboy: “We tend to have responses against what was previously in fashion. It tends to go in peaks and troughs. At the moment larger breasts are out though I’m sure they’ll come back. We tend to react to what went before.”
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This trend is causing those “breastaraunts” (those are ironic scare quotes, I promise you) to rethink their strategy. Hooters specifically has seen a 7% drop in restaurant locations from 2012 to 2016. In addition, industry reports indicate that their sales have stagnated despite efforts to appeal millennials through new menu items.
They even pivoted from their typical approach of scantily-clad women and sports bar atmosphere and opened a new fast-casual concept called Hoots, where it’s about the wings, not the women. However, the verdict is out if the change has had any long-term effect.
“Could it be that millennials aren’t into breasts because, simply, they like big butts and cannot lie?” Pornhub VP Corey Price said in an interview with Mel Magazine. He also added, “It’s not our job to speculate, but rather provide compelling data for our fans to digest and draw their own inferences from.”
Maybe it’s the wings, maybe it’s—wait, why are we so worried about the future of Hooters, such a venerable American institution so worthy of defending again? Why knows. Either way, as always, blame millennials.
