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<ul class="summary-list"><li>"<keyword id="21861156" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="silent-layoffs" source="keywords">Silent layoffs</keyword>" and "<keyword id="19999155" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="quiet-firing" source="keywords">quiet firing</keyword>" appear to be on the rise.</li><li>Companies have used them to minimize <keyword id="22217159" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="negative-traction" source="keywords">negative traction</keyword>, but they risk breaking <keyword id="22089243" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="employee-trust" source="keywords">employee trust</keyword>.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quiet-quit-plan-months-burnout-2023-9">"Quiet quitting"</a> came and went. Then there was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/first-there-was-quiet-quitting-now-its-become-grumpy-staying-2023-6">"grumpy staying."</a> But the latest <keyword id="19999150" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="workplace-trends" source="keywords">workplace trends</keyword> — "silent layoffs" and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bosses-quiet-firing-staff-avoid-public-backlash-layoffs-2024-2">"quiet firing"</a> — could be the most harmful to date. Silent layoffs occur when a company provides staff with severance packages but asks them to keep quiet about the details of their exit. Quiet firing, meanwhile, is a subtle move by bosses to make a role less appealing, motivating workers to quit rather than forcing them out through layoffs. Experts say that both can create public-relations disasters and harm company morale. <h2>A cautionary tale</h2>The most recent high-profile example of silent layoffs was when PwC's UK arm launched a voluntary-severance program earlier this year. According to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/5119dfb7-048d-4b44-8be0-124cb5f41223?accessToken=zwAGG2NZHr14kc9RGd-3BI1LRNOL4BJMtfQSIw.MEYCIQDBKAxcLsszwPawCeaBkHxAfVwR4NEWSn3RbduoduqcwAIhANXxT8cS64FCJ-v8Y-IQEVOK7mw2BlR6pLYW6V3eU10f&amp;sharetype=gift&amp;token=74828951-91ac-4ce7-8a12-903c5457442f">Financial Times</a>, PwC asked employees not to disclose that they had received a settlement and advised them what to write in their goodbye emails to colleagues. <div type="image" title="PwC Global Network President Mohamed Kande" height="683" width="1024" msid="111287766" hostid="261"></div>A spokesperson for PwC <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/c1c1eaab-0eda-46da-b530-cf3d42c351eb">told the FT</a> that the voluntary layoffs were implemented to "respond to changing client demand, attrition rates, and new opportunities." "Through limited targeted voluntary severance, we can continue to recruit at entry level and where different skills are needed," the statement said. PwC declined to comment when contacted by Business Insider. Amit Rawal, a management lecturer at City, University of London's Bayes Business School, told BI that silent layoffs had become "increasingly popular across larger corporations." The goal of silent layoffs is likely to minimize the amount of negative traction the company receives. Eloise Skinner, a psychotherapist who focuses on workplace well-being, told BI that this strategy could be successful for a business if it's kept under the radar. "Theoretically, by keeping layoffs relatively low profile, trust in the business — from stakeholders and existing employees — can be retained, and restructurings can happen without excessive external analysis," Skinner said. But if the news is leaked, like in PwC's case, the trust is broken — both for current employees and the general public. <h2>Quiet firing</h2>Silent layoffs were made illegal in the US in February 2023 as part of the National Labor Relations Act. The ruling was enforced by the National Labor Relations Board, an independent federal agency that sets out regulations that most businesses must abide by. Lucas Botzen, an HR expert and the CEO at Rivermate, told BI that the ruling stops businesses from creating nondisclosure agreements or any other kind of agreements that would prevent an "employee or employer from enjoying certain rights that are bestowed on them by law, such as speaking out against unlawful practices or discrimination." But companies in the US are still finding ways to quietly cut employees by making their roles less appealing. As <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bosses-quiet-firing-staff-avoid-public-backlash-layoffs-2024-2">BI previously reported</a>, technology firm Dell in February ordered hybrid employees to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dell-hybrid-workers-return-office-three-days-week-progression-innovation-2024-2">return to the office</a> three days a week regardless of where they live. Workers who choose to be fully remote will face limited career progression, an anonymous source told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/03/dell_return_to_work/">The Register</a>. Amazon decided in October that employees who didn't come into the office three days a week may have their promotions blocked. "Subtly encouraging someone to leave is seen as the easier option," Suzanne Horne, a partner in employment law at the legal firm Paul Hastings, told the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20221021-the-bosses-who-silently-nudge-out-workers">BBC</a> in 2022. "If the employee eventually resigns, it's the 'no-fault approach': Severance doesn't need to be paid, conflict is avoided and both parties are ultimately happy." <h2>'A PR disaster waiting to happen'</h2>Experts told BI that quietly getting rid of employees could easily backfire if they opt to fight back or speak out. These tactics "breed mistrust, tarnish a company's reputation, and can lead to uncontrolled leaks of sensitive information," Evan Nierman, the founder and CEO of the PR firm <a target="_blank" href="https://redbanyan.com/">Red Banyan</a>, said. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?amazonTrackingID=bi-auto-70563-20&amp;h=ff9531808b90e296d69951a9546ccf3b396f2636bf4f910fd0a90d87a0e291bd&amp;postID=6679338deb6c4b50267ed424&amp;postSlug=silent-lay-offs-quiet-firing-could-backfire-companies-bosses-morale-2024-6&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FCancel-Culture-Curse-Redemption-World%2Fdp%2FB0BZJVQ3Z1%2Fref%3Dsr_1_1%3Fkeywords%3Dcancel%2Bculture%2Bcurse%26qid%3D1682269812%26sr%3D8-1">"The Cancel Culture Curse."</a> "When transparency is sacrificed, the rumor mill takes over, creating a narrative of fear and instability," he said. Dan Buckley, an HR expert and CEO of <a target="_blank" href="https://streaklinks.com/CA3WZqapqfTqM-4Jkwm0TQHj/https%3A%2F%2Fcognexo.com%2F">Cognexo</a>, an AI-led platform that helps boost the employee experience, told BI over email that silent layoffs are "usually a futile attempt to maintain morale among remaining employees and manage their brand." "Open communication is crucial, and anything less invites suspicion and erodes brand integrity," Nierman said. "Ultimately, the cost of trying to silence your former employees will outweigh the short-term benefits of secrecy." When it comes to quiet firing, Horne told the BBC that it could create an "us versus them" mentality. "You have the engaged employees, and then those just quietly left there, sometimes without their knowledge," she said. "It doesn't create an inclusive or high-performance workplace culture." Correction: June 27, 2024 — A previous version of this article misstated when Amazon decided that employees who didn't come into the office three days a week may have their promotions blocked. It was in October, not November.

Bosses are using 'silent layoffs' and 'quiet firing' to get rid of employees. It could backfire. 

It took something surprisingly small — something that's been described as "teeny tiny" and "ultra-cropped" — to propel <keyword id="19948011" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Prada" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Prada" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Prada">Prada</keyword> to its place as one of the year's few luxury winners. In fact, it measures under 10 inches long. <keyword id="20885719" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Miu-Miu" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Miu Miu" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Miu Miu">Miu Miu</keyword>'s micro miniskirt, which debuted in 2021 and subsequently went viral, taking over both TikTok and magazine front covers, is emblematic of the brand's show-stopping couple of years — and has no doubt helped its parent company, Prada, do what few luxury companies have been able to do this year: grow. "I think the 'miracle' at Prada is Miu Miu," Luca Solca, a senior analyst at Bernstein, told Business Insider. Thanks to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/miu-miu-revenue-jumps-93-gen-z-asia-sales-prada-2024-7">Miu Miu's hot streak</a>, as well as a series of smart business moves at Prada itself — a focus on a controlled retail pipeline and store productivity, plus some experienced new hires — the company is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zara-inditex-pandora-thrive-amid-luxury-downturn-aspirational-consumer-trends-2024-9">bucking negative luxury trends</a>. It's selling well in Asia, its stock is up, and investors are excited. Net revenue for the first half of the year was 14% higher than in the same period in 2023 and 34% more than 2022. At luxury bellwethers LVMH and Kering, first-half sales fell 1% and 11%, respectively, compared to last year.Its stock is up more than 30% year-to-date, even more than that of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hermes-became-ultimate-status-symbol-2024-2">Hermès, luxury's perennial market leader</a>. Along with Moncler, it's one of only two buy-rated luxury stocks at HSBC. The 111-year-old, family-run, Milanese leather goods shop turned cutting-edge fashion superhouse is now enjoying one of its greatest runs in history. <h2>The trendy little sister</h2>As any elder sibling knows well, sometimes the flashy, fun younger sister can outshine even the most well-prepared eldest. Miu Miu is doing just that. The more experimental brand has become the "It" girl of the fashion industry. It's number two on The Lyst Fashion Index, a quarterly measure of the hottest fashion brands. Searches for Miu Miu are up 47% this year on luxury resale platform The RealReal. The micro minis that stormed the runway in 2021, a sneaker collab with New Balance, and the quilted Wander bags have become must-have looks. That's translated into impressive results: <keyword id="19957111" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="retail-sales" source="keywords">Retail sales</keyword> were up 50% in 2023 and 86% in the first half of this year. Last quarter, website traffic was up 110% year over year, Stifel's Rogerio Fujimori reported in his July note. The brand will likely hit $1 billion in revenue this year. <div type="image" title="Miu Miu micro miniskirt" height="3109" width="4663" msid="113815737" hostid="261"></div>Part of it is the brand's messaging. "Miu Miu is resonating with consumers because of a savvy mix of product and communication marketing," Solca said. In a recent note, he highlighted the brand's events — a tennis club, literary club, and film series — that go beyond just fashion to form a "cultural aesthetic." Miu Miu has embraced stars (Sydney Sweeney and Gigi Hadid were featured in recent campaigns), which has energized its following. The brand has also managed to tap into Asian markets — one of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-luxury-retail-sales-slowdown-brands-fashion-2024-7">most challenging sectors for luxury brands</a>. Again, some smart marketing has helped. The brand enlisted K-pop icons as ambassadors and dressed Chinese stars Lexie Liu, Zhao Jinmai, and Wu Yanshu. It also increased spending on Little Red Book, a social media platform in China, and threw events in Tokyo, Taipei, and Nanjing. In short — pun intended — you can't get trendier than Miu Miu right now, and being trendy is good for business. <h2>The business behind the boom</h2>But Miu Miu's popularity, as attention-grabbing as it is, is only part of the story. The brand accounted for 15% of Prada's sales last year. HSBC analysts called its growth a "(big) cherry on the cake" — the cake being Prada (which didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider for this story). Behind Miu Miu's Mary Jane shoes and Arcade bags is a success story at its parent company. The group's namesake line is growing, albeit at a slower and steadier pace. Prada's retail sales were up 3% in the first half of the year compared to last year and 7% in 2023. It's been among Lyst's top five hottest brands since 2022. This didn't happen by accident: In 2017, Prada committed to a turnaround strategy following a few losing yearsand a drop in profitability. At more than 100 years old, Prada hadn't entered the new millennium: Its full product line wasn't available through e-commerce, and its advertising wasn't digitized. "In 2015, the tide really turned for them," Jelena Sokolova, a senior analyst for Morningstar, told Business Insider. "They fared worse than the industry: Sales were negative for a number of years; their earnings plummeted." In response, Prada focused on retail, a channel in which it can control prices and cut back on wholesale, which now represents only 11% of sales. It made an effort to cut down on discounts — a problem that has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-burberry-became-fashions-biggest-fail-stock-drop-ceo-ousting-2024-8">plagued labels like Burberry</a> and Gucci and can lead to diminishing brand perception. At its retail stores, new CEO Andrea Guerra, who arrived in 2023 from LVMH, has drilled down on productivity, or how much money each square foot of retail space generates, by launching in-store installations, forming one-to-one relationships between sales associates and customers, and infusing stores with wearable pieces and collaborations. The company closed stores that weren't performing and renovated the ones that were. It's worked: Retail productivity has increased 32.5% between 2019 and 2023. <div type="image" title="Prada store" height="3333" width="5000" msid="113815742" hostid="261"></div>There has also been a slew of management changes. In 2020, the company brought on Raf Simons, heralded as one of the biggest stars in the design world, as co-creative director, sharing the title with Muccia Prada — the company's billionaire heiress who The New York Times has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/style/miu-miu-chanel-louis-vuitton-paris-fashion-week.html">referred</a> to as "the most influential woman in fashion." Prada now has more time to use her keen sense of design at Miu Miu. In the years following, it recruited talent from LVMH and Goldman Sachs to join its top ranks. And then there is the sheer cyclicality of fashion and the fact that, after a few years of being less-than-hot, Prada is once again on the rise. It has embraced the 1990s and Y2K aesthetic — a heyday for Prada — popular with Gen Z and was the most searched brand among the demographic on The RealReal. Hit products pushed the profitable leather goods category to revenues of more than $2 billion last year. There was a reimagining of the early 2010s it-bag, the Galleria, complete with a Scarlett Johansson-led campaign. Other handbag rereleases, like that of the Nylon, have taken off, while new purse styles like the Buckle and Arqué got callouts in last year's earnings report. That momentum gave the brand an upper hand going into the luxury downturn. "People prioritize which brands they want to spend on. With a limited budget, first, you drop the ones that were not hot to begin with," Sokolova said. <h2>Can Prada's hot streak last?</h2>Just as fashion comes in, it can come out. And Prada's story — particularly Miu Miu's rapid-fire growth — in some ways mimics that of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gucci-sales-profit-reputation-falling-luxury-kering-michele-china-2024-5">Gucci's hype-driven rise and plummeting fall under Alessandro Michele</a>. "You kind of become a victim of your own success," Sokolova said. Both Prada and Miu Miu are susceptible to volatility, though for different reasons. Miu Miu is still relatively small, meaning its brand identity is not yet established enough to withstand the whims of consumers. CEO Guerra has acknowledged that such incredible growth can lead to a challenge. "There appears to be a glass ceiling," Solca wrote in a recent note. "Being prominent brings fatigue: after a while, consumers feel they have seen and done enough with these brands and move on." Prada, meanwhile, is more exposed in the cyclical ready-to-wear category — which makes up 32% of sales — than other brands like Gucci and YSL. But there are signs of continued growth: Miu Miu is adding 10 to 15 stores next year, while Prada is adding five to 10, the company has said. The brand's retail footprint is particularly underpenetrated in the US. The company's beauty business is still nascent. Last year, it launched skincare and makeup through a partnership with L'Oréal, and there is more money to be made in that sector. With so much control of its sales chain, the company can raise prices and limit overexposure through low-end collaborations or expansion into cheap categories. Plus, the slowdown hasn't happened yet: Miu Miu website traffic and sales continued to grow between the first and second quarters, and the company maintains it's not a flash in the pan. "This is a result of many years of work on the brand, on the products, on the people," Guerra said about Miu Miu's success on the company's most recent earnings call. Meanwhile, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prada-white-tank-top-status-symbol-2024-2">Prada has maintained its brand value</a>. But the woman Miuccia Prada herself knows the pressure is on. "I was very nervous for this show," she told reporters backstage at the line's fashion show earlier this month about the new collection, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/20/style/prada-fendi-milan-fashion-week.html">The New York Times reported</a>. "Much more than usual." September 30, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Miuccia Prada.

How Prada is beating the odds and bucking the luxury slump 

About a month before I moved to Denver in 2018, I texted another recent transplant to ask for neighborhood suggestions. Her reply might as well have been in another language: Among the options she rattled off were RiNo, SoBo, LoDo, and the head-scratching LoHi. I couldn't find those names anywhere on the city's official maps, but the shorthand flowed freely among the youngish crowd I met there. The older real-estate types I encountered while reporting on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moved-to-denver-colorado-and-regretted-it-2023-11">the city's housing market</a> were fond of the nicknames, too. Soon I was parroting them all.If you've relocated to an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/where-home-prices-rise-appreciate-most-next-year-cities-zillow-2024-5">up-and-coming American city</a> in the past decade, you've likely had to decipher a similar code. Developers and business associations have long slapped pithy names on fast-growing parts of town, and tenured residents have long rolled their eyes at them. But with the growing adoption of these new abbreviations, I think I'm ready to say enough is enough. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-love-is-blind-charlotte-suburban-housing-debate-walkable-density-2024-3">Charlotte, North Carolina,</a> has MoRA and LoSo; <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/falling-rent-price-locations-us-housing-market-supply-florida-texas-2024-5">Nashville's</a> got SoBro; Boston has SoWa. In Louisville, Kentucky (which also has a SoBro), you may find yourself sipping a craft beer in NuLu. My <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/austin-real-estate-housing-market-health-demand-sales-prices-projections-2024-3">hometown of Austin</a> already has SoCo, and the powers that be are trying to make "SoLa" happen. The path of progress is paved with nonsense nomenclature — or, as my editor calls them, "'Sound of Music'-ass names."These unholy mashups would be fine, I guess, if they were dumb yet harmless inventions. But they're not just silly nicknames or low-lift marketing ploys. They're the calling cards of developers and new arrivals as they try to wipe the slate clean on existing neighborhoods and remake them in their image. I'm all for building more housing — it's the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/economic-inequality-housing-shortage-causes-2023-1">only way out of our affordability crisis</a>, after all. If a goofy new name is all that's needed to convince well-off transplants to flock to glass towers in a once deserted part of town, then great! But often it's more about renaming a place where people already live in hopes that whitewashing its history will make it easier to attract wealthy people and drive up the property values — inevitably sending longtime residents packing.I worry that the pandemic reshuffling, which <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-home-house-prices-rent-cost-decline-cheaper-cities-2023-1">scattered white-collar workers across the country</a> in search of wide open spaces, will only encourage more of this kind of behavior. As cities bend over backward to attract a certain type of middle- and high-income worker, they often end up <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-american-cities-look-the-same-remote-work-city-authentic-2023-7">looking the same</a>. Now they're sounding the same, too. Let's at least call these two-syllable monikers what they are: cookie-cutter attempts to herd <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/henry-student-loans-six-figure-income-millennial-gen-z-retirement-2023-11">HENRYs</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/net-worth-dink-child-free-couples-win-the-economy-2023-10">DINKs</a> toward new coffee shops and studio apartments in areas they would have avoided a decade ago.It seems like every undervalued neighborhood in America is at risk of this kind of rebrand. But the SoBros and SoWas of the world are just the tip of the iceberg — the most egregious outcomes of contentious battles over neighborhoods' names and boundaries. And unless we put our collective foot down, we're bound to get a lot more of them.Gill Holland moved from New York City to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-things-to-do-louisville-kentucky-according-to-local-2021-9">Louisville</a> in 2005. Holland, a serial entrepreneur and real-estate developer, is a country boy at heart — he was born and raised in a small town in North Carolina — but he yearned for the kind of vibrant, walkable streets he'd come to love as a resident of Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood. He began renting office space at the edge of Louisville's downtown, in a run-down area that was home to, in his words, "lots of great, old buildings." Holland saw potential. But there was another issue. All the surrounding areas had "great brands": strong names with history behind them, like Butchertown, Smoketown, and Phoenix Hill. Holland's chosen zone, meanwhile, had no such calling card."I kept thinking, like, this part of town needs a brand," Holland told me.The local business association tried out "East Market District," which stuck for a little bit. But Holland was quietly floating another name, one that represented the "New-York-to-Louisville bridge" he was already building in his mind. When he opened an art gallery in the area, he lopped off the first syllable of each city and stitched them together. The result was NuLu.While some cities have processes for naming neighborhoods and defining their limits, most often things are more informal. Neighborhood names, as the law professors Nestor Davidson and David Fagundes noted in a 2019 paper, have long been a neat little trick of advertising devised by "real estate agents and developers, or community groups like neighborhood associations." An <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apartment-rent-increases-landlords-antitrust-lawsuits-real-estate-software-realpage-2024-4">apartment owner </a>might come up with a catchy name in a bid to draw new tenants, new arrivals might will a neighborhood into existence merely by saying it a lot, or some communities might band together to intentionally reclaim an area.These enterprising groups understand that neighborhood "brands" play an essential role in attracting new arrivals and helping them establish their place in a city (while also luring them to spend their dollars at the shops, art galleries, and restaurants in burgeoning areas). Neighborhood names are proxies for the kind of person you are or hope to become. We choose a neighborhood that matches our sense of self, the kind of place where we can find our people. Or we latch on to a neighborhood to craft a new identity, taking on the qualities of the area in which we live.Neighborhood names are also shorthand for your <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-renting-buying-affordability-mortgage-rates-home-prices-rent-2024-5">rent or mortgage payments</a>. A 2018 study from the online home-improvement platform Porch found that areas with "Hills," "Island," "Village," and "Oaks" tended to have the highest household incomes across the US. Areas with the Spanish words "Los" or "Las" in their names, on the other hand, were among the neighborhoods with the lowest incomes. In another 2018 study, researchers from McGill University and the University of Maryland noted that real-estate companies relied on neighborhood boundaries to compare prices across properties and that being associated with a desirable neighborhood could improve access to things like healthcare or lower mortgage rates.Neighborhood nicknames have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-gaudy-gilded-age-restaurants-bars-wall-street-2024-4">a rich tradition in New York</a>: There's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/soho-nyc-neighborhood-rezoning-battle-photos-2021-4">SoHo</a>, an abbreviation for South of Houston Street (which also appears to be the inspiration for the wave of two-syllable monikers that has followed), Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nyc-office-buildings-towers-became-housing-2023-9">FiDi</a> (the Financial District), and Tribeca (the Triangle Below Canal Street). Landlords in the city often try to stretch the boundaries of desirable neighborhoods when advertising their properties — I've rolled my eyes at listings that claimed to be in high-demand neighborhoods like the Lower East Side or Chelsea when no reasonable local would agree. This practice isn't unique to New York. The researchers from McGill and Maryland found that affluent or otherwise desirable neighborhoods around the country appeared to be much larger in the eyes of landlords advertising their properties on Craigslist than they were according to less biased third parties like Google Maps or city planning departments. Meanwhile, landlords who advertised rental properties in areas with lower-income, nonwhite communities were less likely to include the neighborhood's name in their listings."A single neighborhood name invokes a whole lot of different connotations or feelings for people," Grant McKenzie, a geography professor at McGill who was a member of the research team, told me. Landlords are all too aware of this effect — mention a neighborhood that has a negative connotation, and "it immediately jumps out in the listing," McKenzie said. The solution? Spin up new shorthand to drum up interest in an old neighborhood. But here's where things get cringey. In 2017, real-estate brokers in the historically Black New York neighborhood of Harlem sparked backlash when they tried to rebrand its south end as SoHa. Years earlier, Hakeem Jeffries, then a Democratic lawmaker in the New York State Assembly, had proposed legislation to ban neighborhood renaming, claiming the practice artificially inflated housing prices."Neighborhoods have a history, culture, and character that should not be tossed overboard whenever a Realtor decides it would be easier to market under another name," Jeffries told The New York Times in 2011.In some cases, a new neighborhood name might signal <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/miami-climate-change-gentrification-flooding-housing-crisis-real-estate-prices-2024-4">it's already too late</a>. Davidson told me that once a neighborhood has a lot of cachet, shortening its name, á la SoHo, can be a way of formally announcing its arrival."For better or worse, and I think often worse, it is a way of signaling exclusion and signaling that a certain kind of people are living in that neighborhood," Davidson said. "That can have consequences for gentrification or displacement."The SoHa controversy isn't unique to the Big Apple — in Denver, many developers proudly tout their buildings' locations in the River North Arts District, or RiNo, without mentioning that the district is a relatively new creation overlaid on part of the historically Black neighborhood of Five Points. The South Congress strip in Austin used to be home to a brothel and porn theater; today, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/14-best-austin-texas-neighborhoods-people-moving-2021-5">visit to SoCo</a> might include a splurge at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hermes-gen-z-resale-birkin-bag-2024-4">Hermès store</a> or a stroll past the members-only <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-soho-house-member-club-worth-fee-2024-3">Soho House</a>. For developers, brokers, or whoever else is behind these rebrands, the abbreviations are a kind of compromise, McKenzie said. They're not total erasures, but they're clearly designed with a fresh start in mind."It's an attempt to adjust things without blatantly coming in and putting a brand-new name that has nothing to do with the region," McKenzie said. "By shortening it to this sexy acronym, you're able to sort of mask a bit of the historical name that maybe has some negative connotation."Whatever the rationale behind some of these rebrands, it's hard to argue with the results. In the case of SoCo, a thriving retail district is certainly preferable to its seedy past. Louisville's NuLu neighborhood, which eventually caught on among other residents, has received more than half a billion dollars in investment since Holland coined the term around 2006, he told me. Bob Dylan's whiskey company is opening a restaurant, bar, and live-music venue there. The times are indeed a-changin'.I'm not a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yimbys-winning-lower-house-prices-rents-build-more-homes-neighborhoods-2023-9">NIMBY</a>. We need to build a lot more homes across all price points, and we need developers to move <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/america-build-infrastructure-transportation-housing-regulation-environment-2023-11">mountains of red tape</a> in order to make it all happen. At their best, new neighborhood names bring people together over a shared sense of pride in their little corner of the world. But at their worst, they're cynical chess moves designed to grease the wheels of gentrification.Along the way, these neighborhood names have veered into parody territory. In "How I Met Your Mother," Marshall and Lily buy an apartment in the fictional neighborhood of Dowisetrepla before realizing its name stands for Downwind of the Sewage Treatment Plant. When a "South Park" character urges his fellow citizens to revamp their town, the result is a new shopping district called SoDoSoPa. Like any good piece of satire, these names aren't too far off from their real-life inspiration. When a Redditor posts a map of Charlotte with a reference to WeLoSo (West of Lower South End), it can be hard to tell if they're kidding.But while jokes at the expense of Scrabble-tile neighborhood names have been around for years, I think we're destined to see a groundswell of new targets as pandemic-era transplants settle into their chosen <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-workers-flooding-zoomtowns-causing-affordable-housing-crisis-2022-5">Zoomtowns</a>. I'm not saying that neighborhood names should be set in stone — in fact, I think it's natural for them to evolve alongside their populations. But I think our cities, and their residents, deserve better than the lazy rebrands we've seen of late.Recently, one X user wondered aloud whether a section of Brooklyn's East Williamsburg neighborhood, outlined on a map in a yellow box, was worthy of a new name given its appeal to a specific kind of tech professional. The post drew some earnest comments ("East Willy!") and plenty of backlash ("i'm begging u pls don't make this a thing"). But one reaction, from the downtown gadfly known as Nolita Dirtbag — his own moniker a reference to the neighborhood that gets its name from a mashup of North of Little Italy — asked simply for a little introspection."Listen to yourself, man."<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/james-rodriguez">James Rodriguez</a> is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Discourse team.

The awful real-estate trend that's sweeping America

<keyword id="21381873" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Priyanka-Goswami" source="keywords">Priyanka Goswami</keyword> is an accomplished Indian <keyword id="22673137" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="racewalker" source="keywords">racewalker</keyword> known for her dedication and achievements in the sport. The 28-year-old athlete from Uttar Pradesh has made significant strides in her career, notably winning a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and another at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships. Despite these impressive accolades (which includes her second appearance at the Olympics) Goswami has recently found herself at the centre of a <keyword id="20638490" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-media-storm" source="keywords">social media storm</keyword> — not for her performance on the track, but for a now-deleted video she posted showing her using an air conditioner in her accommodation. <h2>Tough competition, somehow tougher critics</h2>As per reports, the Indian government had sent 40 AC units to the Olympic Games Village after the country’s athletes had complained of discomfort. Paris had begun to suffer from a sudden rise in temperature and humidity, which had impaired the quality of sleep of many athletes. Goswami and other Indian Olympians had made reels celebrating the move. However, social media platforms were quickly flooded with negative comments from disgruntled observers. Most of these were directed at Goswami, questioning her commitment and dedication to her sport. The criticism has been harsh, with some even blaming her less-than-stellar performance at the <keyword id="20201477" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Paris-2024-Olympics" source="keywords">Paris 2024 Olympics</keyword> as an outcome of the decision to “make reels” instead of “focusing on the sport”. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Priyanka Goswami finished 41st in the women's 20km race walk with a time of 1:39:55, significantly behind her personal best and national record of 1:28:45 set in 2021. This was her second Olympic appearance, having previously finished 17th at Tokyo 2020. Many critics were “generous” enough to point out the regression in rankings over the past Olympics. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="112283254" title="WATCH: Sweden’s Truls Moregard stuns Olympics crowd with an insane trick shot in table tennis final!" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>However, the fact that the 20km race walk is a demanding event that tests the limits of physical and mental endurance seemed to be lost on all of these faultfinders. Walking 20km in a single bout is challenging by itself; it is a whole other matter on the elite international stage. In racewalking, athletes have to maintain a rapid pace while adhering to strict technique rules, making it one of the most challenging disciplines in athletics. Many also pointed out that Goswami had been training in Switzerland on “taxpayer’s money”. While this may certainly be true, considering how the athlete herself had posted reels of the same, barely anyone seemed to acknowledge the fact that this was part of Goswami’s training. Athletes often train at high altitudes to prepare for big events because the thinner air means there is less oxygen to deliver to their muscles. This forces their bodies to work harder, leading to more efficient workouts. <h2>The struggles of race walking in India</h2>Race walking is certainly not an established sport in India, often overshadowed by more popular disciplines like cricket, badminton, and other athletics. This lack of recognition translates into limited resources and support for athletes who choose to pursue it. In addition, race walkers in India frequently face uncertainties regarding training facilities, funding, and opportunities to compete on international stages. Even in preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympics, Indian race walkers had to reportedly overcome significant hurdles, including confusion over the selection process, a lack of inadequate training infrastructure and limited exposure to high-level competitions. Despite these challenges, athletes like Priyanka Goswami remained committed to their sport, striving to make a mark on the international stage despite the odds stacked against them. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="112193514" title="Why have the Paris Olympics 2024 athletes been given over 2 lakh condoms?" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>However, the combination of these factors has led to India struggling to make a significant impact in Olympic race walking events so far. The best performance to date was by KT Irfan, who finished 10th at the London 2012 Olympics with a time of 1:20:21. In the men's 20km race walk this year, Vikash Singh finished 30th with a time of 1:22:36, and Paramjeet Singh Bisht placed 37th with a time of 1:23:48. Akshdeep Singh, who holds the national record, did not finish the race due to an early exit this year. <h2>Paris Olympics is already pretty TikTok-ified</h2>It has become common for Olympians, even high-level ones, to make TikToks. The platform provides a way for athletes to share behind-the-scenes content, offering fans a glimpse into their lives at the Olympics. While many appreciate this transparency and the personal connection it fosters, there is some criticism. Detractors argue that making TikToks can distract athletes from their training and competition focus. However, supporters believe it humanises athletes and promotes their sports to a broader audience. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="112227840" title="Paris Olympics: India beat Australia for first time in Olympics since 1972, finish 2nd in Pool B" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>Several international athletes have embraced TikTok to share their Olympic experiences, with team USA gymnast Suni Lee, Australian diver Sam Fricker, and rugby player Ilona Maher being notable examples. These athletes have provided unseen content, from life in the Olympic Village to personal training routines and competition moments. The backlash against Priyanka Goswami for using an air conditioner underscores the intense scrutiny athletes face, especially during high-stakes competitions like the Olympics. While her performance may not have met expectations, the harsh criticism highlights the pressures and challenges faced by elite athletes.

Why is the internet mad at an elite Indian Olympian for using the AC?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Beijing will pile up debts as it tries to revive China's economy, according to Fitch.</li><li>The ratings agency cut its outlook for China to negative on Wednesday.</li></ul>Fitch Ratings has cut its outlook for China, adding to the gloom surrounding the world's second-largest economy.Beijing is likely to pile up more debt as it tries to "transition away from property-reliant growth to what the government views as a more sustainable growth model," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fitchratings.com/research/sovereigns/fitch-revises-outlook-on-china-to-negative-affirms-at-a-09-04-2024">the credit ratings agency said</a>. It cut its outlook from "stable" to "negative," but maintained its overall rating at "A+."The move comes after Moody's Investor Services, another major credit-rating agency, also <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-economy-debt-crisis-moodys-bonds-evergrande-stock-market-analysis-2023-12">downgraded its outlook for China to "negative"</a> in December.Such downgrades tend to be a symptom of economic uncertainty, rather than a source of further misery. Fitch <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fitch-downgrades-us-credit-rating-deficit-debt-ceiling-2023-8">slashed its rating for the US</a> in August, citing political deadlock surrounding the debt-ceiling crisis. However, the downgrade did not <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/janet-yellen-feeling-good-us-soft-landing-economy-krugman-summers-2023-9">trigger a recession</a> or stop stocks from posting one of <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-ai-inflation-federal-reserve-rally-bull-market-2023-12">their best 12 months for many years</a>.Still, the Fitch move is a reminder of some of the issues plaguing the Chinese economy.Beijing has pledged to use fiscal policy to revive growth, which faltered last year. China's economy expanded by 5.2% last year — slightly ahead of policymakers' official target but far short of what many analysts and investors had expected.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-economy-deflation-global-markets-investors-beijing-inflation-policy-consumers-2024-2">Deflation has also become entrenched</a>, with consumer prices falling at their sharpest pace in 14 years in February. Analysts have pointed to this as a sign of weakening demand and confidence.All that doom and gloom is rooted in China's ongoing property-market crisis. Real estate was a huge growth engine <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-house-prices-real-estate-china-economy-world-recession-2023-11">from the mid-1990s until 2020</a>, but a government crackdown on borrowing since then has led to the collapse of big developers including <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-evergrande-property-real-estate-crisis-debts-collapse-what-happens-2024-2">Evergrande</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/country-garden-china-real-estate-problems-explainer-evergrande-2023-8">Country Garden</a>.A weak property sector has eroded the wealth of many people, subduing consumer spending. As a result Fitch expects economic growth to fall to 4.5% for 2024.The ratings agency said policymakers will probably have no choice but to borrow to address its economic woes. Fitch forecast that China's deficit as a percentage of GDP will climb to 7.1% this year, up from 5.8% in 2023. That's considerably higher than the US deficit, which equated to 6.2% of GDP at the end of last year, per data from the <a target="_blank" href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFSGDA188S">St Louis Federal Reserve</a>.China's finance ministry pushed back against Fitch's revised outlook, saying that any interventions it makes will aid growth and help the country shore up its debt burdens.Markets were little changed after Fitch's move, with 10-year government bond yields holding steady at just under 2.3%. The <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/usd-cny">Chinese yuan</a> traded flat against the US dollar, but the flagship <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/csi-300">CSI 300 index</a> closed 0.8% lower, bucking a global trend of stocks rising.

Fitch's negative outlook for China is more bad news for its stalling economy

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The trend involves a group standing in a circle, bopping, and shouting their main characteristics.</li><li>Corporate accounts have begun posting playful videos that follow the trend.</li></ul>A seemingly harmless <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-growth-gen-z-app-millennial-takeover-trends-youtube-2024-5">TikTok trend</a> that companies are jumping on could cause issues for employees, a lawyer has warned.The trend involves a group of people — typically women — standing in a circle, bopping, and shouting two of their main characteristics. For instance, one might chant: "Hoop earrings and a shirt."The trend is believed to have started in June when three friends <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@maisieisobel_/video/7386049383688703265">posted a clip</a> of their characteristic way of describing themselves, which was coined: "Boots and a slick back bun."It was meant to be a lighthearted way for women to hype each other up. Then, several business accounts began posting videos of their employees doing the meme as a way to introduce their staff on TikTok.One of those accounts was run by Australian brand Tbh Skincare.On July 8, a group of women from the company featured in a TikTok where they chanted their attributes, including "itty bitty titties and a bob" and "Gen Z boss and a mini."But while many considered it simple, lighthearted fun, the skincare company ran into trouble when its video spread farther afield.It amassed four million views and traversed off-platform. The trend started being referred to as "Gen Z Boss and a mini," and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/manosphere-widening-ideological-gap-between-young-men-women-gender-genz-2024-2">misogyny</a> directed at those featured in the clip ran rampant. <h2 id="21943c42-b803-4aba-8f65-8ea57e67d024">An unwelcome audience</h2><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teachers-and-parents-talk-about-andrew-tates-influence-on-kids-2023-1">Andrew Tate</a> reposted Tbh Skincare's video on X, claiming: "If you do not escape The Matrix, women like this will be your boss."The video was then further shared on X and Reddit, finding a new, less appreciative audience who described it as "peak corporate cringe" and "humiliating."Some told the women to "get back in the kitchen" and expressed wanting a return of "the gender pay gap."The Tbh Skincare women didn't take the criticism lying down, posting two more videos. In one, they poked fun at the sexism they were encountering, chanting some of the comments they'd received, including "it's giving millennial core," "fire them all," and "make it stop, hate this."Rachael Wilde, the company's cofounder and CMO, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/marketing/social-media/wrong-side-internet-tbh-skincare-responds-innocent-video-sexist-trolling/">told Smart Company</a> in a statement that they had found themselves "on the wrong side of the internet.""We were surprised to see innocent fun upsetting so many people online," she said. "Not sure how us doing a dance in the office warranted so much feedback and hatred like this."Craig Schweighoffer, the CEO of York St Brands, which encompasses Tbh Skincare and Boost Lab, told Business Insider in a statement that "our staff's safety and well-being is always at the forefront.""We have a workplace that employs 90% females and are proud of what the team is doing during this time," he said. <h2 id="c8360364-db03-4b8b-a54e-22d79fc36ed5">Legal troubles</h2>Still, the reaction shows that companies should be careful when engaging with social media trends, warned Roxanne Hart, an employment lawyer and the director of Hart &amp; Co Lawyers.Hart shared some of her concerns in her own TikTok, saying the women had become "the laughing stock of the internet" and the end result "could be limiting for their careers."Hart told BI the video had swerved into the "Wild West" of the internet, where even the most frivolous content posted by women can lead to rape and death threats.There's also an important power imbalance companies should consider before putting their employees out there for the world to see — especially if they are making comments about their bodies, Hart said."What happens when the 'freak in the sheets and a calculator' lady gets her next finance job, and the boys in the office start making jokes about her being a freak in the sheets?" she said. "She's supposed to just take that on the chin?"In Australia, where Tbh Skincare is based, mental health is covered by a workplace's insurance. So, if employees are affected mentally by being bullied online due to a social media video, they could make a claim, Hart said. She added that it's also a company's legal responsibility to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. The company will likely see a boost in exposure and sales from the virality, but the benefit to the staff is less clear."What are these staff getting out of it?" Hart said. "I don't think that they're influencers, they're just normal workers. What do they get out of just being embarrassed?"Staff should also be discerning about taking part in content that their workplace posts, Hart added."Be smarter about the things that you say, try to be funny in other ways," she said. "You don't need to reduce it to anything sexual, especially when you're dealing with young women. I think that's just going to lend itself to a lot of problems."The internet is forever, and young workers should assume anything posted will be visible to future employees, Hart said.Gen Zers and millennials have gotten "slightly too comfortable" with posting everything, she said."Probably like 10 to 15% too comfortable."In response, Wilde, the company's CMO, told BI in a statement that responses that "direct people to go look at the inappropriate comments" are "disappointing.""At the end of the day, we're choosing to focus on the positive comments," she said, which there have been many, and "not give too much attention to the negative.""I am so proud of how the team has handled it all," Wilde added. "We have all banded together and are supporting each other through it."

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