Should we leave the Coldplay affair couple alone now?

Graziadaily

4 days ago

The last few days have felt unnerving. It began minutes after seeing the now super-viral clip of a man and a woman caught having an affair at a Coldplay concert. Seeing themselves onscreen to thousands around them, the pair turned and ducked from view, highlighting this was not a moment to be broadcast in 4k. In a perfect example of how the internet operates in 2025, their bodily movements have since been repeated across the world via TikTok, internet sleuths located everyone involved and 'alerted' the wife to her husband's infidelity, and fake (possibly AI-generated) apologies have made the rounds, along with suggestions of future Halloween costumes. You can't escape any of it.
It would be one thing for the story to stop there, but seeing the endless influx of content over the weekend felt like being forced into an all-you-can-eat chips contest with an giant red alarm going off in ten minutes. Feeling the urgency at which everyone rushed to add in their funniest commentary was one thing, but as is always the case in 2025, it was only a matter of minutes before brands would lean in (as we saw with Brat, 'very demure' and nearly every other internet culture trend since 2023). The difference being this involved real people who have been doxxed as a result.
Companies from Aldi to Lego rushed to contribute to this global viral moment, finding new ways to push their own products off the back of this story. IKEA posted a photo of their famous stuffed panda hugging a plushy orangutan from behind, like the viral couple were, and shared the image on Instagram with the caption 'Don't get caught... without these! Drama-free cuddles guaranteed' and labelled it, 'HR approved'. While Elon Musk's Tesla posted on X, which he also owns, 'Posting a pic of you enjoying your loaner Tesla while your own one is in service is the equivalent of taking it to a Coldplay concert. Your car will know.' Meanwhile, Private jet charter service GlobeAir shared, 'The quickest escape after a Coldplay concert' along with a Boston-to-Hawaii route image.
Regardless of your thoughts on infidelity or this particular moment, this event has blown up so much further than the average awful cheating situation would or should. I can't help but wonder what the wife, their families, the couple caught on camera would think or feel seeing Aldi meme the disintegration of their family and lives possibly. This isn't to blame anyone who liked or shared one of these posts, it's to ask when does this all go too far?
We're used to communicating through memes online. This is something I've felt passionately defensive of, and throughout my career, I've frequently found ways to explain why they're a means to protest, spread information and even interrogate complex trains of thought. But I'm also concerned that our savage, carnivorous consumption of internet trends has the potential to dehumanise people on mass scale and now with the grim bonus purpose of selling us things. It feels distinctly dystopian to see brands jumping onto this situation, seeing two people as a juicy marketing moment.
This sentiment is shared by a few online. Commenting on one company's satirical post, an X user said, 'You and your team should be ashamed of this,@ganeshunwired. It's a new low, taking someone's personal life to hawk a product.' Another wrote, 'Pathetic to make fun of someone's relationship to sell your stuff.'
Perhaps we need to be wary of how we're encouraging brands to act i.e. as if they're one of us and part of the fun. Often these are platforms will millions of subscribers each helping to normalise social media pile-ons by getting involved and adding to the jokes. The power imbalance is huge and quite frankly their aim is to act like our fun friend online while really getting us to open our pursestrings as a result. None of us benefit from this.
The man caught on camera - a CEO of a tech company - has already resigned from his job. The couple's Google searches will likely be a mess of memes, photos and responses for years if not forever. The internet never forgets. In comparison, brands will move onto the next viral moment and probably have already. This was just their impromptu social campaign last week and nothing more.
Ruchira Sharma is Acting Senior Editor at Grazia, where she writes and edits features for print and digital. From online dating culture, to cryptocurrency and online conspiracy theories, she's most interested by how online life shapes society, and co-hosts the pop culture podcast Everything Is Content.