DALLAS, Jan 4, 2004/ FW/ --- 361 days left in 2004 --- What trends and fads will come our way this year?

According to "The Power of Pop Culture," a white paper released by Euro RSCG, we will see the quest for personal pleasure moving toward the extremes, where the fun and feeling are most intense, raw, and authentic.

From flash picnics to psychedelic mushrooms, raunchy fashion to "smirting" (smoking and flirting) on sidewalks, there will be a global outbreak of pleasure seeking.

"Kids always want to have fun, but the information we've collected suggests that more and more adults are looking for youthful, active, community-based kinds of pleasure that used to belong only to young people," says Ira Matathia, Managing Partner at Euro RSCG MVBMS Partners.

"There's a saying attributed to La Rochefoucauld: 'neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye.' We're seeing that now. People aren't allergic just to bad news, they're sick of everything that smells fake, phony, or contrived. And so they turn to available, affordable pleasure -- the more authentic the better. These days, 'real' rules."

Here are the predictions of Euro RSCG for the next 361 days.

These surreal gathering places were all the rage in Europe this summer. In Paris they closed the main roads by the Seine, dumped some 3,000 tons of sand everywhere, placed a few hundred deck chairs and beach umbrellas, and created "Paris-Plage." Urban beaches have also been spotted in Brussels, Amsterdam, and Germany.

Enjoying a return to the simple innocence of youth is the new activity of choice for hip adults. In Finland, sing-alongs and sledding are favorites among the grownup set.

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