As the aesthetic gained popularity, corporations attempted to co-opt it. Brands like Target and Urban Outfitters released "meloncore" collections featuring fruit prints and retro camcorder cases, which felt hollow to original creators. Worse, some new viewers began demanding that existing Melonstube creators "optimize" their content for SEO, leading to a schism between "Old Melon" (raw, unedited) and "New Melon" (strategically lo-fi).