The Sensations of Slime Are Serious Business

Businesses like the New York City slime museum and shop Sloomoo Institute are in growth mode; the business started as a pop-up in 2019 and reported $30 million in revenue in 2023. Social media influencers such as OG Slimes and Karina Garcia have built their brands—and large followings—by posting reviews and homespun slime recipes on TikTok and YouTube.

Slime is undeniably more popular than ever. Millions of people find it playful and soothing, and they actively seek out ways to make it, buy it, and watch others do the same. It appeals to all ages; Gen-Z kids, tweens, and even adults make and play with slime in their kitchens, on their living room floors, in their dorm rooms, and sometimes even in bed. All this messy fun is flanked by the fringe benefits of ASMR: boosted brain function, curbed anxiety, or more readily managed stress tied to breakups, work, and family.

From a business standpoint, there’s clearly money to be made. Elmers’ market research shows that college-age kids consume 81 percent of slime content on social media, while #slime videos across all ages accounted for 360 million views in May 2024. At the same time, Sloomoo is expanding its reach, adding new locations in Houston and Los Angeles.

At the center of this positive momentum are bottles and bottles of the slime-lover’s favorite ingredient: Elmer’s Glue.

“It’s funny to hear some of the language that slime is ‘back,’” says Nikki Lesperance, marketing director at Newell Brands. “Slime never went away. It’s a new category to market, and it’s part of our DNA now.”

As part of a new marketing effort, Elmer’s is launching a digital hub dedicated to slime-making. The special website, called Elmer’s Creations, is filled with new slime recipes (Mello Mallow, Lightning in a Bottle) and features some new products developed just for this ASMR crowd. One of the new Elmer’s products, Squishies, are stress-ball-like squeezable, squishable toys molded in the shapes of 12 different characters. They offer many of the same benefits of slime—the sensory experience of stretching and pulling, the customizable colors and shapes, or the addition of visually stimulating elements like glitter. Importantly, the Squishies kits focus on the process of making more than the resultant product.

When Craig Richard was a kid, he would grab a pillow, put an episode of The Joy of Painting on the television, and fall asleep on the floor of his family’s living room while listening to the soft tones of Bob Ross’ voice and the delicate swishes of his paintbrush on the canvas. Richard didn’t realize then that those Bob Ross naps were facilitated by the calm of an ASMR high. Today, Richard researches biomedical sciences at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, and coordinates one of the largest databases of ASMR research in the world.

Since starting this work in 2014, Richard has been learning how ASMR works and why individuals of all ages have found it beneficial in managing stress, anxiety, and overall wellness. “We did a brain scan study,” he says. “Individuals watched ASMR videos during the scan. We could see which areas of the brain were more active. A couple of the regions lit up and lined up with hormones I proposed, like oxytocin. The love hormone, the trust hormone, the hug hormone. It’s released when you receive positive personal attention from a kind or caring person.” In biomedical science, the release of hormones tied to receiving personal attention is called affiliate behavior, says Richard, citing the most common example of monkeys or apes grooming their loved ones. Watching an ASMR-triggering slime video, says Richard, evokes the same brain response as affiliate behavior.