I'm going to venture the opinion that advertisements and ad-adjacent broadcast media is bursting with adults acting like kids, or adults acting like kids would

I'm going to venture the opinion that advertisements and ad-adjacent broadcast media is bursting with adults acting like kids, or adults acting like kids would imagine adults would act, or whatever's slightly appropriate for the product or show being vended. All the way from the "influencer" invented personality down to even where you wouldn't expect it, such as Mythbusters. So we invent the kidult, which is just a scapegoat for all of this -- oh, when will the kids grow up and realize they are adults and act like it? It's a sign, it's a symbol, for what we can't talk about, because you never, ever discuss the way the money influences us.