Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Patrick Ta vs. Painted by Esther, Olivia Jade o.piccola reviews, James Charles + Suave Activewear updates

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MINI SCROLL: Patrick Ta vs. Painted by Esther, Olivia Jade o.piccola reviews, James Charles + Suave Activewear updates · Mini Scroll

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Coming up today on Mini Scroll, Patrick Taw versus Painted by
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Esther, Olivia Jade's makeup brand shade range Backlash, a
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James Charles update and a suave activewear update.
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Hi, everyone. Welcome to Mini Scroll, the
0:17
daily Internet culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories
0:19
from social media, the creator economy and the digital space.
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Every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
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I'm your host, Lauren Meisner, the founder of the youth digital
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media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Scroll,
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everyone. OK, more than one of you
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commented on my outfit on Friday, saying that I looked
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like I was either in a chipmunk costume or a bear costume.
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I have worn that sweater so many times on this pod.
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I swear I've never heard that before.
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And all of a sudden I get multiple comments about it on
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YouTube and TikTok specifically. I was literally dying.
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I'm like, what the hell? So Needless to say, I'm never
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wearing that sweater again on the pod.
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All right? And I'm so excited because
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today's episode is sponsored by The Commons, Australia's premium
1:03
Co working space. The Commons is truly a main
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character in the Centennial World cinematic universe as the
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Chippendale location in Sydney has been our home for over 5
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years and it's where we record this podcast every single day.
1:15
Whether you're a creative escaping the Home Office or a
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business owner looking to scale, The Commons offers beautifully
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designed spaces and a genuine sense of community across Sydney
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and Melbourne. And while the spaces are
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stunning, it's the team that really makes a difference.
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Their support for growing businesses has enabled
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Centennial world success and sometimes survival over the
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years. If you're looking for a Co
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working space that feels considered, it's community LED
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and actually backs to people working there, head to
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thecommons.com dot AU. All right, let's just get into
1:45
the stories for today. The first story that I have for
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you guys today is celebrity makeup artist Patrick Todd is
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facing claims of plagiarism after allegedly copying Painted
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by Esther's Here's blush technique.
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So for context, painted by Esther is a popular makeup
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artist online known for doing makeup on Tylus is Alandria
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Carthen from Love Island season 7 and others.
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She has become particularly well known for her bold and bright
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blush application. Bright blush, bright blush.
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OK, I got it. Especially on deeper skin tones,
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Her technique involves blending blushes and concealer directly
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under the eyes, and then blending it all out with a
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powder puff. All right, so where are these
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accusations come in? Patrick Taw recently announced a
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launch of Transition Blurring Blushes, a collection that
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includes liquid blushes and a blurring blush powder.
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Social media users were quick to call out Patrick Taw Beauty for
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this launch, noting A similarity between these products and
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Painted by Esther's technique to apply blush.
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They were especially suspicious of the tutorial he posted, which
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was pretty similar to Painted by Esther's recent one and
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Fricosis. So essentially people are
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accusing Patrick Todd of stealing from another makeup
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artist without giving any credit.
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Now, for context, Painted by Esther is a black woman, which
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is a demographic that is consistently ignored by the
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beauty industry while also consistently having their
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techniques and beauty standards appropriated by the masses.
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So that has been a massive point of contention here because also
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users claim there are other instances where Patrick Tog
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capitalized on black consumers. In 2024, beauty creator of On a
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Sunshine called out Patrick Tog Beauty for failing to compensate
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black creators for their promotional content.
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So there have been many different takes circulating
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online. Most people are defending
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Painted By. Aster, my biggest issue with the
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Patrick Tog transition blushes isn't just that they're $34.37
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with tax mind you, or the fact that it's claiming to be this
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new innovative category pushing makeup board because it's not
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there are so many sheer blushes in Korean makeup.
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I'm using an $8 one right now, but it's the fact that they did
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not credit Painted by Esther. Yes, no one owns the Internet
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and oftentimes it's very difficult to pinpoint exactly
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where beauty trends come from, but that is absolutely not the
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case for the blush trend that has been popularized by Esther.
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The. Second I saw this PR I thought
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of painted by Esther. Patrick Todd brought us
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two-story books for his new launch of his transition, Blush.
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Don't worry, I have the products here I'm going to demo in the
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West. Historically, Blush goes on
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cheekbone in the East, as in Korea, Japan, historically blush
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goes right here on the cheek. Judy Lim actually makes amazing
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content about this, having seen the evolution of this technique
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be more westernized. What we started to notice with
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artists like Painted by Esther is that we're starting to take
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that blush all the way up to your under eye.
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The way that Painted by Esther does this is with bright pink
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color correctors blending out loose powder that's brightening.
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But now what you're watching happen beauty Queens is some one
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create a new product category for the market transition
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blurring blush duo I'm. Probably going to get kicked off
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the PR list. OK, you guys know we had to talk
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about this. Let's talk about what everybody
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in the beauty community is currently buzzing about from one
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of your resident blush Queens and a Pearl makeup artist
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transition blush. And of course.
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The launch. That everybody is talking about.
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First things first, I want to say that transition blush as a
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technique has been around for a very long time.
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Insert photos of Captain Quan. I think this is like 19891990.
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Makeup is artistry. We're inspired by each other, by
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art and the things that were once created before us.
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Insert look of mine from 2022. Using two separate blushes to
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create a blushy baby pink look are absolutely artists who have
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become the face of certain techniques because they've
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mastered it to the point where it is absolutely perfection.
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Insert painted by Esther. The main take away is that
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Painted by Esther may have not been the only person to develop
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this technique, but she is the one who is associated with it in
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the mainstream at the moment and like really brought it to the
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masses, at least in the West. With that context, people are
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arguing that she should have at least been credited and one way
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or another or like collaborated with.
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No one is saying that she invented this technique, but
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it's something that she's become known for and something that she
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has brought into the mainstream. So how amazing would it have
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been if they hired her as the makeup artist for this product
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launch? Or she could have been the
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model, you know, like there were so many ways to incorporate her
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into this. All right, so Painted by Esther
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has spoken out about the situation and the video is quite
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emotional. She touches on how it feels to
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speak out about this kind of situation as a Black woman and
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what ownership looks like in beauty, saying she never claimed
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to invent the technique. She also noted how she's had
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weird experiences with Patrick Taw in the past.
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She claimed that somebody associated with Patrick Taw's
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team requested an appointment for Esther to do their makeup.
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However, they then requested if they could film Esther doing the
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makeup, which made her feel uncomfortable, so she ended up
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canceling the appointment. I'm actually getting tired of
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constantly being spoken for and being scared to speak because I
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am a black woman. And it's not even about being a
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victim, it's about this is just how it is.
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The second you say something, it's it you, you, you instantly
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look disgruntled and angry and all the things I'm not angry.
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My life is amazing. God is good.
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I have a great life. I have great clients, I have
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great family, I have great friends around me.
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You know, I'm very happy and fulfilled and it's taken me a
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long time to get here. But what this whole thing is,
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is, is particularly strange to me 'cause I spend a lot of my
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own money and I spend a lot of my own time and I spend so much
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effort doing something and holding something.
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Nobody can say I've, I've actually never one time said I
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started anything. You cannot find me a singular
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tweet prove anything that I have ever said.
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I started this. That's silly.
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I'm an artist and I come. I come from the the my my goal
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is to constantly reference artists like Kevin Lequan and
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and Danessa and Pat and how they move with Grayson or and how
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they move with with intention and intentionality.
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When I do things, I constantly I'm I'm aware of what I'm doing
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and what I don't like is when people try to rush you to do
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things. You're silly because you didn't
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pay into it. You're silly because you should
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have said it was your no, because I also I'm not giving
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that grace to fully take ownership for anything because
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it instantly is met with what you didn't start it or you
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didn't create it. How dare you?
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So I've just never even claimed that The second part of it is I
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have had really weird experiences with Patrick.
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This is not all my friends know. They can attest for me because I
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I speak about this to them. The weirdest one recently, I
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can't. I want to, I want to see this in
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about two or three. The weirdest one recently was I
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was in Lai get an A, a, a booking request from the other
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half of Patrick Tarr. So it's not just him, There's
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another half of him, which is Rimian Rimi.
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I don't want to mispronounce her name.
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I genuinely don't know how to pronounce it.
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So she asked to book me, She's messaged me, she's texted me.
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She's got my number through a hairstylist.
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I'd just recently done a collab look with so I've accepted the
9:06
request. I don't normally accept requests
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directly to me. My agent handles that.
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She has asked to book me for a do and go.
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A do and go means you do it and you leave.
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There's no in between, right? You don't, it's not a one to one
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lesson. It's not a, it's not a teaching
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lesson. It's none of that.
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If you do it and you leave. She has booked me and then on
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the day of the booking I get a text from my agent.
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Oh, so and so wants to record you during the glam, to which I
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said no. That doesn't sit right with me.
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It's already hard being black. Being a woman in this industry,
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you have to genuinely fight twice as hard to get just just
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just half. So now Patrick Cha has issued a
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statement because honestly, there's no way that he couldn't.
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Every single comment section promoting this new product,
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including the influencer collaborations and the PR and
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stuff is literally just filled with people supporting Ester.
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So he wrote in a caption quote. I started working on Transition
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Blush 1 1/2 years ago. I wanted to create a product
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that was specifically made for this blush look.
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I do not own this look at Painted by Ester.
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She is amazing and so talented. She popularized this look
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through her work and through Alandria.
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I also been doing this blush look since 2021.
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Not the same as Esther but my own version.
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I'm a makeup artist for context. I filmed this video on March
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5th. I have nothing but love and
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respect for Esther. There are definitely some users
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that are supporting Patrick, given this is not a technique
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that, like we said, was invented by Esther and it's actually one
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that has existed in K Beauty and C Beauty for literally hundreds
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and hundreds and hundreds of years.
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This is how the makeup industry works in the sense that a style
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becomes trending and then makeup brands jump on to create product
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to suit that trend or that style.
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So I can understand that perspective, but I think it's
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really like Patrick's background and his reputation, people being
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really upset that there was no effort to even support Esther in
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this case, collaborate with her at all.
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And he also apparently has trademarked transition blush.
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One comment on a real reads quote.
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Also, in my opinion, it's a money grab to make a transition
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blush product. You can literally make that
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yourself. I tried to do transition blush
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today with one single blush. I'm not very good at it, but I'm
11:28
going to keep trying. I do feel like this is a product
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that is like not needed. I mean every product is
11:32
technically not needed, but this one in particular anyways.
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Let me know what you guys think about that one.
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The next story that I have for you guys today is in a similar
11:39
vein within the beauty industry. This is a beauty heavy episode.
11:43
It feels very OG Centennial. For those of you that know, you
11:48
know that Centennial started a Centennial Beauty and we
11:50
specifically covered the beauty industry, like the online beauty
11:53
industry and beauty creators and all of that.
11:56
And then we really expanded beyond that, obviously like a
11:58
couple years in. So this episode it really feels
12:02
like a hark back to our OG days. OK, so we're going to talk about
12:06
the backlash around Olivia Jade's new brand, Opiqua.
12:10
So around 2 weeks ago, Olivia Jade officially launched her
12:13
beauty brand Opiqua. The brand launched with one
12:15
product, the bronze and glow bomb, a dual ended highlighter
12:19
and bronze stick. It launched with three shades,
12:22
light, medium and dark, which I will get into shortly.
12:25
The bomb really leans into the clean girl natural makeup vibe,
12:28
which is definitely Olivia's go to makeup look.
12:32
There's also a focus on skin care, so the About Us page reads
12:35
quote. As my style evolved toward a
12:37
cleaner, more natural approach to beauty makeup that looks like
12:40
you but better, I focused on creating formulas that were skin
12:43
like, versatile and skin loving. I spent the last five years
12:46
researching and testing manufacturers around the world
12:48
before ultimately choosing South Korea for our production.
12:51
Now, since the launch, all the products have sold out.
12:54
In saying that, the brand has not been without its criticism.
12:57
So Olivia has been talking about her beauty brand for a very long
13:01
time and social media users were initially upset that she was
13:04
only launching with one product. However, her brand is entirely
13:08
self funded, so that obviously makes her capacity to launch
13:12
with multiple products limited compared to other brands that
13:15
might have investors or backers. So that was the first piece of
13:18
criticism, which I don't think is necessarily a valid
13:22
criticism. I actually think sometimes it's
13:24
better for brands to launch with one single product and get that
13:27
really right. However, arguably they have not
13:31
gotten that really right. There have already been lots of
13:34
complaints of the company sending out the wrong shades to
13:37
customers, and then the most damning piece of criticism has
13:41
been about the shade range. So over the weekend, Gloria
13:44
shared her review on The Bomb. As we know, Gloria is one of the
13:47
most influential beauty creators in the space right now and she
13:51
puts a lot of effort into testing products, specifically
13:54
new launches, to see if they actually are inclusive and if
13:58
they actually have very deep shades and things like that.
14:00
So over the weekend she shared her review of The Bomb and it
14:03
was not very good. The darkest bronzer shade
14:06
bronzer was not even deep enough for her skin tone.
14:09
This is the darkest shade of Olivia Jade's Opicola Bronzer.
14:13
Bronzer. Hello, the website literally
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says maintaining a natural skin like finish across a range of
14:24
skin tones. I think that's why this is
14:25
bigger than the bronzer because if deep skin is included in the
14:28
promise and it should be fully considered in the performance.
14:32
Because there's a difference between a product actually just
14:34
showing up on dark skin and actually doing what it's
14:36
intended to do, creating warmth, depth, the dimension.
14:40
And people with dark skin are constantly expected to just
14:42
accept that gap. Many of the comments under the
14:44
video went on to bring up the fact that the brand was self
14:47
funded, to which Gloria lol. Being self funded is not an
14:50
excuse to leave out dark skin, especially when dark skinned
14:54
consumers are still expected to support, market and emotionally
14:56
invest in brands that did not fully consider them from the
14:59
beginning. Launching with only three shades
15:01
was still a choice. And then she also responded to a
15:04
comment that defended Olivia, noting that there are other self
15:07
funded brands that launched with an inclusive shade range.
15:10
On the topic of self funded, there has also been quite a lot
15:13
of conversation about how Olivia Jade is like a quote UN quote
15:15
neppo baby and isn't someone who is starting from scratch in the
15:19
same way as other brands. Well we obviously don't know
15:23
Olivia and her brands like Financial Breakdown.
15:26
That is a valid point. Like she is already starting
15:29
from a place of ACT access and resources and the brand was
15:32
still not inclusive enough by any means.
15:36
Also, she absolutely could have gotten funding off the back of
15:39
her name 100% if she really wanted to launch with something
15:43
inclusive and if it was going to be that expensive.
15:45
And I understand wanting to keep your brand completely to
15:50
yourself. Like she might have a strategy
15:51
behind this, but she should have anticipated this type of
15:54
feedback. You know?
15:55
Like she already has a spotlight on her.
15:57
And at the end of the day, like if you can and not afford to
16:01
launch an inclusive shade range in a base product, then launch
16:05
something else first. Because when you are leaving so
16:08
many skin tones out, you are basically saying these are the
16:12
shades, like the skin tone shades that we anticipate will
16:16
buy this. This is like who we're marketing
16:17
to. It goes so far beyond just being
16:21
unable to like self fund an entire range at the time of
16:24
recording the brand nor Olivia have addressed this feedback.
16:28
OK, the next story that I have for you guys today.
16:30
So my final two stories are like updates on bigger stories from
16:33
last week. So we have a James Charles
16:35
update. OK, so James Charles, he's made
16:38
a third video addressing the Spirit airline saga.
16:42
In classic apology video fashion, he sat down in front of
16:45
the camera and tried to take accountability for his actions
16:48
again. The video that I posted two
16:50
weeks ago now about the Spirit airline situation was awful.
16:53
That video was terrible. It was nasty, it was
16:56
disrespectful, it was completely unnecessary, and seeing clips
16:59
about all of my For You page is embarrassing to say the least.
17:03
There is no excuse for making that video, so I'm not going to
17:06
sit down today and try to give you 1.
17:08
I fucked up point blank. Period.
17:09
This time it was posted on his main account, which I mean the
17:13
original video was on his spam, but I think because this has
17:16
blown up so much, I think it was right that he did this on his
17:20
main account. So he explained that the initial
17:22
video posted was like I said, on his spam where every video is
17:27
him crashing out. While the Spirit Airlines video
17:29
was a similar style, he said that nothing about that video
17:32
was in line with the typical content that he posts on this
17:34
account. James also spoke about the
17:36
claims that he is only making apology videos about the
17:38
situation because of the backlash.
17:41
He admits that's true, but not because he's trying to save his
17:43
career, but because that is what it embarrassingly took for him
17:48
to realize that the content was harmful.
17:50
With this, James says that he has spent the last two weeks
17:52
reading about the current job market and listening to people
17:55
sharing their experiences about unemployment, which has been eye
17:58
opening for him. He also recognized that because
18:01
of his privilege, he wasn't aware of the situation.
18:04
So he finishes the video by announcing The Painted Project,
18:07
an organization at James's building to help people in need
18:10
that have been impacted by a crisis.
18:12
He has contributed 250,000 of his personal finances to the
18:16
project. In the video, he explains that
18:17
there will be 3 phases to this launch, with the first one
18:20
starting next week. It will be crisis funding, which
18:23
he described as quote, immediate financial assistance for people
18:27
who've lost their job in any industry and need financial
18:29
support. The next two phases will come
18:31
later but will involve working with local organization and
18:34
establishing scholarships for creative education programs.
18:38
OK so the comments on TikTok are quite split.
18:40
There are quite a few comments saying things along the lines of
18:43
like it's not that deep. Personally, I don't see the
18:45
issue. While other social media users
18:47
are praising James for taking this step, as one user wrote
18:50
quote at least is trying to make it right.
18:52
The broader discourse seems to be pretty skeptical of this
18:55
project. Users including spill Sash have
18:58
raised questions asking if the painted project is genuine or if
19:01
it's a tax write off. I mean, it probably will be a
19:04
tax write off, but I I think the reality of him launching this is
19:10
while he has had so many scandals in the past, I actually
19:13
feel like this is possibly the thing that was going to push
19:17
James's career over the edge into a space where he can
19:21
possibly not return from in a meaningful way.
19:25
You would think of some of the other things he's done would
19:27
have put him in that position, but this has happened in a time
19:31
when virality becomes mainstream news.
19:35
I think that's a huge difference with scandals now versus things
19:39
that happened in James's earlier career around like the BI sister
19:42
era and when he was making those videos, admitting that he had
19:46
message boys and things like that.
19:47
That was pre mainstream media tapping in.
19:50
So I think it was easier for scandals to stay within a more
19:54
confined space in Internet culture.
19:57
And in those videos, while he did admit to some of these
19:59
things. There was always, you know, a
20:01
reason behind it, like an excuse behind.
20:03
It's like, well, he told me he was 18 or whatever.
20:06
This is like so black and white. He made this video.
20:10
We all saw it. We also all saw him double down
20:13
on this. So while I don't necessarily
20:14
think it's right that this video had to happen for the wider
20:19
industry to question James and to question if they should be
20:22
like working with him and supporting him and following him
20:24
and all of that. Like, I actually think that out
20:26
of all of the scandals he's had, this is one of the most damning
20:29
ones in terms of career repercussions.
20:32
And I think that's why he's making this foundation, OK.
20:36
And the last story that I have for you guys say this is
20:38
diabolical you guys, there is a Suave Activewear update.
20:42
So last week I covered the Suave Activewear controversy that's
20:45
gone viral. For an incredibly quick recap.
20:48
There is this Perth based activewear brand called Suave
20:51
Activewear. A few weeks ago, one of the
20:54
founders posted a video saying they're activewear brand was
20:57
failing and they were asking for advice.
20:58
And they got tons of amazing advice and some huge creators in
21:03
the business space stitched them, including Brittany
21:05
Saunders and gave them really valuable advice.
21:08
OK, so after this video, they were quite visible because they
21:11
had this viral moment and everybody was cheering them on
21:13
and trying to support them and like Australians love to support
21:16
Australian brands and everybody was just like really excited to
21:19
get behind this like grassroots brand.
21:22
Then amid this kind of viral moment, this like exciting viral
21:26
moment for them, one of the Co founders, Chloe, they're
21:29
married. Connor and Chloe posted a story
21:34
to Snapchat and it got reshared everywhere of her making fun of
21:38
somebody using a rowing machine at the gym and they own an
21:41
active Wear brand. So I mean, this wouldn't go over
21:45
well in general with a public figure, but especially one who
21:48
owns an active wear brand. So this really blew up.
21:52
Joey Swoll posted about it. He also made a dedicated YouTube
21:54
video since I last talked to you guys about this story.
21:57
So it really exploded and everybody was really, really
22:00
angry that they had supported this brand.
22:02
Connor made an apology video and people were like, we want to
22:05
hear from Chloe, like this is a cop out from her.
22:08
She should be the one apologizing in my opinion.
22:10
I think they actually should have just apologized together.
22:12
But anyways, then she made an apology video.
22:14
It didn't go down that well. People kind of felt like it was
22:17
not super genuine or sincere. And that is always going to be
22:19
the take, right? When somebody gets called out
22:21
for behavior, no matter how authentic it feels, I think
22:25
there's always going to be a huge subset of people that don't
22:27
believe it. So regardless, these videos went
22:30
up and then they kept posting. So instead of listening to a lot
22:34
of the PR advice that they were getting where it's like, OK, you
22:37
did the apologies, people are still really angry.
22:40
Take a step back. They kept posting.
22:42
So they were doing like pack orders with me and all this
22:45
other type of content trying to basically, like post through the
22:48
scandal. And in a scandal like this, as
22:51
Internet culture aficionados, we know that the reason why PR
22:57
professionals would advise you to stop posting amid A
23:02
controversy, people need time to almost like forget what happened
23:07
or to allow it to blow over. Otherwise, your comments and
23:09
your DMS as you continue to put yourself out there and be
23:13
visible amid this controversy are just going to be flooded,
23:16
like flooded with hate. And presumably that is what
23:20
happened here because over the weekend, Connor made a video
23:23
crashing out about the fact that the Internet had not gotten over
23:26
what happened yet, even though it's been like a matter of days.
23:29
And before I play this video for you, I do want to note that
23:32
Connor shared screenshots of really horrible things that
23:35
people were D Ming them, like hoping that Chloe get sexually
23:38
assaulted and stuff like that. Really horrific things.
23:42
And you know, I don't think I need to tell you guys this, but
23:45
the wider Internet, like we can criticize and question without
23:50
wishing harm on people, that is crossing so many lines.
23:54
And I do understand why it would be incredibly hard on your
23:57
mental health to deal with influx of comments like that.
24:00
However, that is also partly why PR professionals would advise
24:03
you to take step back from social media so you do not see
24:06
that and that your content doesn't continue to fan the
24:08
flames. Because it feels like you just
24:10
don't actually really care about what happened when, you know, 24
24:14
hours after your apology videos, you guys are like, pack some
24:16
orders with us. Like we're so viral and
24:18
everybody's still ordering from us all.
24:20
Right motherfuckers, you asked for an apology.
24:22
You got two of them. It still wasn't fucking good
24:24
enough. Now I'm going to fucking bite
24:26
back. You woke left hard keyboard
24:29
warrior motherfuckers sitting behind your fucking screens on
24:33
your little faceless profiles bullying away.
24:36
My wife filmed a fucking video that 80% of you would have
24:40
filmed yourself. It just would have ended up in a
24:43
fucking group chat. Not like that Dick head and put
24:45
on a main story. While you all claim to be having
24:48
the moral high ground and making her take accountability for her
24:51
actions, you are fucking doing the exact same thing.
24:55
You are accusing her of this bitch.
24:57
This bitch deserve to be bullied into.
25:00
Yeah right. I mean, is this not bullying
25:02
this bitch too bullying? You guys diabolical, OK And then
25:08
he keeps going this video and he claimed to file a trademark for
25:12
a competing Australian activewear brand who had been
25:15
making content about the situation.
25:17
Don't. Even get me started on this
25:19
fucking bottom feeder fuck you. Like this is you commenting on a
25:23
screenshot applauding someone that has got a group of 25 plus
25:27
people. That's intimidation, claiming
25:29
that they're going to go and do the same thing to Chloe and that
25:32
is their fucking mission and seven videos on the same topic.
25:35
Mate, you have set a record, but guess what in business you do
25:39
actually learn something and that's called trademarking.
25:41
All right, you haven't done it. I figured out how to elite Lyft
25:45
wear coat now owned by Conor Wright.
25:47
Fuck you Stay tuned for the cease and decease letter.
25:49
It's best 250 bucks I ever. Spent I will note with the
25:52
trademark stuff. Well, it is possible he filed to
25:56
trademark that name Trade marking in Australia takes like
25:59
7 to 12 months and you can contest it.
26:02
And now obviously there is this very public, very viral video
26:06
that even though he has deleted the video, it's everywhere where
26:09
he is saying he filed this trademark essentially as like
26:12
revenge. So I think for the founder of
26:15
the other brand contesting it will not be that challenging
26:19
with evidence like that. The founder of that brand has
26:21
actually addressed it and said we were going through a rebrand
26:23
anyways, like weeks and weeks before all this happened.
26:26
So you just filed A trademark for something that we're not
26:28
even going to really be using in the future.
26:31
And I also now have this as evidence to contest your
26:33
trademark. Now Brittany Saunders, like I
26:35
said, she was one of the original business creators that
26:38
posted. She made like a 10 minute long
26:40
video like giving them really, really solid advice and she has
26:44
now made a follow up obviously off the back of all of this and
26:47
here is snippets of what she said.
26:50
Let's talk about Suave Activewear because a lot has
26:52
happened since my original video, and I think what we have
26:56
here is a very good example of how not to go about things
27:01
online when you're trying to build a business.
27:05
And as always, I have a lot to say, PR moves that I would make.
27:09
If I was in Connor's position, I would have obviously posted my
27:14
apology video. Whether it was both of them
27:16
separately the way that they did, or sit down together and
27:19
make an apology video, then I would have let it be.
27:23
I would have gone quiet on social media for a little while.
27:27
Whereas what Connor has done is they've both made an apology
27:30
video. The Internet has kind of said
27:31
you don't even seem sorry or you don't seem to care.
27:35
And then he's going back into just making regular videos,
27:39
packing orders and also then has come out with his other video
27:43
basically saying fuck all of you.
27:45
I don't give a shit, which it's just not creating the best look.
27:52
And it just makes me wonder if Connor is thinking about the
27:57
long term with his business, like if it's something that he
28:02
wants to do genuinely for a long time.
28:06
This is not how you go about building a community online.
28:10
Be like, fuck yous all. And I'm still going to pack
28:12
these orders. Like it just gives off the wrong
28:15
kind of vibes. Now, one thing that I keep going
28:18
back to, which I don't know, I don't see a lot of people
28:21
commenting on is what Connor said in his original video where
28:25
he was asking everyone for help was that he knows how to go
28:29
viral. He said that himself.
28:31
He said, I know how to go viral. I've gone viral so many times.
28:35
And my advice to him in my response was going viral isn't
28:39
always like the goal. And I can't help but wonder in
28:44
all of this that's been happening with this suave brand.
28:47
Like, there's literally been news articles on, I can't help
28:51
but wonder if Connor is just happy with the attention because
28:56
that's what he knows how to get. But that whole video just came
28:59
across completely aggressive. And again, Connor, going back to
29:02
your original video of you saying my business is failing
29:05
and me responding to you saying like, you need to build a
29:08
community by being aggressive online.
29:11
Like it's just the complete wrong way to go about building a
29:13
community. Sure, you're building some sort
29:16
of community, but it's not a genuine one that's going to
29:19
last, you know, a very long time and anyone out there in business
29:23
will know. Business is a long term thing
29:26
and you can't sustain something that's built off the back of
29:29
being aggressive online and going viral for all the wrong
29:33
reasons. Like, sure, it might be cool now
29:35
that you're getting loads of views on your videos and maybe
29:38
people are ordering because of the drama, but it's not
29:41
sustainable. So where to from here?
29:43
And what would I do if I was in Connor's position?
29:46
I honestly think that he has dug himself a pretty pole that is
29:50
going to take a very long time to get out of.
29:54
I would definitely be taking a break at this point and letting
29:57
the dust settle. I think it has blown up so big
30:00
now that Connor is probably never going to be able to
30:04
escape. This, you know, it's really
30:05
interesting because I sat up here last time we talked about
30:07
this and I said I fear they don't have a loyal enough
30:12
customer base to come back from this.
30:13
And now I fear that is even more the case.
30:18
I do not know how they come back from this.
30:20
I guess they're pandering to like the extreme right wing who
30:24
think it's really funny that he called everybody like woke
30:26
libtards or whatever. But other than that incredibly
30:29
like fringe group of people. I do not know how they come back
30:35
from this in terms of a customer base.
30:37
Hi everyone. OK editing Lauren here.
30:40
As I was editing, I saw that Connor posted a statement on his
30:44
TikTok. So here it is.
30:46
I posted a video I shouldn't have, and then I deleted it.
30:49
It came from a place of anger and honestly, fear.
30:52
After days of nonstop hate, threats, trolling, and people
30:55
trying to tear our lives apart online, I was reacting
30:58
emotionally to the intensity of everything happening around us.
31:00
Myself and Chloe genuinely appreciate the constructive
31:03
criticism we've received through this situation.
31:06
We want to thank the people who approached it fairly and
31:08
respectfully. People keep saying he showed his
31:10
true colors, and honestly, maybe I did.
31:12
If you hit someone with thousands of hateful comments,
31:14
threats, and people coming after their wife and family for days
31:17
straight, eventually you're going to see a side of them that
31:19
is angry and reactive. That still doesn't make the
31:22
video right, but is the honest truth about where my head was
31:24
at. I've always been a blunt person
31:26
online and I know that comes with criticism.
31:28
I can usually handle heat and criticism just fine.
31:31
But over the last week everything became pretty rough
31:33
and eventually I snapped. After taking time to reflect, I
31:36
realized all I really did was give trolls more fuel and
31:38
further upset people. I am sorry for that.
31:41
To be completely clear, we do not believe in bullying people
31:44
over how they use gym equipment. What happened was a thoughtless
31:47
mistake that crossed the line and we are sorry for it.
31:49
Our apology video still stand and we genuinely mean them.
31:52
We also want to extend a sincere apology to the man who was
31:55
filmed. We honestly do not know whether
31:57
he is even aware of how far the situation spread online or
32:00
whether making him aware would do more harm than good.
32:02
But if you happen to see this, please DM us.
32:05
We would genuinely love to pay for your gym membership for a
32:07
year. At the end of the day, I'm
32:09
always going to be real online and continue you showing up as
32:12
myself. We're blunt, we're real.
32:14
We make products designed to help people feel their best
32:16
inside and out. The people who get it, get it.
32:19
And moving forward, that's exactly what we're going to
32:21
continue building towards. Something stronger, clearer and
32:24
more aligned with who we are and the kind of community we
32:26
actually want around us. Connor and Chloe, viral for
32:29
viral sake is not a long term strategy.
32:32
If that was the approach that they're going for here, this was
32:35
not an appropriate response and it's not a good luck.
32:40
Anyways, guys, that's it for mini scroll today.
32:42
Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys.
32:45
Please remember to rate review and subscribe.
32:47
Please Spotify star rate US. I may or may not.
32:51
I didn't actually say this at the beginning of the episode.
32:53
Have an episode for you guys tomorrow because I was really
32:56
sick over the weekend and there were just so many stories that I
32:58
wanted to cover today. But I may need to take tomorrow
33:01
off. We will see.
33:02
If not, I will talk to you tomorrow and Annabelle will talk
33:03
to you on Wednesday. OK bye.
33:05
Centennial World Podcast Network operates on Gadigal land.
33:08
We would like to acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the
33:11
traditional custodians of this land, and pay our respects to
33:15
elders both past and present.