Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Shay Mitchell launches skincare for kids, Ned Fulmer addresses backlash + MrBeast's theme park

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MINI SCROLL: Shay Mitchell launches skincare for kids, Ned Fulmer addresses backlash + MrBeast's theme park · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy, and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
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  I'm your host, Lauren Meissner, 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, I think I mentioned this
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  maybe on Friday that High Stakes was going viral for their
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  episode of The Grill last week. I think the last time I spoke to
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  you guys about this, they were at 100,000 listens for that
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  episode. Well, now they're at 1.5
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  million. They went so viral on Spotify,
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  we don't really know what's happening.
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  But thank you to the Spotify universe, thank you to the
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  Spotify gods for giving us this blessing.
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  They're also charting everywhere.
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  They're #16 in Australia, they're number 19 in USA, 21 in
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  Canada, 33 in UK. Like it is just popping off.
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  So very exciting. A great way to start our Monday.
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  All right before I get into the stories for today, Please
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  remember to rate, review and subscribe, please Spotify star
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  rate US. We're trying to get to 1000
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  Spotify star ratings on infinite scroll by the end of the year.
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  All right the first story that I have for you guys is Shay
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  Mitchell is under fire after she launched a skin care line called
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  Rini, which is tailored to toddlers and children.
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  So according to the brand's website, Rini's quote mission is
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  simple to nurture healthy habits, spark confidence and
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  make thoughtfully crafted really care essentials and play
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  products accessible to every family.
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  That sounds harmless enough, honestly.
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  However, what people have an issue with is the products that
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  they chose to launch with. And they feel like that is
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  really telling with like what Shay and her partners want to do
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  with the brand. Because the brand launched with
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  a hydro gel facial mask, an after sun facial mask, and an
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  everyday sheet mask. Like literally sheet masks on
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  toddlers. And they feature cute little
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  animals like a puppy, a Unicorn, a panda.
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  So this is what Shay Mitchell wrote.
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  I can't say Shay like to me, she's Shay Mitchell.
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  She's like a a full name kind of celebrity.
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  So this is what she wrote on Instagram.
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  So excited and honestly so relieved that I can finally talk
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  about Renee. This has been three years in the
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  making, inspired by my girls, their curiosity and all the
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  little moments that made me realize how early it starts from
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  birthday parties and face paint to wanting to quote, do what
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  mommy does with her face masks. It was only a matter of time.
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  Renee isn't about beauty, it's about self-care.
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  About teaching our kids that taking care of themselves can be
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  fun, gentle, and safe. Kids are naturally curious and
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  instead of ignoring that, we can embrace it with safe, gentle
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  products parents can trust and sweet moments that bring us
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  closer. And she also talked about how
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  these products are made with clean ingredients, quote UN
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  quote clean. And if you guys are in the
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  beauty space or have kept up with that at all over the last
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  few years, you know that the rhetoric around clean beauty is
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  absolutely a pipeline to the alt right.
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  So people also have a big issue with how she's positioning this.
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  So yes, there's tons of backlash across the Internet, and many
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  dermatologists are jumping in on this as well, saying it's super
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  toxic to be promoting skin care to children.
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  Others are defending the lion, saying it is a cute idea because
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  as she kind of noted in her Instagram story, kids always
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  want to, like, do what they see their mommy doing.
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  They want to do their skin care and their makeup like mommy.
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  They want to do it at the same time as her.
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  So now they can kind of have their own products to do their
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  skin care with mommy. Am I surprised that Shay
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  Mitchell launched like a toddler face mask and is touting clean
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  ingredients and this kind of rhetoric?
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  Like I honestly think not really.
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  I feel like it's really kitschy more than anything.
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  I really feel like they sat down and they were like, OK, what
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  industry is not disrupted? Like what can we do that will
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  make a huge buzz and everyone will be like, Oh my God, that's
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  a genius. Like I really feel like the
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  inspiration behind this was like, what can we do that's
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  different to make something different for different sake?
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  But I think in general around the backlash, the messaging is
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  the biggest issue because I understand like parents put
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  moisturizer on their kids. Like there's has been kids
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  makeup that's like play makeup for decades.
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  Like that stuff has existed. So I feel like they could have
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  positioned this that way. And like she kind of touched on
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  that in her Instagram story. But the marketing around the
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  brand and the visual representation that they're
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  putting out into the world really does not convey that.
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  It really feels like they're trying to put out something
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  that's a little bit more elevated and like serious as
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  opposed to kids play. And it feels to me almost like
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  they're putting out a kids brand that they believe in the future
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  future could be a grown up brand.
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  I feel like they're not trying to put all their eggs in the
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  kids basket. They're hoping that this can
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  grow into an adult brand. Like they launched it with the
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  idea of this turning into like a tween, a teen, a young adult
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  brand eventually. So they don't want to put out
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  like these kind of like kid like play face masks because they
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  don't want to pigeonhole themselves.
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  That's how I see this at least. I'm interested to hear what you
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  guys think about this. I feel like it gives kind of
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  desperate, which actually leads into my next door very, very
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  nicely because Ned Fulmer is addressing backlash around his
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  controversial comeback to the Internet.
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  And this is also giving desperate.
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  So Ned Fulmer has made a video addressing the backlash that he
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  received after basically relaunching his career with his
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  new podcast and his new YouTube channel.
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  So for a recap, Ned was part of the Try Guys, which was a very
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  popular YouTube collective who started at BuzzFeed.
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  And then they went out on their own and kind of like their main
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  shtick for a while was that they made these comedic videos trying
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  different things. So this all blew up in Ned's
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  face in 2022 when it was revealed that he had been
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  cheating on his wife Ariel, who was also in a lot of his
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  content. So the fans knew her and he was
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  cheating on her with a Try Guys employee.
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  Ned was quickly fired from the Try Guys and retreated from the
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  Internet, and then he returned in September of this year with a
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  new podcast called Rock Bottom, where he interviews people who
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  have hit rock bottom. That was already a controversial
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  decision. However, his first interview was
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  with Ariel, and that became even more of a scandal because people
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  felt like the way he spoke about what he did to her, he was very
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  cold. He was kind of dismissive of her
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  feelings. They did not like how he acted.
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  In this interview, people also criticized him for having Ariel
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  as his first guest because he was kind of monetizing her pain
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  to get views upon his return. That's how people felt.
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  Now shortly after launching the podcast, he announced that he is
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  starting a new YouTube channel with this series about Curious
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  curiosity where he tests new things and he's calling it
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  building a more curious world. And everyone was like, OK, this
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  is literally just the try guys. So now, after essentially 2
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  months of a consistent backlash and just people not being down
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  for his return, he has made a video addressing everybody's
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  concerns. Launching the podcast with a
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  conversation with Ariel was Ariel's idea.
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  She's a stakeholder in the Rock Bottom podcast and this new
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  channel and she wants it to be successful.
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  So that was part of the reason why, in terms of having that
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  conversation, we did it together rather than on any other
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  platform. After discovery, I started an
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  intensive program of therapy, group therapy, and work to
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  really try to understand what I had done, why I had done it, and
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  what it meant for my relationship and my life.
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  This involved a lot of facing rationalizations, denials,
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  minimizations, all of these mental clouds that help you
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  continue behavior that you know is hurtful and you still do it
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  anyways. So it let me face the truth and
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  acknowledge in no uncertain terms that I cheated on my wife
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  with an employee of my business and it caused her immense pain
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  and shattered our marriage and also caused a lot of pain to a
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  lot of other people. Those were my selfish actions
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  and my choices. So this was a long process that
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  took, you know, approximately 2 years and continues work even to
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  this day at the three-year mark, even though we decided to
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  separate officially two years in.
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  And if you were wondering what the show is about, I encourage
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  you to check it out. And so that will be on the Rock
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  Bottom channel and on this channel, it'll be more
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  entertainment forward still on under the values of curiosity
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  and empathy. I know people are saying that
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  it's similar to some of the stuff I did before with BuzzFeed
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  and try guys. And that's true.
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  It's the DNA of stuff that I love making, mixing education
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  with entertainment and developing new show concepts
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  that I'm really excited. But it's it's not going to be
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  too drastically different than the type of work I did before,
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  because that's just who I am and the type of stuff that I like to
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  make. However, he actually didn't
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  please everyone. A lot of people feel like what
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  he is missing from this video, this address, is that he should
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  be apologizing and directly acknowledging the Try guys and
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  what he did to them very publicly, given his actions
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  could have cost them their careers.
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  And I mean, I'm sure it cost them a lot in general, right?
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  Like, it would have cost them tons of money, tons of anguish,
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  like they had to completely change their business.
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  So yeah, a lot of people feel like that is something that has
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  been noticeably missing so far. But honestly, maybe in his exit,
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  he's like, not allowed to talk about them publicly.
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  I was actually thinking that could be the reason why he
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  hasn't really touched on it in the in depth way that his
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  audience or I don't even know if they're his audience anymore,
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  but like people online are asking him to.
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  OK. And the last word that I have
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  for you guys is Mr. Beast is launching a theme park in Saudi
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  Arabia called Beastland next week.
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  So over the weekend, Mr. Beast tweeted this or I guess posted
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  on XI will never say XI feel like it will be Twitter and
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  tweeting to me forever. He wrote.
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  Next week, Beastland, our brand new theme park, opens.
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  We built custom games modeled after our videos that don't
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  exist anywhere else, and we'll have the world's largest prize.
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  While he's obsessed with prizes, he said I don't want this to be
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  like a typical theme park. Thought of things from first
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  principles and created games. I would love to play tons of
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  original games created. Plus of course we have roller
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  coasters and rides. So general entry for a ticket
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  will be about $7.00, but this actually doesn't include access
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  to actually play the games. Higher price tickets cost about
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  $66, which I think, I don't know, I haven't gone to a theme
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  park in a really long time, but I feel like that's kind of in
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  line with theme park pricing now.
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  When asked why he specifically chose Saudi Arabia to launch
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  this, he said it's in the middle of the world and that a majority
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  of my audience is outside of America.
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  And when we have a big Middle Eastern fan base, he wanted to
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  give them a chance to participate.
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  And I thought this was really funny.
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  I was getting some of this information from Gizmodo, the
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  tech publication, and they wrote the world is a globe.
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  So it's unclear what he meant by calling Saudi Arabia, quote, the
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  middle of the world. OK, so I actually do think a Mr.
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  Beast theme park based on his videos is a good idea.
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  I like genuinely think it's a good idea.
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  I fear his ambiguity around like why he chose the specific region
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  and what fans can expect is unfortunately just another
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  example of Mr. Beast being obsessed with infamy and wealth.
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  Oh also this is not a permanent thing.
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  This is not a permanent thing. This is only going on for a
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  couple of months. Also a fun fact about me, I
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  don't know if you guys are on this side of TikTok but I get
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  served this content constantly now and I don't know if it's
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  like specifically popping off or for some reason it's like on my
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  for you page all the time but I am constantly getting basically
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  like the Real Housewives of neon talk like that's what I'm on.
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  I have no idea how or why, but these past few weeks my For You
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  page has just been flooded with vlogs of the young wives who are
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  raising kids on basically the construction site compounds for
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  a NEOM. And if you don't know what NEOM
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  is, it's this like mega project in Saudi Arabia where they're
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  trying to build a futuristic city.
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  And then of course, that got me looking into it.
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  And there's tons of videos on YouTube already talking about
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  how it's like never going to get built and people don't believe
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  this is ever coming to fruition. And I'm going to say from the
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  vlogs that I'm watching, it seems that that is probably also
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  the case. Anyways, guys, that's it for
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  Mini Scroll today. Thank you so much for listening.
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  I love you guys. I already have stories for
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  tomorrow. I really had to pick and choose.
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  And since it's Monday and I went away for the weekend, I was
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  like, I'm going to pick stories that aren't that, you know, high
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  effort. But I have some really good
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  stories for you guys tomorrow. So I will talk to you guys
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  tomorrow. Please write, review and
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  subscribe. I love you and yeah, I'll talk
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  to you tomorrow. Bye.