Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Viral TikTok facelift, Waterboy brand trip saga, Cannes Lions AI scandal + Brooke Schofield engaged

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: Viral TikTok facelift, Waterboy brand trip saga, Cannes Lions AI scandal + Brooke Schofield engaged · 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.
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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, and happy 10,000 subscribers on YouTube to us.
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  I changed our sign today to celebrate.
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  That's the extent of my celebration.
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  I was thinking of getting us balloons, but I was like, I
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  don't even know where to get those number balloons.
• 0:36
  So we're going with the sign. This was a huge week of
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  milestones for us. We hit 100,000 followers on
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  TikTok. We hit 10,000 subscribers on
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  YouTube, and we hit 1 million views on YouTube.
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  So lots of things to celebrate all around.
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  And Speaking of milestones, I think it's really cool to
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  include that it's also 20 years of Apple podcasts this weekend,
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  which is really cool because that's what really made the
• 1:00
  medium go like super mainstream was Apple kind of adding the
• 1:03
  podcast symbol and like really promoting podcasts.
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  So very cool. I found this actually through
• 1:09
  the Unmade newsletter by Tim Burroughs.
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  So if you care about Australian media, advertising, marketing, I
• 1:15
  highly recommend subscribing to Unmade.
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  All right, let's get into the stories for today.
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  The first story that I have you guys, of course, obviously it
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  has to be the woman who is going so viral for her amazing
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  facelift that she got in Guadalajara.
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  So a TikTok user named at Michelle Wood, 165 is making the
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  rounds on TikTok after documenting her experience
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  getting a facelift in Mexico. The first video that she posted
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  was on the 6th of June where she introduced herself and
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  essentially explained why she decided to get a facelift and
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  what exactly she planned to get done.
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  So the video has since accumulated 16 million views and
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  Michelle has amassed over 158,000 followers in this time.
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  She has now gone on to share many videos of her healing from
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  her surgery and has answered a whole lot of questions from
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  viewers. So some viewers are asking more
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  personal questions like how she feels about it all, while others
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  are more logistical questions like how much it cost.
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  In one video, she revealed that it cost roughly 15,000 USD
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  total, which if you know anything about face and necklace
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  like that is a steal. No wonder she went to Mexico for
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  that. And it looks so good.
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  It literally took her from looking in her 50s to in her
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  20s. And she's still obviously quite
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  swollen. Like, I think it takes a full
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  year, they say, to like, properly heal from a facelift.
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  So it's going to get better and better.
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  But it is wild how good she looks.
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  That is one of the primary reasons why she's gone viral.
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  Obviously so many people are shocked by the results of this
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  facelift. One person even described it as
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  the quote. Best non celebrity facelift I've
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  ever seen. The second reason that is going
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  viral is people are just really interested in how open she's
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  being with this procedure when there are, you know, allegedly
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  more and more celebrities getting this type of work done.
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  It's exceptionally refreshing to see somebody just come online
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  and be like, Yep, I'm getting a facelift done.
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  And like, let me document this process for you.
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  And the third reason why it's going viral, this is such a
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  conspiracy theory, but there is a theory that the woman that is
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  claiming to be the after of the facelift is not even the same
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  person. You know, this is just Internet
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  that users like taking this and running with it.
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  Obviously this is very unlikely, but it has undoubtedly led to
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  many more people going to view her content and to kind of like
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  jump in on this possible conspiracy theory.
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  I was actually having a similar conversation with Maddie from
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  High Stakes. She was saying she has no idea
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  how old anyone ever is because she's like especially in RA
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  industry in media and working very much like she works in like
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  beauty and lifestyle. That's even more so like the
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  women that work in those industries.
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  A lot of them like in media and stuff like they are very much
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  getting like constant work done, right.
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  Sometimes it's for work, like sometimes for like stories and
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  research. And sometimes it's just part of
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  the pressure of like working in that industry.
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  But like everybody has Botox and filler and like now these
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  surgical procedures are becoming more and more sophisticated.
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  And, you know, gone are the days when a woman would get a
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  facelift and you could see the scars or like the kind of the
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  skin pulled back around her ears and she couldn't move her head
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  back and forth. Right?
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  Like now we're getting full on like Kris Jenner face
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  transplants. And they genuinely look 50 years
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  younger. And it's so wild.
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  I feel like this very much ties into filter culture.
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  You know, there's some research out there about like young
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  people and what it's like for them growing up, watching their
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  faces through filters on like Snapchat, TikTok, whatever, and
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  looking at other other people's faces that are filtered and
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  thinking that they're real. And yeah, it's it's very
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  interesting. We're at this creepy ass time in
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  like a beauty, anti aging kind of womanhood in general.
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  And I do want to get off this ride.
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  Like, I do wish that none of this stuff existed so we could
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  all just be like out here raw dogging our own beauty and being
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  like, this is just what I look like.
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  Like we're all on the same playing field.
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  But unfortunately that is not the case.
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  OK, the next story that I have for you guys is I need to cover
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  the Waterboy Maddie Murata controversy.
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  So this was from a YouTube comment.
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  One of you guys commented, asked me to speak on it.
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  So this is what I found. If we have missed anything, let
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  me know. There is currently a lot of
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  backlash being levelled toward the social media manager of
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  Waterboy, which is a hydration brand that sells a variety of
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  electrolyte products. The social media manager's name
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  is Maddie Murata, so Maddie has her own social media presence
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  with her personal account. She has over 200,000 followers
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  and she's had a fair few viral moments over the years.
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  Waterboy recently hosted a brand trip in Tulum.
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  There were a couple of big name creators there like Halle Kate,
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  Bran Flakes, Ken Urich and more. You know that whole crew.
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  I keep up with that crew in case you guys couldn't tell.
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  Like I am constantly eyes on that crew.
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  So Waterboy also did giveaways for the brand trip, which
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  allowed non influencers to attend.
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  It has become the norm to kind of hate on these brand trips, as
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  we know, we've talked about it so many times.
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  And while these trips are usually criticized for their
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  unabashed displays of wealth, this one has faced a different
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  kind of critique, most of them being toward the new social
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  media manager, Maddie. So from what I've seen, many
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  TikTok users were unimpressed with the content that she was
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  putting out, saying that she wasn't acting like the voice of
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  the brand, but rather that she was simply an attendee on the
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  trip. For instance, there was a lot of
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  content from the trip around how some attendees, like
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  influencers, were drunk or hungover.
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  Many social media managers and marketers on TikTok have pointed
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  out how this would have been the perfect opportunity for Maddie
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  to incorporate the brand in the content that was being put out
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  of these creators being like hungover and drunk.
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  And, you know, it's an electrolyte brand.
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  And she kind of dropped the ball on that one.
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  On top of this, many have criticized Maddie for not
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  including enough content about the non influencers on the trip
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  since it obviously was a significant kind of point of
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  interest for this brand trip specifically.
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  All in all, much of this discourse around the brand trip
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  is that Maddie and Waterboy kind of dropped the ball when it came
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  to brand messaging and content planning.
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  On the flip side, some are defending Maddie.
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  Various TikTok users have noted that it was literally her first
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  day on on the job and perhaps she was not given enough
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  direction the first day on the job.
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  Like, talk about being thrown in the deep end.
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  OK, think about how bad you are at a job in your first like
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  several months, let alone your first day.
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  And others have pointed out that like the strategy that happened
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  here, like whatever took place here seemed to be smart because
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  people are tired of these brand trips and this kind of content
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  brings them into the behind the scenes of the trip a little bit
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  more. But at the end of the day,
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  obviously this has truly brought Butter Boy into the cultural
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  zeitgeist, whether it's negative or positive.
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  So if the goal was brand awareness, which usually for
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  these trips it is, I mean, Maddie definitely accomplished
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  that. Overall, this is an interesting
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  case study on the type of content that people actually
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  want to see from brand trips. So if we're going to take the
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  general feedback, like the average feedback from Maddie's
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  content, it would appear that users actually want brand
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  accounts to produce more polished content, especially on
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  these types of trips. I don't know if that's
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  necessarily true. I think it's more that people
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  are frustrated when they feel like people in the influencer
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  space, whether it's the marketing manager who gets to go
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  on these trips, right? That's still kind of like a
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  privilege. I mean, I get your working and
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  I'm sure it's like hell, but regardless or the influencers,
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  whatever, it's like such a glamorized experience and a
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  glamorized industry and people who are not working in
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  industries like this feel like these are the lucky ones.
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  And so I think sometimes people feel frustrated when it feels
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  like influencers don't take their job seriously.
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  Or you know, in this case, it would be like the social media
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  manager like got this big opportunity and they kind of
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  squandered it. They took the piss a bit and
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  that's kind of how it felt like they didn't show up prepared to
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  their job when everybody else kind of watched.
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  She feels like if I performed that poorly at my job, like I
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  would just get fired and I don't have as cool of a job as that.
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  In other industry related news, this is going to be tea for the
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  marketing girlies. Maybe you guys know this
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  already, but Cans Lions is going viral for some fake case
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  studies, allegedly, that were presented at the event.
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  So if you're not familiar with Cannes Lions, it's an
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  international event for people that work in like creative
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  communications, advertising, marketing, those fields.
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  And there are opportunities to win various awards.
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  And two of the festival's winners have found themselves in
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  the center of some controversy this year, which included case
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  studies that were allegedly fabricated.
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  As reported by AD Age quote days after Cannes Lions wrapped two
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  of the festival's top winners, both Brazilian agencies under
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  Omnicon groups DDB Network, are facing scrutiny over case
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  studies submitted with their entries.
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  And the fallout has already led to a leadership shake up at one
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  of the agencies. Essentially, these case studies
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  included AI generated videos of Ted talks and news clips.
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  Cannes Lions has issued a statement on the matter saying
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  quote. Cannes Lions has confirmed that
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  after consultation with the entry company DM9, the Creative
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  Data Alliance Grand Prix winner Efficient way to pay for Console
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  has been withdrawn. This follows the discovery that
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  AI generated and manipulated content was used within the case
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  film to simulate real world events and campaign outcomes,
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  resulting in the jury being presented with inaccurate
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  information during their deliberations.
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  And they also included various measures that will be put forth
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  to try and prevent this from ever happening again.
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  Stuff about advertising on TikTok that this is not just a
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  cans problem. Noting that these campaigns have
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  been lauded across other industry awards and
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  publications, she goes on to take issue with the complacency
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  that has started to circulate. So many people upon hearing this
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  news about the fake case studies are going Oh well that's just
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  advertising, what do you mean we need to do more?
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  She goes on to note how embarrassing it is for the
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  people willing to fabricate stories and results for success,
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  before pointing out that it is unfortunately an industry wide
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  issue. All of this is part of the
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  reason why people are so distrustful of ads and the
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  industry at large. Obviously this signals a bigger
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  problem with the concept of AI generated content and the fact
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  that this was not flagged or noticed before they went on to
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  win is kind of wild. It's scary for what the future
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  holds for us for sure, but it is literally so true.
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  I have spoken about this in different keynotes that I've
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  done different panels. Like this industry is so shady.
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  And I always say to like marketers or anyone that is like
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  asking questions about it. It's like, you know what if a
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  brand, a publisher, whatever is telling you they are reaching
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  like X amount of people and it sounds way too good to be true,
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  Ask for screenshots, ask for fucking screen recordings.
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  Like ask for proof. Because the chances that they
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  are actually reaching those numbers, if it sounds so wild,
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  it's because they're not. Like there's so much smoke and
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  mirrors in this industry. It is so frustrating.
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  And that's for me, it's so important that I'm like always
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  up here being so transparent with you guys because like, it's
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  also my brand, right? So like it, it's a little bit
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  different than me, just like working on behalf of a different
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  publisher or different media brand and trying to like hit my
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  target or whatever, right? Like this is my reputation at
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  stake as like an individual. So like I'm always going to be
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  as honest as possible with you guys, with our advertisers, with
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  whoever. But you know, that's just like
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  not the reality across the board.
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  So much of this like awards, metrics, whatever.
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  It's so smoke and mirrors. That's why I was in the camp of
• 13:00
  being like relatively supportive of the decision from Spotify to
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  release the views per video. I understand they rolled that
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  back because of the feedback that smaller creators were
• 13:08
  giving them. And I also understand that
• 13:10
  feedback too, where podcasting was like the safe space that
• 13:13
  didn't really matter, like if you had a lot of subscribers or
• 13:16
  whatever because you couldn't really tell.
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  And so like, users were more likely to find, you know, your
• 13:20
  random small niche podcast or like be interested in listening
• 13:23
  to it because there was no way to tell how many people were
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  assuming it. So anyways, but that is one of
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  the reasons why I was like somewhat supportive of it
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  because people, the things that I hear as a media founder here,
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  then some of the metrics that brands that are like my
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  competitors are going out and saying, I'm like, that is like
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  actually physically impossible. That is impossible that you are
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  hitting those numbers. Like I know, I know.
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  And unless you're in it, it's hard to know.
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  OK. And the last story that I have
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  for you guys, this is just a bit of a continuation on from
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  Thursday. But Brooke Schofield has
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  confirmed that she is in fact, engaged, and she has faced some
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  backlash for how she is defending it.
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  So Brooke has confirmed her engagement to Miles Canton, AKA
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  Miles McFly, who is the son of movie producer Neil Canton of
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  the Back to the Future trilogy. Brooke has truly been in the
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  trenches of the comments section on TikTok defending her
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  relationship and clapping back at users who are criticizing
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  them. For very quick context, Miles
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  was accused of dating a high school student while he was in
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  his late 20s. There does seem to be a lot of
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  evidence online, but this is obviously all alleged.
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  Brooke has repeatedly defended Miles against the allegations
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  ever since being together, saying that it's just like
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  Reddit that has made all of this up.
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  So Brooke has spent a lot of time post engagement kind of
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  defending herself online. One person commented.
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  As a huge fan, I'm so glad she is seemingly happy, but I'm so
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  disappointed in literally the entirety of the friend group for
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  supporting that weirdo. Brooke had the ability for a
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  redemption arc and we lost her. And then Brooke responded.
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  Reddit Fable. I like the word fable, I'll give
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  her that. But probably the most kind of
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  egregious example of Brooke clapping back that has truly
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  blown up was to a TikTok user named Ashlyn.
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  Basically, Ashlyn made a video saying that it makes perfect
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  sense that Brooke is marrying Miles despite the allegations
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  and the fact that they have only been together for a short amount
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  of time because she suffers from BPD.
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  Ashlyn pulled from her own experience given that she also
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  has BPD. Brooke went to comment on
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  Ashlyn's video. It has been deleted, but
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  nevertheless, this is what the comments said.
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  I have gone through actual unimaginable things and
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  relationships and I've shared all of that to help other
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  people, not to have a thrown back in my face.
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  I just got engaged to a man I've been living with for a year, a
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  man who has never so much as raised his voice at me, who
• 15:44
  makes my life better and easier in every way he knows how.
• 15:48
  I have never laughed harder or felt more supported and loved.
• 15:52
  I have never met you, I never will.
• 15:53
  You do not know more about my relationship than me.
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  You don't even know where your eyebrows are.
• 15:59
  Brooke doubled down, making fun of Ashlyn's appearance, saying
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  you actually can't talk about me with bangs like that, now that I
• 16:04
  think about it. Ashlyn took it in stride,
• 16:07
  responding with a video where she said Yikes, girl, where is
• 16:09
  your manager? And then she also made a follow
• 16:12
  up saying that Brooke had blocked her.
• 16:14
  So OK. Like, is it shitty that like
• 16:15
  during this very special moment for Brooke, like the whole
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  Internet is coming for her? Like yes, of course this is
• 16:21
  probably somewhat ruining it for her.
• 16:23
  She should have posted if she was going to post it.
• 16:25
  She was engaged and just like logged off.
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  You know, this obviously will blow over in like the next few
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  days. She should have just like not
• 16:32
  looked at the comments, like just ignored it all.
• 16:35
  But like, first of all, like continually defending this and
• 16:37
  then stooping so low as to like make fun of some random person
• 16:41
  and like what they look like. And you know, like she was
• 16:44
  trying to like relate herself to Brooke anyways.
• 16:47
  I it was just like such a low blow.
• 16:49
  I will say though, it seems like the majority of users are using
• 16:53
  this as kind of like a gotcha moment for Brooke because they
• 16:56
  don't like her, which is valid. OK.
• 16:58
  There is lots of reasons not to like Brooke.
• 17:00
  And I think the heat for this specific situation should go way
• 17:04
  more on Miles, the man who did this before he even knew Brooke.
• 17:08
  You know that on Brooke, but I understand she's also the one
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  with the platform. She's the one bringing him into
• 17:13
  her audience. So yeah, I understand.
• 17:17
  I understand. But it's not a good look.
• 17:19
  And she just needs to log off. Like what other influencer is
• 17:23
  out here defending themselves this shamelessly this often?
• 17:28
  And they don't do that for good reason because then it blows up
• 17:30
  like this. Anyways, guys, that's it for
• 17:32
  Mini Scroll today. Thank you so much for listening.
• 17:35
  I love you guys. Please remember to rate, review
• 17:37
  and subscribe. Thank you so much for getting us
• 17:40
  to 10,000 YouTube subscribers. How exciting.
• 17:44
  We are thrilled. Hopefully we'll celebrate a bit
• 17:46
  tomorrow when the girls are in office.
• 17:48
  I love you guys and I will talk to you tomorrow.
• 17:50
  Bye.