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Ashy Bines Thinks You Stink · Outspoken the Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
0:07
Speaker 1: hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
0:10
Speaker 1: Kate Torber and coming up on today's show, Ashy Bynes'
0:14
Speaker 1: fragrance brand is slammed over its offensive marketing campaign and
0:19
Speaker 1: Victoria Devine's car park call out. But first, speculation is
0:23
Speaker 1: continuing to mount over the state of Tammy Hembrough and
0:26
Speaker 1: Matt Sikowsky's marriage. A week after unfollowing and then refollowing
0:30
Speaker 1: her husband on Instagram, Tammy has continued to provide clues
0:34
Speaker 1: that the pair are fighting. Yeah, so on Wednesday, Tammy
0:37
Speaker 1: shared a car sing-along to her Instagram story, and in it,
0:41
Speaker 1: she sang along to Poison's song, Every Rose Has Its Thorn,
0:46
Speaker 1: and she sang this lyric directly to the camera.
0:49
Speaker 2: And now I'm deep in love with you And that
0:55
Speaker 2: I never meant that much.
0:57
Speaker 3: To you.
1:06
Speaker 1: For those who aren't across this 80s track the song
1:08
Speaker 1: is about a rock star coming home after touring and
1:11
Speaker 1: finding his girlfriend cheating on him. So the lead singer
1:15
Speaker 1: Bret Michaels wrote the song after he called his girlfriend
1:18
Speaker 1: and heard another man's voice in the background. So A
1:22
Speaker 1: lot of followers are speculating that this is a bit
1:24
Speaker 1: of a clue as to what has gone on between
1:26
Speaker 1: Matt and Tammy. It's never a good sign when someone
1:29
Speaker 1: is doing a sing-along in the car because normally when
1:32
Speaker 1: you are doing passionate sing-alongs, it's to a breakup song. Yeah,
1:35
Speaker 1: and in this case, she wasn't even driving in the car.
1:37
Speaker 1: This was a strategic decision. to set up her camera
1:40
Speaker 1: and mime directly to this song on her Instagram story.
1:43
Speaker 1: And she did put clues out like this when she
1:45
Speaker 1: was breaking up with Matt Paul. It is very telling.
1:48
Speaker 1: And things escalated further on Saturday when fans noticed that
1:51
Speaker 1: Tammy changed her name on Instagram. So ahead of Tammy
1:55
Speaker 1: and Matt's wedding, Tammy confirmed that she would be officially
1:57
Speaker 1: changing her last name to Sikowsky. And a lot of
2:00
Speaker 1: followers wondered if she'd actually go through with a name
2:03
Speaker 1: change on Instagram because it could be detrimental to her brand.
2:06
Speaker 1: I mean, her profile is a lot bigger than Matt Sikowsky's.
2:09
Speaker 1: There have been a lot of influencers who have kept
2:12
Speaker 1: their maiden name. I mean, Laura Henshaw is a prime example.
2:15
Speaker 1: Her husband actually took on her surname. And Zukowski isn't
2:18
Speaker 1: the easiest to spell. People also just know her as
2:21
Speaker 1: Tammy Hembrose. What's her brand?
2:23
Speaker 3: Yeah.
2:23
Speaker 1: And if new people are trying to find her, they're
2:25
Speaker 1: going to struggle to find her on Instagram. Now, after
2:27
Speaker 1: the wedding, Tammy didn't actually change her handle. But in
2:30
Speaker 1: her bio, she wrote Mrs. Zukowski with an engagement ring emoji.
2:34
Speaker 1: But on Saturday morning, she removed Mrs. Zukowski from her
2:38
Speaker 1: bio altogether and replaced it with Tammy Hembrough. I was
2:41
Speaker 1: listening to Matt's podcast the other day, and he was
2:43
Speaker 1: talking about how Tammy has been going through the official
2:46
Speaker 1: channels to change her surname. So I wonder how far
2:49
Speaker 1: she is in that process because it's an absolute nightmare
2:54
Speaker 1: to change your name officially. I went through it two
2:56
Speaker 1: years ago and it took so long to get everything changed,
2:59
Speaker 1: like your driver's license, your bank details. It's actually on
3:01
Speaker 1: my list of things to do this week because I've
3:04
Speaker 1: got three months before my baby's born and I want
3:06
Speaker 1: to have my name changed before I give birth. So
3:08
Speaker 1: we all have the same last name. Well, you better
3:11
Speaker 1: get onto it then. This is making me think that
3:13
Speaker 1: there's even more to this name change on Instagram. Clearly
3:17
Speaker 1: it's a topic of discussion in their household at the moment.
3:20
Speaker 1: It seemed like Matt was really pushing this name change
3:22
Speaker 1: and that it's important for him to have his wife
3:24
Speaker 1: have Sikowsky. It didn't take long for gossip pages to
3:27
Speaker 1: pick up on this news and there were pages like
3:29
Speaker 1: Influencer Updates AU reporting on the news. And within a
3:33
Speaker 1: few hours, Mrs. Zukowski was back in the bio. It
3:36
Speaker 1: seemed like Tammy didn't like the negative attention that it
3:39
Speaker 1: was bringing. Her then changing it back made it even
3:42
Speaker 1: more obvious that it was a thing. Yeah, because then
3:45
Speaker 1: the pages could show that the change actually did happen
3:47
Speaker 1: because they had the screenshots to prove it. Because otherwise
3:50
Speaker 1: you could think, oh, maybe it wasn't actually in there
3:52
Speaker 1: to begin with. Yeah, but the fact that she was like, oh, shit,
3:54
Speaker 1: I better put it back in or Matt has seen
3:56
Speaker 1: it and said, you better put it back. Despite the
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Speaker 1: name being back up. Tammy and Matt spent the weekend apart.
4:01
Speaker 1: So Tammy was on this sponsored stay, Kay, at a
4:04
Speaker 1: Gold Coast hotel with her kids, sister, and also her
4:06
Speaker 1: nieces and nephews. And he was notably absent from the trip.
4:10
Speaker 1: He hasn't posted on his stories throughout the whole weekend.
4:13
Speaker 1: He's been very quiet. In fact, he hasn't been seen
4:15
Speaker 1: on Tammy's Instagram since the unfollow last week. It's very interesting.
4:20
Speaker 1: I'm guessing that they'll do what they normally do and
4:22
Speaker 1: put some loved up thing and they'll patch it over again. Well,
4:25
Speaker 1: it sounds like he's still in Melbourne. I don't even
4:27
Speaker 1: know if he's back on the Gold Coast. It's not
4:29
Speaker 1: a very good sign.
4:32
Speaker 2: Kiwi babes, the wait is officially over.
4:34
Speaker 1: Ashy Brines' fragrance brand Hideaway has been slammed for an
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Speaker 1: offensive marketing campaign that used Maori slang. To celebrate the
4:42
Speaker 1: brand's launch into New Zealand, the company contacted Kiwi customers
4:46
Speaker 1: to tell them they stink and should buy their perfume. Soph,
4:49
Speaker 1: can you tell us more? It's very bizarre. So the
4:52
Speaker 1: text message read, Now there was then a link to
4:55
Speaker 1: Hideaway's website to purchase the perfume. Now around an hour
4:59
Speaker 1: and 20 minutes later, the brand followed up with a
5:01
Speaker 1: text message that said, Sorry if our last message came
5:03
Speaker 1: off wrong. Just Kiwi banter. We've got proud Kiwis on
5:19
Speaker 1: the team and meant no offence or love. So clearly
5:23
Speaker 1: people were very offended by this text message. I can
5:26
Speaker 1: see why. And to put this into perspective of how
5:28
Speaker 1: tone deaf the message was, for those unfamiliar with Rotorua,
5:32
Speaker 1: it's a city in New Zealand that's a tourist hotspot.
5:34
Speaker 1: So it's actually situated in a volcanic region and it's
5:38
Speaker 1: renowned for its geothermal activity and Maori culture. It's also
5:43
Speaker 1: known for having a distinct sulfur smell due to the
5:46
Speaker 1: area's geothermal activity. So basically the area releases a lot
5:50
Speaker 1: of hydrogen sulfide gas, which is known to smell like
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Speaker 1: rotten eggs. I get really pissed off when brands text
5:56
Speaker 1: me because I'm always like, who is this? And then
5:58
Speaker 1: it ends up being like Domino's. Domino's sends me messages
6:02
Speaker 1: on the daily and I'm like, how do they even
6:04
Speaker 1: get my number? But to receive a text message like this,
6:07
Speaker 1: that's not only annoying, but it's also offensive. You're like,
6:10
Speaker 1: What are these marketers thinking? And the people who received
6:12
Speaker 1: the text message said that it wasn't really clear it
6:14
Speaker 1: was even from a brand because it was trying to
6:17
Speaker 1: pass itself off as being a legitimate text message from
6:20
Speaker 1: a friend and then it had the link at the end.
6:22
Speaker 1: So it would have been very confusing. Well, it was
6:24
Speaker 1: clearly their way to attract attention and get people to
6:26
Speaker 1: read further into the message and click on the link,
6:28
Speaker 1: but they've totally missed the mark here. Yeah, and Rotorua's mayor,
6:32
Speaker 1: Tanya Tapsell, is not happy. So she weighed into the
6:35
Speaker 1: matter saying they clearly don't have a grasp on reality
6:37
Speaker 1: as Rotorua is a beautiful place with beautiful people. That's
6:41
Speaker 1: why we get up to 3 million visitors a year.
6:44
Speaker 1: She also said it was unbelievably unfortunate that Ashi and
6:47
Speaker 1: her team in Australia thought that this message was acceptable.
6:51
Speaker 1: She went on to say, whoever thought the marketing text
6:53
Speaker 1: you sent out to New Zealanders mocking our slang would
6:56
Speaker 1: go down well as an Australian company missed the mark
6:59
Speaker 1: big time.
6:59
Speaker 4: Wow.
7:00
Speaker 1: Now, the follow-up text message from Hideaway did absolutely nothing
7:03
Speaker 1: to squash the avalanche of online complaints. One person wrote,
7:07
Speaker 1: what the hell did you just text me? Whilst another said,
7:09
Speaker 1: I've just got the ick from your text and the
7:12
Speaker 1: dismissal text following just Kiwi banter. Another said, I came
7:15
Speaker 1: across this company a few days ago and that text
7:18
Speaker 1: was the first communication I had received. So I guess
7:21
Speaker 1: the marketing team is taking notes from the how to
7:23
Speaker 1: lose customers handbook. Someone else wrote, wild marketing strategy offending
7:28
Speaker 1: every New Zealand woman. It's giving mean girl energy and
7:31
Speaker 1: a big nope from a former customer. There were some
7:34
Speaker 1: customers who defended Hideaway. One wrote, as a Kiwi girl,
7:38
Speaker 1: just ignore these hate comments. Your stuff is so nice.
7:40
Speaker 1: I just ordered two body mists and one perfume. Another said,
7:43
Speaker 1: when did people get offended so easily? You can't breathe
7:46
Speaker 1: anymore without offending someone. Now, Hideaway are yet to put
7:50
Speaker 1: out a public apology, but their social media team responded
7:53
Speaker 1: individually to some of the comments. So on Friday, they
7:56
Speaker 1: wrote to a disgruntled customer, we are truly sorry for
7:59
Speaker 1: any hurt or offense we have caused. Our attention was
8:02
Speaker 1: never to be insensitive, but we now recognize that our
8:05
Speaker 1: message came across in a way that was very inappropriate.
8:09
Speaker 1: This was written as lighthearted banter by one of our
8:11
Speaker 1: Kiwi team members, but upon reflection, we can see how
8:14
Speaker 1: it has been received differently. Your feelings are completely valid
8:18
Speaker 1: and we take full responsibility for our words. We're taking
8:21
Speaker 1: this as an opportunity to reflect and do better moving forward. Now,
8:25
Speaker 1: the brand tried to clear Ashley of any wrongdoing. They wrote,
8:29
Speaker 1: Ashley did not approve this message as she was away
8:31
Speaker 1: for her podcast. But by Saturday night, the post containing
8:35
Speaker 1: the comments was deleted from Hideaway's social media account. And
8:38
Speaker 1: Ashley Bynes was also ignoring the backlash on her own
8:41
Speaker 1: Instagram channel and instead was spruiking the fragrances. This is
8:45
Speaker 1: what she said.
8:46
Speaker 2: But I did jump on yesterday to tell you guys
8:48
Speaker 2: that our perfume has.
8:50
Speaker 3: Finally launched in New Zealand.
8:52
Speaker 2: So you guys know we've had our Body Mist available
8:54
Speaker 2: in New Zealand.
8:55
Speaker 3: Which one is that? This is Vanilla Delight.
8:57
Speaker 2: Can you spray me?
8:58
Speaker 3: Yes.
8:59
Speaker 1: This is honestly.
9:00
Speaker 2: This is my favorite one.
9:01
Speaker 3: It's so nice. Black Essence was our number one seller.
9:04
Speaker 3: Now Vanilla Delight is. It's the best.
9:07
Speaker 2: These are available for our Kiwi Babes. I will leave
9:10
Speaker 2: a swipe up link or link on the screen.
9:13
Speaker 1: I just feel like she was trying to stick her
9:14
Speaker 1: head in the sand, particularly when she kept saying Kiwi babes.
9:18
Speaker 1: You've literally just offended all these women by saying you
9:20
Speaker 1: stink and using all of this Maori slang. You're stereotyping
9:24
Speaker 1: this whole nation and then you're like, oh, cool, swipe
9:27
Speaker 1: up and buy my product. Is it piss weak to say, oh,
9:29
Speaker 1: because Ashley was recording a podcast, she had no idea
9:32
Speaker 1: about this huge marketing campaign. I think that's a bit fishy.
9:34
Speaker 1: I think she would have been well aware of the
9:36
Speaker 1: marketing tactics they were doing, particularly because they're trying to
9:39
Speaker 1: get into New Zealand. Well, it was the product's launch
9:42
Speaker 1: into New Zealand. And Ashley Bynes is not only the
9:44
Speaker 1: co-founder of Hideaway alongside her husband, Steve, but she's the
9:48
Speaker 1: creative director. So you're telling me that the creative director
9:51
Speaker 1: doesn't sign off on a campaign when you're launching a
9:54
Speaker 1: product into a new country. Her face was all over
9:56
Speaker 1: the marketing. like that is bullshit did her husband steve
9:59
Speaker 1: know about it well apparently it's only more recently that
10:03
Speaker 1: ashy has been more hands-on with hideaway before it was
10:05
Speaker 1: kind of steve's baby so it is a bit awkward
10:09
Speaker 1: that now she's more involved these things are happening because
10:11
Speaker 1: now that she's gotten rid of baseline Hideaway is her
10:15
Speaker 1: focus alongside her podcast. And she came out and said
10:17
Speaker 1: that the podcast isn't actually making much money, but she
10:19
Speaker 1: finds it really enjoyable. I just wish she would take
10:22
Speaker 1: responsibility for this. I think it looks worse to say
10:24
Speaker 1: that you're not across your business and don't know the
10:26
Speaker 1: key marketing strategies you're implementing when you're launching into another country.
10:30
Speaker 1: And it just looks like you're trying to distance yourself
10:33
Speaker 1: from your own brand. I also thought it was a
10:34
Speaker 1: pretty poor excuse to say, oh, we actually have Kiwi
10:38
Speaker 1: team members. So it was okay that we wrote that.
10:41
Speaker 1: Ashley Bynes may have been born in New Zealand and
10:43
Speaker 1: her social media manager is also a Kiwi, but neither
10:46
Speaker 1: of them are Maori. So it seems really inappropriate to
10:49
Speaker 1: appropriate slang into that text message and also for the
10:52
Speaker 1: text message to say, you stink. That is just such
10:55
Speaker 1: a bizarre argument. It's like an Australian brand saying, oh,
10:59
Speaker 1: we've got Aussies on the team so we can mock
11:01
Speaker 1: Aboriginal slang. Sorry, that doesn't fly. No, it does not fly.
11:05
Speaker 1: I saw someone compare the approach to if a gym
11:09
Speaker 1: sent out a text message saying, hey, fatty, come and
11:12
Speaker 1: join us. I mean, it's not bad enough that they
11:15
Speaker 1: were racially stereotyping people, but why would a fragrance company
11:20
Speaker 1: try and attract clients by telling them that they stink?
11:24
Speaker 1: It's a very strange marketing tactic because to me, perfume
11:27
Speaker 1: is about aspiration. That's why there's so many celebrities who
11:30
Speaker 1: are the face of perfumes because you think I want
11:32
Speaker 1: to smell like this celebrity or I really like this
11:35
Speaker 1: fruity scent to mask an odor is more to smell nice.
11:39
Speaker 1: But they're really playing on insecurity. I mean, I feel
11:41
Speaker 1: like that's more marketing for a deodorant brand, not a
11:44
Speaker 1: perfume brand. Yeah, exactly. And I was just thinking, how
11:47
Speaker 1: did this marketing campaign pass through so many hands? without
11:50
Speaker 1: someone flagging this as an issue. Oh, come on, Kate.
11:53
Speaker 1: Ashley was recording a podcast one day, so she wasn't
11:56
Speaker 1: across this marketing campaign that's clearly been weeks in the works. Yeah.
11:59
Speaker 1: I mean, ironically, it seems like a lot of Hideaway's
12:01
Speaker 1: customers didn't even realize that Ashley was connected to the brand,
12:05
Speaker 1: and that's actually put off a lot of people now.
12:08
Speaker 3: What are you talking about? You're teaching me a lesson.
12:12
Speaker 1: She's on the Money podcast host. Victoria Devine has landed
12:15
Speaker 1: herself in hot water with staff at a Genesis dealership
12:18
Speaker 1: after mistakenly parking in an area reserved for staff. The
12:22
Speaker 1: former financial advisor captured the hostile exchange on her Instagram
12:26
Speaker 1: story as staff set out to supposedly teach her a lesson. Soph,
12:30
Speaker 1: how did this all unfold? Well, on Friday morning, Victoria
12:34
Speaker 1: and her personal assistant, Zara, were out running some errands.
12:37
Speaker 1: And from what I've pieced together, they were at a
12:39
Speaker 1: Melbourne shopping emporium, which houses a Genesis showroom. Now, Victoria
12:44
Speaker 1: said she was in a rush and accidentally parked her
12:46
Speaker 1: car in a bay reserved strictly for Genesis staff. And
12:50
Speaker 1: when she returned to her car, Victoria discovered that she
12:53
Speaker 1: had been double parked by a very unhappy Genesis staff
12:56
Speaker 1: member who the park is normally reserved for. Now, I
13:00
Speaker 1: want to point out that Victoria does not drive a Genesis.
13:02
Speaker 1: I feel like this fact is integral to the story
13:04
Speaker 1: because when I saw her stories popping up, I was
13:07
Speaker 1: really confused. I assumed that she drove a Genesis and
13:10
Speaker 1: that she was dropping her car off for a service
13:14
Speaker 1: or to meet with the team. However, she was just
13:16
Speaker 1: at the shopping center where the dealership is based running
13:19
Speaker 1: other errands. She actually drives a Porsche. So staff would
13:22
Speaker 1: have quickly realized the car was out of place, particularly
13:25
Speaker 1: a Porsche. Because I remember when Toby Pierce used to
13:28
Speaker 1: live in Adelaide, Kayla Acinas' business partner and her ex-fiance,
13:32
Speaker 1: baby daddy, Rachel Dillon's new husband. He used to appear
13:37
Speaker 1: on an Instagram account called Shit Adelaide because he would
13:40
Speaker 1: park his very expensive sports car across like two parks
13:44
Speaker 1: or in disabled parking areas. And it was very obvious
13:47
Speaker 1: who it was because he had a custom number plate.
13:50
Speaker 1: Did it say Toby or Tobias or something along those lines?
13:54
Speaker 1: In this case, I feel like the Genesis staff members
13:56
Speaker 1: would have seen this Porsche and thought, fuck you, who's
13:59
Speaker 1: this entitled person that's just parked here and thinks that
14:02
Speaker 1: their time is more important than everyone else? I'm not
14:05
Speaker 1: saying that that is the case with Victoria, but there's
14:07
Speaker 1: a general assumption when you see a very flash car
14:11
Speaker 1: as to who is driving it and what their personality
14:13
Speaker 1: is like. I definitely think that is the case. I
14:16
Speaker 1: think the car being a Porsche would have particularly pissed
14:20
Speaker 1: off the staff members. Now, after discovering that her car
14:22
Speaker 1: had been boxed in, Victoria said that she went into
14:25
Speaker 1: the dealership and apologized for the mishap and asked if
14:28
Speaker 1: they could please move the car. She says a Genesis
14:31
Speaker 1: staff member claimed he didn't have the keys to move
14:33
Speaker 1: the car and refused to call his colleague who had
14:36
Speaker 1: blocked her in as he didn't want to interrupt him
14:38
Speaker 1: with a customer. He then allegedly told Victoria that he
14:41
Speaker 1: was trying to teach her a lesson. Now following this exchange,
14:45
Speaker 1: Victoria immediately took to her Instagram story slamming Genesis to
14:49
Speaker 1: her 85,000 followers and she made sure to tag the
14:53
Speaker 1: luxury car brand in multiple posts Now, the first post
14:56
Speaker 1: was a selfie in the showroom saying, who works at
14:59
Speaker 1: Genesis Australia? I accidentally parked in one of their car
15:03
Speaker 1: spots because it wasn't clearly marked. In brackets, yes, I
15:06
Speaker 1: should have double checked, but I was in a rush.
15:09
Speaker 1: And the guy at this dealership is low key, really
15:11
Speaker 1: rude and has parked me in and won't call the
15:13
Speaker 1: person who moved the car. And I just want to
15:15
Speaker 1: get out of their spot. So we are just standing
15:18
Speaker 1: in the showroom because he said he can't do anything. Now,
15:21
Speaker 1: Victoria followed it up by joking that if anyone wants
15:24
Speaker 1: to buy a Genesis, they're on full display currently or
15:27
Speaker 1: her followers can check out the one that has double
15:29
Speaker 1: parked her in. Now, she clearly was not impressed and
15:32
Speaker 1: she continued saying that the behavior was petty and reminded
15:35
Speaker 1: her audience that this was a business acting in this way,
15:38
Speaker 1: not a person. She seemed particularly miffed by the Genesis
15:41
Speaker 1: staff member saying that they were teaching her a lesson.
15:45
Speaker 3: Like, what are you talking about? You're teaching me a lesson.
15:49
Speaker 3: Are you my mother?
15:49
Speaker 4: Like- I get that I'm being taught a lesson and
15:53
Speaker 4: in the general public, you might have gone in and
15:57
Speaker 4: double parked someone for the day and be like, not
15:59
Speaker 4: my circus, not my monkeys, but this is a business.
16:02
Speaker 4: And yes, those car parks were reserved, but there were
16:04
Speaker 4: multiple empty ones as well. And reserved for what? Reserved
16:10
Speaker 4: for them to park? Is it reserved for customers?
16:13
Speaker 1: I was surprised how quickly Victoria tagged Genesis in her post.
16:17
Speaker 1: It was almost like I'm really important. I've got a
16:20
Speaker 1: big social media following, so you better move this car
16:22
Speaker 1: or I'm going to cause trouble for your brand. In
16:24
Speaker 1: her defense, though, maybe she felt trapped and like that
16:27
Speaker 1: was the only solution to the problem. I mean, she's
16:30
Speaker 1: gone up and apologized. She's told them that she needs
16:33
Speaker 1: to leave. She clearly had to get back to work.
16:35
Speaker 1: She probably had meetings going on. And the person flat
16:39
Speaker 1: out refused to help her. So she thought, well, I'm
16:41
Speaker 1: going to take this matter into my own hands. Yeah, well,
16:44
Speaker 1: despite the social media call out, the dealership kept Victoria
16:47
Speaker 1: and her personal assistant waiting. And Victoria did a number
16:50
Speaker 1: of check-ins on her story to let her followers know
16:53
Speaker 1: that she was still waiting. After waiting for over an hour,
16:56
Speaker 1: Victoria said this.
16:59
Speaker 2: Zara, Zara, Zara, are we still here? Oh, this is
17:02
Speaker 2: so nice. I really like it. This is our second
17:05
Speaker 2: home that we.
17:06
Speaker 3: Can find two.
17:07
Speaker 2: It's giving illegal confinement. I'm not sure about that, but
17:10
Speaker 2: like maybe a little bit like that.
17:19
Speaker 1: It's a pretty big call to say it's illegal confinement,
17:22
Speaker 1: but I guess that's how she was feeling. She clearly
17:24
Speaker 1: felt trapped. The thing is, it's like don't park in
17:27
Speaker 1: someone else's park. I mean, she's lucky that this person
17:31
Speaker 1: worked at Genesis and she could find them. If you
17:34
Speaker 1: parked in a reserved spot in a shopping center and
17:37
Speaker 1: the person then parked you in and then went shopping
17:39
Speaker 1: and you had nowhere to find them, you'd be sitting
17:42
Speaker 1: in your car probably for a couple more hours.
17:45
Speaker 3: Yeah.
17:45
Speaker 1: Well, whilst Victoria was left waiting, she decided to call
17:48
Speaker 1: in the big guns. So she contacted Genesis's head office
17:52
Speaker 1: and alerted them to what was going down. I'm really
17:55
Speaker 1: surprised whoever runs Genesis's social media hadn't already sounded the
17:59
Speaker 1: alarm because Victoria was tagging them in so many posts,
18:03
Speaker 1: and this was over an hour period. Now, Victoria said
18:06
Speaker 1: the team at head office were mortified and apologized, saying
18:10
Speaker 1: that this behavior was not part of their policy. It's
18:13
Speaker 1: quite clear that the head office then rang the dealership
18:15
Speaker 1: and directed them to move the car immediately. So after
18:19
Speaker 1: waiting for over an hour, Victoria and her assistant, Zara,
18:22
Speaker 1: finally returned to the car. But the drama didn't stop there.
18:26
Speaker 1: So Victoria decided to show her followers exactly where she
18:30
Speaker 1: was parked, which I feel actually weakened her case because
18:34
Speaker 1: the reserve sign honestly couldn't be any bigger. There were
18:38
Speaker 1: giant letters spelling out reserved across multiple parks. And there
18:42
Speaker 1: was even a sign that said, if you park here,
18:44
Speaker 1: you will get towed. So I think she was actually
18:46
Speaker 1: lucky that she didn't get towed. She did call herself
18:49
Speaker 1: a doofus in the post and said, yes, it says
18:51
Speaker 1: in giant letters that it's reserved, but I didn't see
18:54
Speaker 1: it as I was in a rush. Here's more of
18:56
Speaker 1: what she said.
18:58
Speaker 3: So I thought it was on that one, not on
19:00
Speaker 3: this one. And I know that there's like a big
19:02
Speaker 3: reserve thing.
19:04
Speaker 2: But who would have known that they would do that?
19:07
Speaker 4: Like actually insane. And then they doubled down on it.
19:10
Speaker 4: So like I called head office to get them to move.
19:13
Speaker 4: And this other girl is down here now. And I
19:17
Speaker 4: think she was here the whole time. Like I think
19:19
Speaker 4: they were both here the whole time. Because like they
19:21
Speaker 4: were like, oh no, we've been here. We saw you
19:23
Speaker 4: doing X, Y and Z.
19:25
Speaker 1: As you can hear, whilst Victoria was filming, a Genesis
19:28
Speaker 1: staff member was keeping a very watchful eye over her
19:32
Speaker 1: because instead of leaving immediately, which is what I would
19:35
Speaker 1: have done, particularly if I was in a rush, Victoria
19:38
Speaker 1: and Zara decided to sit in the car, which was
19:41
Speaker 1: still in the reserve park. And Victoria continued to upload
19:45
Speaker 1: her social media posts about the run in. But wasn't
19:48
Speaker 1: the person wanting their park back? Wasn't it a case
19:50
Speaker 1: of I'm going to pull out and then you get
19:52
Speaker 1: out and then I'll go back into my reserve park?
19:54
Speaker 3: Yeah.
19:54
Speaker 1: And clearly the team at that Genesis dealership were probably
19:57
Speaker 1: copying an absolute ear bashing from head office about their behavior.
20:01
Speaker 1: And you'd see absolute red if you saw the individual
20:03
Speaker 1: in question who'd complained about you. sitting there uploading more
20:06
Speaker 1: social media posts about the incident and inflaming it more.
20:10
Speaker 1: This is when the female staff member started taking photos
20:12
Speaker 1: of Victoria and Zara in the car, presumably to send
20:15
Speaker 1: to head office. Here's what Victoria said about her exchange
20:19
Speaker 1: with the female staff member.
20:20
Speaker 4: I was just uploading that video because it's actually illegal
20:25
Speaker 4: to use your phone and drive.
20:29
Speaker 3: And she came up and started taking photos of us.
20:32
Speaker 3: At least we look really cute today. We do look
20:34
Speaker 3: cute today.
20:36
Speaker 2: But what? What is this?
20:39
Speaker 3: It feels like.
20:41
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm in an enclosure. Like literally.
20:46
Speaker 4: So I'm sitting in the car about to go and
20:49
Speaker 4: I'm just like looking at my phone. Honestly, I was
20:51
Speaker 4: a little bit frazzled and needed a hot minute because
20:54
Speaker 4: like that amount of confrontation made me feel... I don't know,
20:57
Speaker 4: like I was high on adrenaline and I was like, oh,
20:59
Speaker 4: I need to calm down. Anyway, she comes to the
21:01
Speaker 4: window after taking photos of me and like, I don't know,
21:04
Speaker 4: doing what?
21:05
Speaker 3: Accidentally knocks my revision mirror. Fine. I know that was
21:08
Speaker 3: an accident.
21:10
Speaker 4: Starts laughing at me and asking like, are you leaving yet?
21:15
Speaker 3: Why aren't you leaving yet? You've been asked heaps of times.
21:17
Speaker 3: Have you learned your lesson?
21:19
Speaker 1: What?
21:19
Speaker 4: And then I go, sorry, what was your name? And
21:21
Speaker 4: she's like, what's that matter? Why is my name matter?
21:23
Speaker 4: And I said, oh, I'm just asking. My name's Victoria.
21:26
Speaker 3: What is your name? And then she told me her name.
21:28
Speaker 4: I won't say that I have shared it with the business. Anyway,
21:32
Speaker 4: it was a very strange altercation where clearly the business
21:37
Speaker 4: did not endorse this. The business has apologized and they
21:39
Speaker 4: are like, from the messages, I'm getting the vibe that
21:42
Speaker 4: they're mortified.
21:43
Speaker 3: But like, that is not how you do it.
21:46
Speaker 1: I can understand that Victoria probably did feel frazzled. And
21:49
Speaker 1: when you're in that moment, you either go into flight
21:51
Speaker 1: or fight and you know, you're putting your Instagram stories
21:54
Speaker 1: up and you're being really defensive and you just want
21:57
Speaker 1: to get out of there. And then once she was
21:59
Speaker 1: in her car, she's probably like, decompressing about it. If
22:03
Speaker 1: that had been me though, I would have just gotten
22:05
Speaker 1: out of the reserve park ASAP. I might've pulled my
22:08
Speaker 1: car up into another park that wasn't reserved. Do you
22:11
Speaker 1: think it's also because influencers almost have a sense of
22:14
Speaker 1: entitlement when it comes to some brands? I mean, there'd
22:16
Speaker 1: be brands, particularly car brands bending over backwards to work
22:19
Speaker 1: with the she's on the money team. through sponsorships and
22:22
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. And you think she's like, oh
22:24
Speaker 1: my God, do these people know who I am? They
22:26
Speaker 1: should be more polite to me. It did come across
22:29
Speaker 1: as very entitled, particularly when she was the one in
22:32
Speaker 1: the wrong in the first place. And when I was
22:34
Speaker 1: watching these stories, that's what I could not get my
22:36
Speaker 1: head around. It's like, you're the one who's parked in
22:39
Speaker 1: the reserve spot. The person has come back to their
22:42
Speaker 1: park and you've taken it. So they've parked in front
22:44
Speaker 1: of you because they couldn't get a park. Then they're
22:46
Speaker 1: trying to do their job and you expect them to
22:49
Speaker 1: drop everything and move their car so you can leave.
22:53
Speaker 1: That's not how it works. Yeah, well, this situation has
22:56
Speaker 1: left Victoria's followers divided. Some did agree with Victoria and
23:00
Speaker 1: said that the carry-on by the dealership was unprofessional and unfair,
23:03
Speaker 1: whilst others were in disbelief that Victoria didn't see the
23:06
Speaker 1: large reserve sign and said that they'd also double park
23:10
Speaker 1: someone in if their park was taken. Victoria responded by
23:13
Speaker 1: saying that she knew she was in the wrong by
23:15
Speaker 1: parking in the spot, but she would have actually preferred
23:18
Speaker 1: them to follow the policy which was in place and
23:21
Speaker 1: to have towed her car than to have had to
23:23
Speaker 1: experience this weird power trip. I really keep going back
23:28
Speaker 1: and forth with where I sit with this because when
23:30
Speaker 1: I first saw Victoria's stories pop up, I assumed that
23:33
Speaker 1: she drove a Genesis like you did, Kate, and I thought,
23:36
Speaker 1: She was a customer who was visiting the showroom. And
23:38
Speaker 1: I thought, wow, this is pretty out of line for
23:41
Speaker 1: a dealership to act like this to a customer. And perhaps,
23:44
Speaker 1: you know, she had some confusion over whether the parking
23:47
Speaker 1: bay was reserved for customers if it was in this
23:49
Speaker 1: shopping center. But when I realized that Victoria wasn't actually
23:53
Speaker 1: a Genesis customer and that she was trying to find
23:56
Speaker 1: a park in a shopping center. The dealership's reaction made
24:00
Speaker 1: a bit more sense to me because I feel like
24:01
Speaker 1: this must be a regular problem for them if they're
24:04
Speaker 1: threatening to tow cars. I mean, if there's a sign up,
24:06
Speaker 1: clearly their parks get taken all the time. And I
24:09
Speaker 1: think that this staff member would have seen the Porsche,
24:12
Speaker 1: made a generalization about Porsche owners and thought, wow, this
24:15
Speaker 1: person is fucking entitled. Yeah, I agree completely. And I'm
24:18
Speaker 1: not saying that I think the Genesis staff acted professionally,
24:21
Speaker 1: but I can understand if I was trying to do
24:24
Speaker 1: my job and I went to park my car and
24:27
Speaker 1: And they probably use it to do test drives as
24:29
Speaker 1: well with customers. I can see why they would have
24:32
Speaker 1: got annoyed. And I don't think it's unreasonable to ask
24:35
Speaker 1: Victoria to wait while the person finished with the client
24:38
Speaker 1: before they moved their car, considering it was her fault
24:41
Speaker 1: in the first place that her car was parked in
24:43
Speaker 1: that spot. I don't think that the dealership is completely
24:46
Speaker 1: innocent in all of this because they have gone on
24:48
Speaker 1: to make the brand look pretty bad. Victoria says that
24:51
Speaker 1: it was an honest mistake. She came in and apologized.
24:54
Speaker 1: And instead of being pricks and making her wait for
24:56
Speaker 1: over an hour, they could have just moved the car.
24:59
Speaker 1: They were clearly trying to teach her a lesson because
25:01
Speaker 1: they were annoyed. Well, they said that that's what they
25:03
Speaker 1: were trying to do. And as Victoria said, this isn't
25:05
Speaker 1: an individual. These are staff members representing a bigger business,
25:09
Speaker 1: one which subsequently then got scolded online to over 85,000 people.
25:14
Speaker 1: I'd be really interested to hear their side of events though,
25:17
Speaker 1: because Victoria said, you know, she came in and politely
25:20
Speaker 1: asked them to move. But it would be interesting to
25:23
Speaker 1: hear how the staff thought that exchange played out in
25:26
Speaker 1: real life because clearly she was annoyed that she got
25:30
Speaker 1: double parked in and perhaps she didn't come across as
25:34
Speaker 1: polite as she may have hoped. In saying that, I
25:37
Speaker 1: also think that in those largely male-dominated areas like car dealerships,
25:43
Speaker 1: women can be treated very patronisingly. So I can see
25:47
Speaker 1: how she would have felt pretty helpless if she's got
25:49
Speaker 1: this group of men who were refusing to move the car.
25:52
Speaker 1: Do we know that they were men though? Because she
25:53
Speaker 1: referenced a female staff member later on. Two male staff
25:56
Speaker 1: members that she was dealing with initially. For her, she
25:59
Speaker 1: runs multiple businesses. She probably had this huge stressful day
26:02
Speaker 1: ahead of her. And I think maybe some of the
26:05
Speaker 1: men at the dealership could have potentially got their noses
26:07
Speaker 1: out of joint that here's this successful woman in her
26:10
Speaker 1: early 30s driving a Porsche. And they thought, fuck you,
26:13
Speaker 1: we're going to punish you. Yeah, it doesn't sound like
26:15
Speaker 1: they acted with good intentions either. And this is a
26:18
Speaker 1: PR disaster, I think for everyone involved. In saying that though,
26:23
Speaker 1: I was surprised that Victoria would act like that considering
26:26
Speaker 1: she is someone who works with brands, being an influencer
26:29
Speaker 1: and through her podcast, and also someone who has a business.
26:33
Speaker 1: Because can you imagine if the shoe was on the
26:35
Speaker 1: other foot and someone spotted Victoria Devine getting out of
26:38
Speaker 1: her car that was parked in a reserved spot that
26:41
Speaker 1: clearly she wasn't meant to be parking in and then
26:43
Speaker 1: named and shamed her publicly like she wouldn't be happy
26:45
Speaker 1: with that look to be honest i think car parking
26:48
Speaker 1: dramas bring out the worst in everyone though i have
26:50
Speaker 1: never experienced more rage than in a car park particularly
26:54
Speaker 1: when it's christmas time and someone steals your park so
26:57
Speaker 1: i think that it can turn everyone into a bit
27:00
Speaker 1: of a jerk and you kind of revert back to
27:02
Speaker 1: acting like a child yeah Well, that is where we're
27:05
Speaker 1: going to leave things today. Thank you for listening to
27:08
Speaker 1: another episode of Outspoken. If you do enjoy the show,
27:10
Speaker 1: we would really appreciate it if you could leave us
27:13
Speaker 1: a review. This podcast was recorded on the traditional land
27:16
Speaker 1: of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay
27:18
Speaker 1: respect to elders past and present.