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Transcript

TMG: The Alex Cooper Baby Registry ‘Scam’ Explained · Outspoken the Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Mums Group you actually want to be
0:05
Speaker 1: a part of. I'm Kate Torber and I'm joined by
0:08
Speaker 1: my sister and.
0:09
Speaker 2: Journalist, Sophie Torber.
0:11
Speaker 1: Now, Sophie, we are just days out from Father's Day,
0:14
Speaker 1: but I don't think you'd know it. There's not much
0:17
Speaker 1: of a hype about the day on social media, particularly
0:20
Speaker 1: like we saw with Mother's Day.
0:22
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know if it was a hype about Mother's.
0:24
Speaker 2: Day or there were a lot of scared fathers who
0:26
Speaker 2: were just like, oh my God, I've got to get
0:28
Speaker 2: it right, particularly for their partner's first Mother's Day.
0:31
Speaker 3: We were all, well, not you, Amy and I were
0:33
Speaker 3: approaching our first Mother's Day.
0:35
Speaker 2: So we were getting fed a lot of content about
0:37
Speaker 2: what we.
0:38
Speaker 3: Deserve and what we should expect from the day.
0:41
Speaker 2: And consequently, our husbands were getting very nervous and trying
0:44
Speaker 2: to plan the perfect gifts.
0:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't see that with Father's Day. It's not
0:48
Speaker 1: like you've got men on there that are saying, hey, women,
0:51
Speaker 1: listen up. You've got to get this right. I mean,
0:53
Speaker 1: we had a whole episode dedicated a couple of months
0:56
Speaker 1: ago to how to create the perfect Mother's Day, what
0:59
Speaker 1: to give. clearly the wrong audience we were talking to
1:01
Speaker 1: because this audience is predominantly women. I think that type
1:05
Speaker 1: of content isn't on TikTok for Father's Day because I
1:09
Speaker 1: don't mean to sound arrogant, but I think women usually
1:12
Speaker 1: get it right. Like when I search Father's Day, the
1:15
Speaker 1: absolute brilliant ideas I was seeing of really sentimental gift ideas,
1:19
Speaker 1: there were.
1:20
Speaker 2: A lot of craft going on.
1:22
Speaker 1: It would be much more advantageous for men to actually
1:24
Speaker 1: search Father's Day and see what women come up with
1:27
Speaker 1: for gifts and just replicate them.
1:30
Speaker 3: That's true.
1:31
Speaker 2: On Mother's Day this year, Mamma Mia did a segment
1:34
Speaker 2: about how not only do we expect a lot as
1:37
Speaker 2: mothers from our partners, but we also expect to make
1:41
Speaker 2: sure that every mother is acknowledged. So, you know, our
1:45
Speaker 2: own mums, our friends who are mums, the dog mums
1:48
Speaker 2: out there, those who sadly don't have mums. But when
1:50
Speaker 2: it comes to Father's Day, that's all thrown out the window. Like,
1:54
Speaker 2: I don't hear many dads being like, I want to
1:55
Speaker 2: shout out to my mate who's a top dad too
1:58
Speaker 2: or like here's to all those who don't have fathers.
2:01
Speaker 3: And I think it's because at its core. Mums are
2:03
Speaker 3: more important? Well, yeah. Essentially or maybe.
2:07
Speaker 2: It's just because the sacrifice in the earlier years stereotypically
2:12
Speaker 2: is greater.
2:14
Speaker 1: One thing I'm looking forward to is the top quality
2:17
Speaker 1: posts that mums are going to be putting out because
2:21
Speaker 1: we've spoken about it a lot. Women are great at
2:24
Speaker 1: capturing nonchalant behind the scenes content of their partners being dads.
2:30
Speaker 1: So I think we're going to see a lot of
2:31
Speaker 1: beautiful videos on social media and photos.
2:34
Speaker 2: It's also an opportunity for most millennial women to share
2:38
Speaker 2: a really beautiful wedding photo of them and their dad.
2:40
Speaker 2: Like I always pull out the one of my dad
2:42
Speaker 2: walking me down the aisle and this, you know, most
2:45
Speaker 2: of the time you go, oh, is your dad even
2:46
Speaker 2: going to see that? Why can't you just wish your
2:48
Speaker 2: dad a happy birthday? Father's Day in person. But this year,
2:51
Speaker 2: my dad's actually going to be living it up in Europe.
2:53
Speaker 2: So there is a point of me posting it. Yeah. Well,
2:55
Speaker 2: I mean, we obviously share the same dad, newsflash. And
2:58
Speaker 2: I realized upon reflection, it's our first Father's Day that
3:02
Speaker 2: we're not spending with him. That's quite sad. It is
3:04
Speaker 2: really sad, but it does make me feel better that
3:06
Speaker 2: he's going to be living his best life in Europe. Like,
3:08
Speaker 2: I mean, we couldn't top that with, you know, a
3:10
Speaker 2: bit of a sandwiches at someone's house, could we? The
3:13
Speaker 2: pressure is on though, because normally, and we spoke about
3:16
Speaker 2: it on the Mother's Day edition, Mother's Day or Father's
3:19
Speaker 2: Day is spent dividing time between your parents and your in-laws.
3:22
Speaker 2: But now there's a chunk of time to actually focus
3:25
Speaker 2: on our partners who are dads. And I'm like, well,
3:28
Speaker 2: what do I do? I had the most hellish Father's
3:30
Speaker 2: Day last year and it wasn't to do with what
3:33
Speaker 2: people put on. Like we had beautiful lunch and a
3:36
Speaker 2: beautiful dinner. It was more so that we had a
3:38
Speaker 2: three-month-old who we were carting from house to house. So
3:42
Speaker 2: my in-laws, they used to live about 40 minutes away.
3:45
Speaker 2: Then Amy lives half an hour away. We had two
3:48
Speaker 2: lots of nap times to get him down for. Like
3:52
Speaker 2: it was an absolute nightmare. Like I was exhausted. And
3:56
Speaker 2: there was also the pressure. I didn't make my husband
3:59
Speaker 2: any sort of breakfast in bed. Like I did attempt to,
4:02
Speaker 2: but I'd done an overnight. Anyway, it was a day.
4:05
Speaker 2: So I'm actually excited to have a really chilled Father's
4:07
Speaker 2: Day and be able to celebrate Brandon. And I almost
4:11
Speaker 2: feel like when your baby's three months old, they're almost
4:14
Speaker 2: too little for Father's Day.
4:16
Speaker 3: Like you haven't had enough time with them.
4:17
Speaker 2: If that makes sense. Yeah, I get what you mean.
4:19
Speaker 1: It's like you haven't done a full year because I
4:21
Speaker 1: was in the same situation. My son was also born
4:23
Speaker 1: in June and Rhys got celebrated first for Father's Day.
4:26
Speaker 1: And it felt like it was at that point that
4:28
Speaker 1: I needed to set the tone for celebrations.
4:31
Speaker 3: Like this is sort of what we do.
4:33
Speaker 1: But again, it's really difficult when you have a three
4:36
Speaker 1: month old baby and have no time to do anything.
4:38
Speaker 2: Have you got all your gifts sorted? My husband is
4:40
Speaker 2: in the other room, so I'm trying to make sure
4:42
Speaker 2: that he doesn't hear me. I've actually got them wrapped
4:44
Speaker 2: behind me. How organized am I? Because we've got a
4:47
Speaker 2: special event on Saturday night and I just know that
4:50
Speaker 2: I don't want to be up late wrapping.
4:51
Speaker 1: Oh, I felt so proud of myself. I've wrapped everything
4:54
Speaker 1: that's arrived. I'm still awaiting a couple of things that
4:56
Speaker 1: haven't turned up.
4:57
Speaker 3: Do you know what though?
4:58
Speaker 2: I need to write the card.
4:59
Speaker 1: I should put that on my list of things to
5:01
Speaker 1: do tonight because I always leave that to the last
5:03
Speaker 1: minute and my husband writes such a beautiful message in
5:06
Speaker 1: a card and I want to write something good. I
5:08
Speaker 1: feel a lot of pressure because writing is really my job.
5:11
Speaker 1: Like I've got a journalism degree. I pride myself on
5:14
Speaker 1: being able.
5:14
Speaker 3: To write well.
5:15
Speaker 2: Writing cards is quite challenging, especially now that you have
5:19
Speaker 2: to do birthday card, Christmas card, Father's Day. Like there's
5:24
Speaker 2: three nice messages that you have to come up with
5:26
Speaker 2: and you don't want them all to sound the same.
5:28
Speaker 3: Imagine if a.
5:28
Speaker 2: Man was talking about this on a parenting podcast complaining
5:32
Speaker 2: that he had to write his wife a nice Mother's
5:34
Speaker 2: Day card. I'm good at writing sentimental cards, so I
5:37
Speaker 2: don't have an issue with this.
5:38
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that there's not nice things to write.
5:40
Speaker 1: I'm just saying I don't want to say the same thing.
5:42
Speaker 1: So I've kind of got to remember what I wrote
5:44
Speaker 1: for Christmas and birthday. See, I've got the issue where
5:46
Speaker 1: Reese's birthday is is 11 days before Christmas.
5:50
Speaker 2: So that makes it even more difficult. At least I've
5:52
Speaker 2: had a bit of time to come up with some material.
5:54
Speaker 2: I generally, and I'm talking about this as if I've
5:56
Speaker 2: had so many Father's Day, I've had one for Brandon.
5:58
Speaker 2: I like to assume the role of the child and
6:01
Speaker 2: also in my case, my dog, who will be signing
6:04
Speaker 2: off on the card. So it's not from me, it's
6:06
Speaker 2: from Luca and Archie. See, I've one-upped you.
6:08
Speaker 1: Not only do I have a personalized Moon Pig card
6:11
Speaker 1: for Rhys from Jack, But Audi was selling Golden Retriever
6:15
Speaker 1: Father's Day cards.
6:16
Speaker 2: So I've got a separate card for Shadow and Sunny
6:18
Speaker 2: to give Reese. That means I've got to write two cards.
6:20
Speaker 2: Now I'm going to be talking quietly when I cover
6:22
Speaker 2: this gift, but basically I've gone sentimental. So I think
6:26
Speaker 2: it's from, is it called Threadhead or something? There's those
6:29
Speaker 2: like customizable t-shirts. And I've got basically, I mean, this,
6:33
Speaker 2: this is probably very basic bitch, but I've got one
6:36
Speaker 2: t-shirt with photos of Luca on there and it says
6:38
Speaker 2: Luca's daddy.
6:39
Speaker 3: And then I've got photos of Archie on there, Archie's daddy.
6:42
Speaker 2: I will be interested to see which one he chooses
6:45
Speaker 2: to wear to the Father's Day celebrations, his dog son
6:48
Speaker 2: or his human son. Okay, I'm going to guess he's
6:50
Speaker 2: going to wear the Archie one when he eats breakfast
6:52
Speaker 2: or something with you guys at home and then he'll
6:53
Speaker 2: change into his Luca one. It's probably more socially acceptable.
6:58
Speaker 2: The other present was a bit of a spec buy
7:00
Speaker 2: when we were at one of our many Audi visits
7:02
Speaker 2: and it's this like mini golf putter thing that he
7:05
Speaker 2: can have in his office. And then the big present
7:07
Speaker 2: as per se are some ASIC shoes because we both
7:09
Speaker 2: really want to get into running. He actually surprised me
7:12
Speaker 2: with some shoes. a couple of months ago, just because present.
7:17
Speaker 2: And I feel really guilty because he's getting around in
7:19
Speaker 2: some old shoes. They're like six years old. that have
7:22
Speaker 2: Archie's puppy bites in them. So I think he needed
7:25
Speaker 2: a fresh pet.
7:26
Speaker 1: I love how you say the big present. I thought
7:28
Speaker 1: the first two were generous enough. Your love language is gifts.
7:31
Speaker 2: I just want to point that out there to listeners
7:33
Speaker 2: that may not have splashed the cash because that's quite
7:35
Speaker 2: a lot for Father's Day. He really spoiled me and
7:37
Speaker 2: I felt like I didn't do a good job last
7:39
Speaker 2: Father's Day with the present.
7:40
Speaker 3: So I felt like I had to up my game
7:41
Speaker 3: a little bit.
7:42
Speaker 2: Now, Rhys, if you are listening on the way to
7:43
Speaker 2: work to this podcast, please press skip because we're going
7:45
Speaker 2: to be talking about your present and Before we get
7:47
Speaker 2: into it, can I just say, we're not trying to
7:48
Speaker 2: show off about what gifts we've given. We're just trying
7:50
Speaker 2: to point out or give some advice on what you
7:53
Speaker 2: could do if you are looking for a last minute item.
7:55
Speaker 2: So I've got a couple of different little things and
7:58
Speaker 2: I knew I had to tick off sentimental and my
8:00
Speaker 2: husband's just got a new job.
8:02
Speaker 3: So I got him a.
8:03
Speaker 1: Personalised So it's got a beautiful picture of our son
8:07
Speaker 1: on it so he can take that to work with him.
8:09
Speaker 2: I saw them being advertised on Instagram.
8:12
Speaker 3: You and Rhys are big on those Instagram ads.
8:14
Speaker 2: I didn't see this on Instagram. I came up with
8:16
Speaker 2: this idea myself. Oh, really?
8:17
Speaker 3: I literally forwarded the ad to you and Amy and said, oh,
8:20
Speaker 3: these are cool.
8:21
Speaker 2: Oh. I organized this ages ago. I also got him
8:24
Speaker 2: a jumper from Uniqlo and I am obsessed with anthropology.
8:28
Speaker 1: They do these really beautiful, they're called like the icon
8:31
Speaker 1: juice glass and he doesn't have one. I've currently got
8:34
Speaker 1: four of my own that I use like every night,
8:36
Speaker 1: but there was a golden retriever themed one. And I
8:39
Speaker 1: also got him a golden retriever themed coffee cup to
8:42
Speaker 1: bump up the shipping.
8:43
Speaker 2: So I feel like my present sounds a bit shit
8:45
Speaker 2: compared to yours.
8:46
Speaker 3: Oh, they're both lovely.
8:47
Speaker 2: I mean, I just think you can't go wrong with
8:49
Speaker 2: doing something a bit cute and personalised and then maybe
8:53
Speaker 2: thinking about an activity that your partner wants to get
8:57
Speaker 2: back into because then it's almost like offering them the
9:00
Speaker 2: opportunity to do it as well. So make sure that
9:02
Speaker 2: you actually want them to do that activity. Like don't
9:05
Speaker 2: go and give them golf clubs if you don't want them.
9:07
Speaker 3: Spending like hours out at golf. You know what I mean?
9:09
Speaker 2: Fuck no.
9:10
Speaker 3: Even though I've literally just fucking given them golf clubs.
9:13
Speaker 2: But anyway, the parting thing is a little bit different. Yeah.
9:16
Speaker 4: So I spent my entire weekend fulfilling Daddy Gang's baby registries.
9:22
Speaker 2: Podcaster Alex Cooper's best efforts to support expectant mothers has
9:26
Speaker 2: been overshadowed by internet scammers.
9:29
Speaker 3: Kate, this has been blowing up all over TikTok. Can
9:31
Speaker 3: you take us back to the start?
9:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, earlier this month, Alex Cooper let her followers
9:36
Speaker 1: in on a secret. She had spent her whole weekend
9:39
Speaker 1: purchasing gifts from her fans' baby registries.
9:43
Speaker 4: You guys have been there for me during this process,
9:45
Speaker 4: and I want to do the same for you. So
9:48
Speaker 4: let's keep it going. Like, why stop here? Father Cooper
9:51
Speaker 4: is ready to clear it out. Comment down below if
9:54
Speaker 4: you have a registry or a friend of yours. And
9:56
Speaker 4: this week, I'm just gonna keep chugging along and fulfilling
10:00
Speaker 4: registries in this call her mother era love you guys.
10:04
Speaker 1: Now this video went absolutely viral at the time of
10:07
Speaker 1: recording it's been viewed over 1.8 million times and generated
10:11
Speaker 1: over 37 and a half thousand comments Everyone was desperate
10:15
Speaker 1: to get a piece of the action.
10:17
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, Alex can afford it.
10:18
Speaker 2: What did she sign, like a $ 30 million podcast deal
10:21
Speaker 2: with Spotify? I'm sure she can throw some booties your
10:24
Speaker 2: way or a grow suit or whatever it is. Yeah, well,
10:27
Speaker 2: the thing is she hasn't just been doing that. She's
10:29
Speaker 2: been clearing the whole industry. That's Pram, Bassinet. You know,
10:33
Speaker 2: those things are expensive. So that would be incredible. Now,
10:36
Speaker 2: a week later, she announced that she had joined forces
10:39
Speaker 2: with baby registry BabyList to help more expecting parents. I
10:43
Speaker 2: actually use BabyList for my baby shower.
10:45
Speaker 4: So did I.
10:46
Speaker 1: It's really good because, and this is obviously not an
10:48
Speaker 1: ad for them, but I liked it because you could
10:50
Speaker 1: pick from any shop and just put a link to it.
10:52
Speaker 1: You weren't just restricted by baby bunting or another store.
10:55
Speaker 3: Do you know what was bad though?
10:56
Speaker 2: Is it would notify you when someone had purchased a
10:59
Speaker 2: gift for your baby shower and it said, would you
11:02
Speaker 2: like to reveal who bought it?
11:04
Speaker 3: And every time I'd be like, Yep, I want to see.
11:06
Speaker 3: Which kind of did ruin the surprise.
11:08
Speaker 2: That is such a dog move, especially if people have
11:10
Speaker 2: said they want it to be a surprise.
11:12
Speaker 3: Kate, but you know me. You know me. I can't
11:14
Speaker 3: not know. Like I have to know.
11:16
Speaker 2: See, I was the opposite.
11:17
Speaker 1: I was like, no, I don't want to know. I
11:18
Speaker 1: want to be surprised on the day. Now back to
11:22
Speaker 1: Alex announcing this partnership. The clip went absolutely viral. It
11:25
Speaker 1: amassed over 3.8 million views. And in it, Alex invited
11:29
Speaker 1: her followers to tag a mum who needed their registry cleared.
11:33
Speaker 2: The concept absolutely took off.
11:34
Speaker 1: The video received over 88,000 comments with thousands of people
11:39
Speaker 1: sharing really personal stories of why they needed help with
11:42
Speaker 1: their baby registry. Some people have even been making their
11:46
Speaker 1: own TikToks in a bid to get Alex's attention, which
11:48
Speaker 1: she's been stitching up and reacting to. Pampers have even
11:52
Speaker 1: got involved and now they're giving away a year's worth
11:55
Speaker 1: of nappies to 10 mums. So it's really turned into
11:58
Speaker 1: this incredible thing where a lot of mums are being
12:00
Speaker 1: helped out.
12:01
Speaker 2: Looking at this from a PR perspective, this brand alignment
12:04
Speaker 2: has been spot on for Alex. It's clear that this
12:06
Speaker 2: is part of an overarching personal brand strategy for Alex
12:11
Speaker 2: to pivot into the motherhood space. I mean, we've already
12:14
Speaker 2: seen her very effortlessly move from this chaotic party girl
12:18
Speaker 2: who shared a lot about sex and relationships into a
12:21
Speaker 2: media mogul who empowers women. Yeah.
12:24
Speaker 1: If there's anyone that can pivot into the motherhood space seamlessly,
12:28
Speaker 1: it is Alex One piece of the puzzle that has
12:31
Speaker 1: always remained crucial for her is to maintain relatability, which
12:36
Speaker 1: is tough when you're worth around $ 100 million. But I
12:39
Speaker 1: think she's managed to do that very well during her
12:42
Speaker 1: pregnancy because she's always asking her community questions about pregnancy
12:47
Speaker 1: and motherhood. And she also recently opened up about her
12:50
Speaker 1: gestational diabetes. She's been very transparent and real throughout the process.
12:54
Speaker 1: I think she's trying to be that chic mom though.
12:58
Speaker 1: She's still very young. I don't think that she wants
13:01
Speaker 1: to go into the territory of sharing raw details about
13:06
Speaker 1: her child once they're there. I think it's more that
13:09
Speaker 1: when there's an opportunity to be the cool mum.
13:12
Speaker 3: She'll be there. Is that the vibe you get?
13:14
Speaker 2: I actually think the opposite.
13:16
Speaker 1: After reading the media release from her and Baby List,
13:20
Speaker 1: this is just not a one-off giveaway. This partnership is
13:23
Speaker 1: a multi-phase deal and BabyList have been moving away from
13:27
Speaker 1: just being known as a baby registry into a full
13:30
Speaker 1: content platform and they actually have podcasts on there. So
13:33
Speaker 1: I would not be surprised if Alex does a spin-off
13:36
Speaker 1: baby podcast and BabyList is the major sponsor.
13:40
Speaker 2: And I think she will be sharing... very real and raw.
13:43
Speaker 1: Stories and this added layer of giving back to mums
13:46
Speaker 1: is a genius move because people can't be like oh
13:48
Speaker 1: what does she know she's so rich she has everything
13:51
Speaker 1: it's like well hang on she's actually giving back to
13:53
Speaker 1: a lot of women like it's harder to be jealous
13:56
Speaker 1: of someone and to say that they're out of touch
13:58
Speaker 1: when they're actually giving back Alex even acknowledged this during
14:02
Speaker 1: the partnership announcement let's take a listen.
14:05
Speaker 4: Obviously, I've never been pregnant before, so I literally just
14:09
Speaker 4: had no idea how expensive any of this was or
14:13
Speaker 4: just even how many things you need. And also, this
14:16
Speaker 4: just gets you through the newborn phase. Then you basically
14:18
Speaker 4: have to buy an entire new set of things. I
14:20
Speaker 4: just feel really fortunate that the job that I do
14:24
Speaker 4: has been able to afford me all of these resources
14:26
Speaker 4: and the ability to help others. all of these women.
14:29
Speaker 4: So my plan is basically just to keep fulfilling registries,
14:32
Speaker 4: giving away diapers, helping as many people as I possibly
14:35
Speaker 4: can until I go on maternity leave, which let me
14:38
Speaker 4: just tell you something, guys, I am so excited for
14:41
Speaker 4: maternity leave.
14:43
Speaker 2: It's funny.
14:43
Speaker 1: Originally, I thought that this was an organic move from Alex,
14:47
Speaker 1: that she was just being really nice and clearing.
14:49
Speaker 2: Off people's baby registries.
14:51
Speaker 1: But the more I've heard about it, and I'm not
14:53
Speaker 1: trying to be cynical, but the more I think this
14:55
Speaker 1: is a really strategic one, As much as I'd love
14:58
Speaker 1: to believe, you know, that she's just done this out
14:59
Speaker 1: of the goodness of her heart, I actually think this
15:01
Speaker 1: partnership was established before she started doing it.
15:05
Speaker 2: Of course it was.
15:06
Speaker 3: Of course it was.
15:08
Speaker 2: They would have come up with the whole strategy of
15:10
Speaker 2: how to launch this in a really organic way and
15:12
Speaker 2: they've said, look, let's say that you really want to
15:14
Speaker 2: help out and you want to clear some women's registries
15:18
Speaker 2: for them.
15:18
Speaker 3: Like, I'm sorry, I don't buy for a second that
15:20
Speaker 3: this was organic.
15:21
Speaker 1: Particularly because we've seen celebrities do this type of thing before,
15:24
Speaker 1: like Taylor Swift. back in the day, in the early 2010s,
15:28
Speaker 1: was infamous for dropping off Christmas presents to fans. You know,
15:32
Speaker 1: she would follow them on Tumblr and learn about them
15:36
Speaker 1: and give them gifts, but she never really promoted it
15:39
Speaker 1: much herself. It wasn't like she was putting it out
15:41
Speaker 1: on her own TikTok, like, I've done this, so people
15:44
Speaker 1: comment and tell me what you want. People are wise
15:47
Speaker 1: to this sort of marketing now, but in saying that,
15:49
Speaker 1: it did receive a good response because everyone wants the freebies. Unfortunately, though,
15:53
Speaker 1: for Alex Cooper and BabyList, there has been a hiccup.
15:55
Speaker 1: Everything was running really smoothly until multiple women claimed they'd
16:00
Speaker 1: been scammed. So the scamming was not by Alex Cooper
16:05
Speaker 1: or BabyList, but by trolls who have been going through
16:08
Speaker 1: Alex's posts and pretending to purchase items off people's registries.
16:13
Speaker 2: Why can I just imagine you getting this notification when
16:17
Speaker 2: you had your baby registry and, you know, it's like, oh,
16:19
Speaker 2: would you like this to be a surprise?
16:20
Speaker 1: And you're going, oh, no, I want to see who
16:22
Speaker 1: it is. And you're thinking it's Alex Cooper and it's
16:24
Speaker 1: just some scammer.
16:25
Speaker 3: What is actually wrong with people?
16:26
Speaker 2: That is so nasty to deceive women when they're at
16:30
Speaker 2: this really vulnerable time in their lives, like especially when
16:33
Speaker 2: they're sharing.
16:33
Speaker 3: Stories about why they really need the money.
16:36
Speaker 1: And some of these stories were so harrowing. It's absolutely
16:39
Speaker 1: abhorrent behavior.
16:40
Speaker 2: Ironically, this whole campaign was meant to promote the baby
16:45
Speaker 2: list registry, but it has actually highlighted a pretty massive
16:48
Speaker 2: flaw in the platform's mechanics.
16:50
Speaker 3: Normally, it's only someone's family and.
16:52
Speaker 2: Friends who have access to a baby registry, but because
16:56
Speaker 2: lots of people were sharing their links publicly in Alex's
16:59
Speaker 2: comment section, now anyone has access to them? Yeah, I
17:03
Speaker 2: saw a lot of people freaking out saying, oh God,
17:05
Speaker 2: I've removed my link because I realized my address was
17:08
Speaker 2: attached to it because a part of the baby registry
17:11
Speaker 2: is you can actually post these gifts to the person,
17:14
Speaker 2: which I'm presuming.
17:15
Speaker 1: Alex would be doing. So there was a lot of
17:17
Speaker 1: private information going public. I mean, you would never think
17:20
Speaker 1: that some nasty individuals would go and do this, would you?
17:22
Speaker 2: No. I mean, something else as well is if you
17:25
Speaker 2: have the link to someone's registry, it's as easy as
17:27
Speaker 2: just going on there and clicking a button to say.
17:30
Speaker 3: That you've purchased everything.
17:31
Speaker 2: You don't actually have to provide proof of purchase or
17:34
Speaker 2: receipts because I mean, Clearly BabyList doesn't think that people
17:38
Speaker 2: invited to a baby shower are going to be messing
17:40
Speaker 2: around and pretending that.
17:41
Speaker 3: They've purchased shit, are they?
17:43
Speaker 2: Yeah.
17:43
Speaker 1: So these poor women were getting notifications that their whole
17:46
Speaker 1: baby registry had been cleared by Alex Cooper. But once
17:49
Speaker 1: they'd logged in, they discovered it was just a scammer. Now,
17:53
Speaker 1: despite several women sharing their scamming stories on TikTok and
17:56
Speaker 1: others leaving comments on Alex's video, Alex or BabyList are
18:01
Speaker 1: yet to address the issue.
18:03
Speaker 2: What do you think about that?
18:04
Speaker 3: That's pretty bad.
18:05
Speaker 2: This story's been around for a while. And if I
18:08
Speaker 2: was BabyList's PR team, I'd be saying anyone who was
18:11
Speaker 2: caught up in this scam, we're going to cover your
18:13
Speaker 2: BabyList for you.
18:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, this can easily be turned into a positive quite quickly. Also,
18:18
Speaker 1: in their media release, they spoke a lot about how
18:20
Speaker 1: they're working with Alex to fine-tune different functions of the
18:25
Speaker 1: baby registry. This is a great example of a feature
18:29
Speaker 1: that doesn't really work that well that they could improve.
18:31
Speaker 1: So they could announce, hey, we're actually changing that feature
18:34
Speaker 1: off the back of this incident. We're always willing to
18:38
Speaker 1: learn and find out issues that are wrong with our
18:41
Speaker 1: platform and grow from it.
18:42
Speaker 2: Will you listen to Call Her Mummy when it comes out?
18:45
Speaker 3: Without a doubt, I will.
18:46
Speaker 2: Be absolutely tuning in to hear about her take on
18:49
Speaker 2: motherhood It's so funny because I think I spoke a
18:51
Speaker 2: couple of months ago about how I get so excited
18:54
Speaker 2: when influencers that I really like or celebrities I like
18:57
Speaker 2: are about to experience motherhood and I'm just hanging out
18:59
Speaker 2: for their take on it.
19:00
Speaker 1: See, I will dip in and out of Call Her
19:03
Speaker 1: Daddy if I like a celebrity. I think the last
19:05
Speaker 1: one I listened to was when she interviewed Hilary Duff,
19:07
Speaker 1: but I much preferred the 2020 format when She and
19:11
Speaker 1: Sophia were on the podcast and they were really raw
19:14
Speaker 1: and real with their conversation. It's really been sanitized since
19:17
Speaker 1: she signed the big deal with Spotify and basically became
19:20
Speaker 1: an interview talk show. So I would love it if
19:23
Speaker 1: she launched this spinoff baby podcast and opened up more
19:26
Speaker 1: about her life and the raw reality of motherhood.
19:29
Speaker 2: I think the reason that she also changed to the
19:31
Speaker 2: different format is because she got in a long-term relationship
19:34
Speaker 2: with sexy zoom man and consequently got married. So You know,
19:37
Speaker 2: her content obviously changed as her life evolved. And I
19:40
Speaker 2: think that we're going to see that again. We're going
19:41
Speaker 2: to see this evolution into motherhood. I wanted to share
19:46
Speaker 2: a story. So maybe other mums who go through this
19:49
Speaker 2: don't feel alone. I felt so much guilt this week
19:52
Speaker 2: because my son had his first.
19:55
Speaker 3: Egg on his head.
19:57
Speaker 2: And when I say egg on his head, like it
19:59
Speaker 2: was massive.
20:01
Speaker 3: It is purple still.
20:03
Speaker 2: Like immediately, as soon as it happened, it went blue.
20:06
Speaker 2: And I feel like it was my fault because my
20:08
Speaker 2: son has just started walking. And I was furiously messaging
20:12
Speaker 2: you guys something about the podcast whilst watching him potter
20:15
Speaker 2: around our lounge room. I wasn't watching closely enough because
20:19
Speaker 2: he decided to grab a book and put it up
20:22
Speaker 2: on our wooden bench and somehow fell forward and knocked
20:25
Speaker 2: his head. This bench is a part of the seating
20:27
Speaker 2: of your dining table. So it's, you know, low. It's
20:30
Speaker 2: not like he was walking on it and he actually
20:32
Speaker 2: just hit his head on it while standing. But I
20:34
Speaker 2: just felt like such an asshole because like you feel
20:36
Speaker 2: like you have eyes on them at all moments of
20:38
Speaker 2: the day, I literally looked at my phone for a
20:41
Speaker 2: second and it happened.
20:42
Speaker 3: It shows how quickly these things can happen.
20:43
Speaker 2: But a lot of, you know, friends and family have
20:46
Speaker 2: said to me, look, this is just the life of
20:48
Speaker 2: a boy mom. But me being me, I completely fucking
20:51
Speaker 2: freaked out. Like I tried to call you guys instantly.
20:54
Speaker 2: You guys were still recording an episode, couldn't get through.
20:57
Speaker 2: Call my mom who was at the hairdresser. I was
20:59
Speaker 2: in hysterical tears, called Brandon, like I felt so guilty.
21:04
Speaker 2: And it's the worst when they're just bawling their eyes out,
21:06
Speaker 2: literally called all the hotlines on the back of the
21:08
Speaker 2: blue book, locked him in for a GP appointment straight away.
21:12
Speaker 3: I think the doctor thought we're a bit mental because
21:14
Speaker 3: he's like.
21:15
Speaker 2: Um, you know, just running you through, like, you know,
21:18
Speaker 2: he hasn't lost consciousness. Like he's, you know, it's just
21:21
Speaker 2: a bit of a bump to the head, but I
21:22
Speaker 2: will fill his skull for you just to make sure
21:24
Speaker 2: he was a-okay.
21:25
Speaker 3: But Sometimes you've just got to do it for your
21:27
Speaker 3: peace of mind, don't you?
21:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's rocking a really black bruise at the moment,
21:32
Speaker 1: the poor little darling. I had a similar incident when
21:35
Speaker 1: I think Jack was around six months old and I
21:37
Speaker 1: think I was on the phone to either you or
21:38
Speaker 1: Amy and somehow his fingers got jammed into this window
21:42
Speaker 1: and I was the one that was pushing on the
21:44
Speaker 1: window and he was crying and I had no idea
21:45
Speaker 1: for a couple of seconds and then obviously I released
21:48
Speaker 1: the window. I felt like the most awful person ever.
21:51
Speaker 1: Like it is the worst feeling in the world.
21:54
Speaker 3: You know, you just wish it was you.
21:56
Speaker 2: Like I'm like I would have so much rather me
21:58
Speaker 2: be rocking this big bruise and like the pain obviously
22:02
Speaker 2: as well. Do you ever do that thing where if
22:05
Speaker 2: they hurt themselves on something, you try and see like
22:07
Speaker 2: if they knock their head, do you sometimes try and
22:08
Speaker 2: knock your head on the same thing to see what
22:10
Speaker 2: the pain would be?
22:11
Speaker 3: Look, I didn't in this instance because I could tell
22:14
Speaker 3: it was quite painful.
22:15
Speaker 1: See, because the other night, a couple of weeks ago-
22:18
Speaker 1: Jack somehow got himself up onto the side table near
22:21
Speaker 1: our couch and we've got a lamp on there. And
22:24
Speaker 1: so I'm trying to get him off the table. And
22:26
Speaker 1: then he reached out and touched the light bulb and
22:28
Speaker 1: burned his hand. And then of course I've done Dr. Google,
22:31
Speaker 1: well actually chat GPT.
22:33
Speaker 2: And it's like, if your child ever burns their face,
22:35
Speaker 2: genitals or hands, you have to rush them down to emergency.
22:38
Speaker 2: And I was like, what?
22:40
Speaker 1: Anyway, the poor thing, like we tried to put him
22:42
Speaker 1: to bed. He had to have his hand in this
22:44
Speaker 1: glass of water the whole time. We rang up the
22:47
Speaker 1: emergency hotline. Anyway, he was completely fine as per usual.
22:50
Speaker 1: But I was like, oh, I might try and see
22:52
Speaker 1: if I can touch the light bulb.
22:54
Speaker 2: Don't do that.
22:55
Speaker 3: They're very hot.
22:56
Speaker 2: Do you know what's always awful when you ring those
22:58
Speaker 2: emergency lines and it's like a nurse at the other
23:00
Speaker 2: end and they're like, excuse me, can I get your
23:02
Speaker 2: full name? Like it feels really official, like they're about
23:04
Speaker 2: to make a complaint about you or something. And then
23:06
Speaker 2: they're like, could you take me to the room where
23:08
Speaker 2: the child is? I need to hear if he's breathing.
23:10
Speaker 3: And like half the time Luke is.
23:11
Speaker 2: Like asleep, like he's, you know, not passed out, obviously,
23:15
Speaker 2: like genuinely down for his nap.
23:16
Speaker 3: And you're like, Yeah, he's in here at the moment.
23:20
Speaker 3: It's horrible.
23:21
Speaker 1: That was the thing with the burnt hand. I made
23:23
Speaker 1: Rhys ring and by the time we got through and
23:25
Speaker 1: we relayed all the details of the incident, Jack had
23:29
Speaker 1: already fallen asleep in his bed and we're like, well,
23:32
Speaker 1: we don't really want to wake him.
23:33
Speaker 2: And they're like, I think he's fine. At the moment,
23:35
Speaker 2: Luca loves going through one of our kitchen cupboards and
23:39
Speaker 2: it's just an accident waiting to happen. Like there's these
23:42
Speaker 2: drink bottles in there. And I'm just so paranoid he's
23:45
Speaker 2: going to drop one on his toe. Like I literally micro,
23:48
Speaker 2: I'm just like hovering over whenever he's wanting to, like,
23:50
Speaker 2: cause you know, it's like, oh, you got to let
23:51
Speaker 2: them explore. So I don't want to be like that
23:53
Speaker 2: cruel mom who has him in, you know, the playpen
23:55
Speaker 2: all the time. But there is absolutely like when you're
23:57
Speaker 2: talking about testing out the pain, because I've been so
24:00
Speaker 2: worried about it, it hasn't actually happened yet. But the
24:02
Speaker 2: other day, like I had something fall on my toe
24:05
Speaker 2: from height. And you know, when your toes are like
24:07
Speaker 2: stone cold and it's literally the most painful feeling in
24:11
Speaker 2: the world. And you know, when you just want to
24:13
Speaker 2: let out a, Fuck. But you're trying like you're around children.
24:16
Speaker 2: You can't do it.
24:17
Speaker 1: Oh, that happened to me. I have the most sensitive
24:21
Speaker 1: fingers and toes. I got the pram out of the
24:23
Speaker 1: car the other day and it hasn't happened the whole
24:25
Speaker 1: 26 months of having this pram.
24:27
Speaker 2: Somehow I jammed my finger. The pain. was indescribable.
24:31
Speaker 1: This is why I couldn't give birth vaginally. I needed
24:34
Speaker 1: to be drugged to the eyeballs in order for my
24:37
Speaker 1: son to be born. Obviously, it was painful after, but
24:39
Speaker 1: at least I had the pain meds.
24:40
Speaker 2: Well, on that lovely note, I think that is all
24:42
Speaker 2: we have time for today. Thank you so much for
24:43
Speaker 2: joining us for this episode.
24:45
Speaker 3: We hope you all have.
24:47
Speaker 2: An amazing Father's Day and, you know, get the presents right.
24:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you are stuck for present ideas, maybe we
24:54
Speaker 1: need to create a thread in the Mums group for
24:56
Speaker 1: any last-minute gift ideas. I'm sure the community have some
24:59
Speaker 1: great ideas on board for those who need it.
25:01
Speaker 2: This episode was recorded on the traditional land of the
25:04
Speaker 2: Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to
25:06
Speaker 2: Elders past and present.