Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Alix Earle's personal influencer trip, Bye Bambi x Yasmin Coachella backlash + TikTok's Trade Me Project goes wrong

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: Alix Earle's personal influencer trip, Bye Bambi x Yasmin Coachella backlash + TikTok's Trade Me Project goes wrong · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone. Welcome to Mini Scroll, the
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  daily Internet culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories
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  from social media, the creator economy and the digital space.
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  Every Monday through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
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  the founder of the youth media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back, everyone. Happy Monday.
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  It was Coachella weekend one this weekend, so I am sure that
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  your social media feeds your TikTok for you page was just
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  filled with stuff from Coachella.
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  I have two Coachella related stories, which is a little
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  surprising because prior to this weekend it seemed like Coachella
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  was really just an afterthought, like it was not something that
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  anybody was talking about. I mean, we've had many
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  conversations over the last two years that the festival feels
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  like it's losing a lot of relevance.
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  But I would say that social media proved us wrong, at least
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  for weekend one. So let's just jump right into it
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  because I have 3 pretty big stories for you guys today.
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  So the first story is that there is a little bit of Coachella
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  drama with the brand Buy Bambi. Australian clothing brand Buy
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  Bambi is facing backlash for their brand trip to Coachella.
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  For those who are not familiar with Buy Bambi, it is a small
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  ethical clothing brand based in Melbourne.
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  It was launched in 2018 and has since gained A cult following on
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  TikTok for its unique take on trends.
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  So the reason why I'm covering this for anyone that doesn't
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  know, I'm actually based in Australia in Sydney, although I
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  am Canadian. And I'm sorry for all of our
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  Australian listeners, but I just cannot say Melbourne like
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  Melbourne, because to me that is how you say it with an
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  Australian accent. And I'm not just gonna like, put
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  on an Australian accent to say one word.
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  I just feel like it's really cringe when I hear people who
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  have North American accents or any other type of accents, say
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  Melbourne, Because to me, that's how you say it, like in
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  Australia. And if that makes sense, so I'm
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  going to be saying Melbourne, I'm really sorry.
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  So over the years, the brand has worked quite closely with a
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  creator named Yasmin, A TikTok creator with over 135,000
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  followers. Yasmin is known for her
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  lifestyle content, specifically her outfit videos.
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  And get ready with me. While Yasmin has worked with the
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  brand, she is also supported by Bambi long before she started
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  collaborating with them. Yasmin has since become a
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  favorite of the Bye Bambi team, with the creator hosting the
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  brand's fifth anniversary party and even starring in the
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  campaign for this milestone. This year, the brand took a
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  number of influencers to LA for Coachella, even flying some tik
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  tokers out from Australia. However, it seems the brand did
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  not invite Yasmin TikTok users have since rallied around the
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  creator, criticizing by Bambi for excluding someone who has
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  long promoted and praised the brand where she was even the
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  face of the company. At one point under the comments
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  section of every video posted by the brand of this influencer,
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  Trip users are asking about Yasmin and others are
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  criticizing the clothing label for the lack of diversity on
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  this trip. Quote I only know by Bambi
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  because of Yasmin 1 user commented quote TBH, I won't be
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  buying by Bambi again after this treatment of Yasmin, wrote
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  another. Yasmin did post a video
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  addressing the brand trip, but it has since been deleted.
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  In the comment section of another video, Yasmin said that
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  she was quote asked to take it down for contractual reasons
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  slash the potential of legal action.
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  When asked if the brand apologized, she said Nope.
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  Nevertheless, she has posted a number of videos subtly
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  criticizing the brand. In one, she was lip syncing to
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  Lady Gaga's Judas, insinuating that by Bambi has betrayed her.
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  Overall, this whole situation is an interesting example of what
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  actually matters to TikTok users.
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  As TikTok user at Sweep under score Studio says Quote, this
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  drama is such a good case study to show that your brand is so
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  much more than the products you are selling.
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  The way this brand's community is standing up for this one
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  creator really shows that your brand community doesn't just
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  care about your brand, it cares about each other as well.
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  I completely agree. And I think that's the number
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  one thing that I have seen on TikTok from this is everybody's
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  like, I discovered by Bambi through Yasmin, like this is so
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  wild that you wouldn't invite her.
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  So I can imagine that she would feel quite slighted and I think
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  that's fair enough. You know, brand trips have been
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  a huge hot topic ever since the Tart Dubai trip went viral at
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  the beginning of last year. I mean we saw brand trips for
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  years and years and then they kind of fell off.
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  Like I think it seemed as though brands decided that they weren't
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  really the move when it came to influencer marketing.
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  And then of course the pandemic happened and then last year they
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  came back full for us when Tart was like, you know what we're
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  going to do like a 20/16/2017 style brand trip to Dubai.
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  And ever since then it feels like brands are really back on
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  it. So we're watching brand trips
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  with a much closer eye than we used to.
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  And the next story I have for you guys is also about a
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  Coachella brand trip, but this time it's actually quite
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  positive. So Poppy, the soda brand, is
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  doing a brand trip to Coachella. They've hired a house.
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  They're doing the whole activation.
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  But instead of inviting a whole slew of influencers to the trip,
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  they have invited just one Alex Earl.
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  And she got to bring a bunch of her friends to this house.
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  Poppy is a soda brand founded by a husband and wife duo and is a
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  healthier alternative to other drinks.
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  After getting investment through the TV show Shark Tank, Poppy
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  has become a favorite online this year.
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  Instead of inviting a group of influencers to Coachella, Poppy
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  has capitalized on the Alex Earl effect and just invited Alex and
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  her friends to the festival. They have even branded the trip
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  as Coach Orla for Alex Earl, Her sister Ashton.
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  Her best friends Kristen and Sally are on the trip with Alex.
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  The group are staying across the street from the festival in a
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  house decked out in Poppy merch and drinks.
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  Poppy's decision to go all in on one influencer is not a common
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  strategy, but it seems to be working in the brand's favor as
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  TikTok users are loving Alex's content from the weekend.
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  Social media users have become really sick of Coachella in
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  recent years, particularly due to it becoming, you know, kind
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  of the quote UN quote influencer Olympics, where many creators
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  show little interest in the festival itself or its music.
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  So focusing on just Alex and her friends seems like a smart move
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  by Poppy as it reintroduces an element of authenticity and fun
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  to the event. And Alex is the perfect
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  influencer to trial this type of thing because all of her friends
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  and her sister and her family, they star in her videos as well.
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  So even though they might not necessarily be big influencers,
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  seeing that dynamic, it's almost like they're giving us a reality
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  show with the people that we know from Alex's life for this
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  one weekend all together in this house.
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  So I think that's part of why it works.
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  I don't think that they would have chosen an influencer who
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  doesn't share her friends and her family and all of those
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  aspects of her life to do this like one trip with.
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  Because that's the fun of it is like her content is all about
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  having fun and partying with these people that we see in her
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  life. And she's also a massive music
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  festival buff. Like Alex is a huge party girl
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  and she loves music and she loves going to festivals and
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  shows and concerts. So it's actually like the
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  perfect marriage between these things to have created this
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  really fun weekend for users to follow along with and for Alex
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  and her friends to engage with. And it's a very unique strategy.
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  And I think it really shows that Poppy's on the front foot of
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  changing things up for influencer marketing.
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  You know, like influencer marketing, we're so numb to it
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  now. We kind of know all the tricks
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  of the trade and it's not as effective as it used to be on
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  us. And this has been so effective.
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  Everyone is talking about it because it's so different.
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  All right. And the last ride that I have
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  for you guys, there is some big drama going on with the Trade Me
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  project that happened on TikTok. So I will go through what that
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  is if you have no idea, and then I'll tell you what's going on
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  now. So in 2021, a TikTok user named
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  Demi Skipper went viral after she did a series of trades.
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  So it started with a lone Bobby pin and ended up with a house.
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  She basically traded 28 items in total, including an Apple TV for
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  noise canceling headphones and an iPhone 11 Pro Max for a 2008
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  Dodge Caravan. Soon, many TikTok users started
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  following along as she documented her journey.
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  She was basically trying to see how much she could trade to get
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  bigger and bigger items. So Demi had this goal of a
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  house, and she planned to give the house away at the end of the
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  series, hoping to help someone who really needed it.
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  So this all happened. She got the house and she ended
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  up giving the house away to a teenage girl named Shay.
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  So people were sending in emails and letters and stuff to her
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  saying like why they were the ones that should get the house
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  and she chose this girl, Shay. Shay was living with her friends
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  at the time. She had a difficult upbringing.
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  Her mother passed away in a car accident when she was two years
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  old and then years later her father ended up overdosing.
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  After facing a battle with depression, Shay got the house
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  and it took her a while but she moved into the house January
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  25th, 2022. So while all of this went down
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  in 2021 and 2022, a few days ago Shay posted a now deleted ticket
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  talk writing quote when I literally won a house from a Tik
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  Toker and was later banned from the property.
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  TikTok users obviously were very shocked by this revelation and
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  many were directing a lot of hate towards Demi questioning
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  why she would kick Shay out of the house.
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  So two days ago, Demi posted a video setting the record
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  straight. She explained that Shay hadn't
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  been living in the house and left it in complete disarray.
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  So six months after Shay had moved in, a neighbor contacted
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  Demi saying that there were stacks of Amazon packages
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  sitting outside the house. Demi later messaged Shay about
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  the packages, to which she said that she was currently out of
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  state and trying to find a flight back.
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  Months passed and Demi continued to try and coordinate with Shay
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  to get the packages to her safely and move back into the
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  house. However, she had yet to return
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  to the house to get them. She explained that she was
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  struggling with the move, especially at such a young age.
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  Demi then promised that she would continue managing the
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  house to keep things easier for her.
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  So in these messages, Demi was being really understanding and
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  very sweet. In August 2023, Demi went back
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  to the house to check on everything because Shay hadn't
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  been back in over a year. Quote.
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  We got to the house and the house was completely ruined.
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  Everything inside, essentially there was pee on the ground.
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  All of this garbage that had been used in the month that she
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  was there was just jammed into closets.
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  I'd never seen anything like this, Demi said.
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  After visiting the house, Demi said that she would no longer be
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  allowed to return to the property quote due to the
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  property damage, health and safety violations in the house,
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  and also explained that she was devastated.
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  So the reaction of TikTok users has been pretty split.
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  Many believe that Demi was correct to not allow Shay to
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  come back and that she had given her enough chances because there
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  was just a lot of back and forth messages over that year where
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  Demi was being really understanding about Shay's
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  circumstances. Whereas others are extending
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  more grace to Shay saying that having a house at 19 is a really
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  big responsibility and maybe she just wasn't ready for it.
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  And I think it's a little bit of both.
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  Like I I personally think of course Shay was not ready for
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  the house, despite her age. It's very clear she wasn't ready
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  to take on that responsibility and keep it up.
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  And I do believe that the house was in a different state than
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  she lived in. So that's also a massive
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  commitment to ask somebody to move, especially at that young
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  age without a big support system to move, you know, across the
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  country for this house. So I think there's a little bit
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  of onus probably on both parties here, but it just sucks.
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  Like, it sucks that this really fun initiative that happened on
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  TikTok, it was really viral at the time.
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  People loved watching this experience and it was like this
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  feel good moment and so few feel good things happen on that app.
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  So for it to kind of blow up in our faces like this, it sucks.
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  All right guys. Well, that is it for today.
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  I love you guys. Thank you so much for listening
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  to Mini Scroll. Please remember to rate, review
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  and subscribe. It helps me so much.
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  It helps the podcast grow. I love you guys and I will talk
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  to you tomorrow. Bye.