Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Matt Rife x E.L.F. backlash, Anna Delvey rabbit scandal + more men using Reddit for fashion advice

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MINI SCROLL: Matt Rife x E.L.F. backlash, Anna Delvey rabbit scandal + more men using Reddit for fashion advice · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space.
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  Every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
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  I'm your host Lauren Meisner, the founder of the youth digital
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  media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Scroll
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  everyone. If you guys watched Mini Tech
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  Scroll yesterday, then you'll see I'm in the exact same
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  outfit. I am pre recording this episode
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  and I just do not care to change my outfit so it looks like I
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  recorded it on a different day. So you're getting double denim
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  twice in a row. All right, let's get into the
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  stories for today. Actually, please rate, review
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  and subscribe. Annabelle's always like you need
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  to plug the newsletter. You need to say rate, review and
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  subscribe. You need to plug the buy me a
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  coffee and I literally just always forget.
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  Can you tell that she's a Capricorn?
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  She keeps me in check. So all of those things.
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  Please do all of those things. OK, Annabelle will be happy that
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  I reminded you. OK, let's get into these stories
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  for today. So the first one that I have for
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  you guys, this is wild. We need to talk about Elf's new
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  campaign. OK, like Elf Beauty, the makeup
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  brand, because it is starring one of the most random
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  ambassadors you could ever choose.
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  And I am unfortunately having to talk about him two weeks in a
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  row. Matt Rife.
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  The campaign is legal themed and makes the case that it's quote
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  practically criminal to pay too much for for high quality
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  beauty. In the video for the campaign,
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  Matt Rife is starring alongside famous drag queen Heidi and
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  Closet. Together, the two form a legal
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  firm aiming to defend your eyes, lips and funds.
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  The premise of the campaign is actually quite smart and it
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  feels like it matches the brand, but choosing Matt Rife is
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  literally crazy. Like, I don't even know how else
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  to describe that. If you're unfamiliar with Matt
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  Rice, he has faced controversy over the years for a number of
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  reasons. First and foremost, he included
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  an extremely inappropriate joke in his Netflix special, Matt
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  Rife Natural Selection. He began the special with a
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  misogynistic joke about a restaurant Hostess with a black
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  eye alluding to domestic violence.
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  To make matters worse, Matt later doubled down on this joke.
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  Quote UN Quote. Instead of apologizing, he
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  shared an Instagram story with a link to a website selling
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  helmets to protect against seizures, head trauma and head
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  banging. Second, he found himself at the
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  center of controversy after Brooke Schofield exposed him for
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  his behavior during their relationship.
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  So Elf picking a controversial figure is already like not a
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  good move, but picking Matt Rife specifically just feels so
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  weird, especially as a beauty brand that would traditionally,
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  you know, like cater to women, Like their largest customer base
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  is women. And to choose someone who has
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  been so misogynistic against women in his relationships, in
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  his comedy, his career, like that is such a bizarre and off
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  base choice. Also, what does Matt Rife have
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  to do with makeup? Why would they choose him?
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  I understand makeup is for everyone, but Matt Rife has no
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  connection to makeup. We don't know anything about his
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  like beauty routine. That's not like part of any type
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  of his public persona. Like it is such a weird choice
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  and pairing him with a drag queen like Heidi in Closet also
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  feels very unnatural. So as noted by Georgia from the
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  Please don't Make Me Focus Substack, she wrote quote
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  pairing a fake edgy right wing IT boy Matt Rife with a drag
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  queen. Heidi in Closet was certainly a
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  choice and the wrong 1. Marketers love to assume that
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  juxtaposition is inherently smart or subversive.
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  I'm sure someone in the room said no one will expect this,
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  but why? Who cares?
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  At least with American Eagle and Sydney Sweeney, they were
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  talking to a specific audience. Looking at the comments, I have
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  no idea who this is for. If you're chasing right wing
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  money, you lose them by including a drag queen.
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  And the opposite is true too. So who is the market?
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  That completely sums up my feelings on this.
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  Who is this for? This is not some like, you know,
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  crazy edgy, cool subversive type of like marketing strategy.
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  It is off base. It is bizarre.
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  And ELF, you know, they've been having a moment.
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  Like people have really appreciated Elf's efforts over
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  the last few years. They're kind of one of the
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  darlings of the more affordable beauty community.
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  And we know that Elf, the parent company, just bought Rd.
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  Beauty. So to launch with this and, you
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  know, get this kind of reception, I hope they listen.
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  Like, I hope that they actually consider how this was a mistake.
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  You can just see the intention behind it, which was like, let's
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  put this really bizarre pairing together and everyone's going to
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  think this was marketing genius and everyone's actually like,
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  this is just kind of lazy and this was not well thought out.
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  OK, the next story that I have for you guys, this is kind of
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  insane. Also really upsetting.
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  But I'm going to talk about Anna Delvy and the abandoned bunnies.
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  So if you don't know who Anna Delvy is, she is a famous con
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  artist who allegedly defrauded New York's elite.
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  She pretended to be a German heiress to try and build the Ann
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  Adelvi Foundation and also gain various opportunities from
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  running in these circles. She served jail time and was
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  initially released from prison at the beginning of 2021.
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  Afterwards, she was taken into custody for overstaying her
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  visa. She was released again in
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  October 2022 under house arrest. Ann Adelvi's obviously the
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  subject of the very popular Netflix series Inventing Anna.
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  Definitely watch it if you guys have not.
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  But she is a real person. She did these things since she
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  was released. She's famously been on Dancing
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  With the Stars and she also did a pretty iconic interview with Z
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  Way. Anyways, Anna Delvy has found
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  herself in controversy online after doing a photo shoot with
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  some bunnies and then allegedly dumping these bunnies in a park.
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  Basically, 2 bunnies were found in Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
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  People online soon linked them to the bunnies.
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  In Anna's Instagram posts, 3 bunnies have allegedly been
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  found and linked to the photo shoot.
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  This is how this happened. Web specialist and vegan Blogger
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  Terry Chow went searching for the bunnies after seeing a post
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  in a local Facebook group saying some bunnies were found in the
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  park. Over the next few days, she came
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  across multiple abandoned bunnies.
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  After looking at Anna's pictures, people started putting
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  two and two together. Social media users were quick to
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  blame Anna for the bunnies, according to New York Magazine
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  Quote. At first, Delvy was defensive.
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  She claimed in a comment that the person who of course the
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  bunnies had informed her that the animals were safe.
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  But things became even more confusing when Terry Chow saw
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  that Anna had tagged a hair stylist named Christian Batty
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  and Post from the photo shoot. Terry told New York Magazine
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  that she had received a message from the hair stylist in the
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  lead up to the photo shoot. After scouting her rabbit quote,
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  Batty offered her $100 to borrow the Bunny for the day, but Chow
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  declined. But close reading the photos,
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  Chow saw that Delvy had posted the same blanket and box they
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  found in Prospect Park. Chow made the proof public in a
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  thread on a edit page dedicated to Delvy.
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  It has also been reported that Christian allegedly confessed to
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  the allegations in a Facebook page called NYC Bunnies.
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  Anna has since gone on to issue her own statement about the
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  situation. She didn't really take any
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  accountability for what transpired, which is like a not
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  surprising at all if you know anything about Anna Delvy.
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  But she also shared that she has donated to the Rescuers Chosen
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  charity All About Rabbit's Rescue, she wrote.
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  As many of you know, I recently did a photo shoot with Jasper
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  Solov involving live rabbits. Christian Batty, a hair team
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  member I briefly met during a Fashion Week event last year,
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  claimed he had a friend who could lend us bunnies for a few
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  hours. I later learned that instead of
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  borrowing animals from a legitimate source as he stated,
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  he had obtained them from Facebook Marketplace from
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  someone looking to surrender them and planned to abandon them
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  in Prospect Park. I had no knowledge of this until
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  the afternoon of August 10th. She goes on to say she's very
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  upset about this. All three rabbits were recovered
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  in good health and place in new foster homes.
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  I have donated $1000 to the Rescuers Chosen charity.
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  She also went on to share screenshots of Christian Batty
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  statement on the situation as well as screenshots of their
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  text chain. One of the screenshots had text
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  that read Christian Batty lied to us for days about returning
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  the rabbit. Turns out his plan all along was
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  to dump them. OK, so the response to Anna's
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  post has been mixed. Some social media users are
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  satisfied by her statement saying that she was pretty
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  transparent. Other are upset that she didn't
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  take any accountability and that she chose to use animals in the
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  photo shoot in the 1st place. Am I surprised that Anna Delvy
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  is involved in a scandal like this?
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  No, I feel like Anna Delvy probably still doesn't surround
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  herself with like the best people, OK or the best people
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  probably don't want to necessarily be around Anna Delvy
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  one or the other, but I like just I can't even imagine.
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  I can't even imagine imagine just dumping an animal like that
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  is I can't I can't even think about it.
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  It makes me so upset. Like I mean that's what happened
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  to my little doggy pumpkin, my little baby, my little 3 legged
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  Chihuahua, you know, she was abandoned and I can't even
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  think. I can't even think about it.
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  It's so cruel and sick. Why would you not just take them
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  to a shelter? Like, I don't understand, okay?
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  The last word that I have for you guys is more like the
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  marketing kind of industry realm.
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  But I came across an article talking about how men are using
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  Reddit to shop and I thought this was interesting.
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  You know, I avoid the topic of men as much as I can.
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  Okay, but this is a really interesting story.
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  So the piece was published by Vogue Business and explores why
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  men are using subreddits to quote, discover, discuss, and
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  decide on fashion. Obviously when we think about
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  men using Reddit, it is not for fashion.
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  Like that is honestly the last thing that comes to mind.
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  So I do think turning to Reddit for fashion advice is a lot more
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  wholesome than I think what most men are using the platform for.
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  So two of the most popular subreddits in this niche are R
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  slash Male Fashion Advice and R/BIG male fashion advice.
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  We know that especially with the rise of AI, it's becoming
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  increasingly difficult to Google search and just like search in
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  general for information that you're looking for.
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  So we know that because of that, people are turning to Reddit for
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  advice and inspiration a lot of the time.
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  So I guess this is just another consequence of that.
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  As the founder of communications and creative firm Nobo Agency
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  tells the Journalist quote, Reddit plays a growing role in
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  how customers do their research. It's where they validate drops,
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  check resale value, or just find out if something is worth
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  copying. And obviously a huge part of
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  Reddit's benefit is that it's discourse based.
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  So there's just more room to talk about a product, give like
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  valid reviews, even talk about like the cultural context of a
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  brand or an item of clothing. Now, there is something to be
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  said about the anonymity of Reddit.
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  Talking about fashion and clothing can sometimes be
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  embarrassing. And as Amy Fancom notes for the
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  publication quote, it's judgement free space to seek
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  advice, swap tips and explore interests.
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  And along the way, many also end up diving into style and fashion
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  discussions. Yeah, I think a lot of men were
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  probably not raised to think very much about their style and
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  their appearance in that way. I think fashion is typically
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  considered like a girly category.
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  And so they maybe get to adulthood.
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  They do have an interest in dressing themselves well, and
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  they maybe don't even know where to start.
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  So like going to somewhere like Reddit and having that community
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  and also it being able to remain anonymous, probably like pretty
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  powerful for a lot of people. Now there's definitely
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  opportunity for brands to get involved with this.
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  Reddit is 1 platform that brands haven't really managed to crack
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  yet or like really invest a lot of time and money into.
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  But in the article, they do mention one successful example,
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  Adidas to promote one of their shoes.
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  Adidas took over certain communities for an Ask me
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  anything with Steven Scholten, global director of footwear at
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  Adidas quote. This activation showcased the
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  design and construction of the new shoe, highlighting its
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  innovative materials and performance benefits.
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  By tapping into Redditors preference for substance over
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  hype, the campaign resonated with both sneaker enthusiasts
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  and performance driven athletes. Reddit is like one of the main
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  places that we get information for our brand.
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  We always get asked like how do you find stories?
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  Where do you look? First of all, we've just trained
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  our algorithms. Like I know if I scroll on
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  TikTok for a certain amount of time, my algorithm, she won't
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  fail me. She will delay deliver me the
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  stories that I need. But beyond that, Reddit is like
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  one of the first places that we will look every single day as
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  well. All right, guys, that's it for
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  mini scroll today. Thank you so much for listening.
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  I love you guys. Please remember to rate, review
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  and subscribe. And I will talk to you guys
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  tomorrow for a Friday mini scroll.
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  Bye.