Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Molly Mae motherhood struggles, Sydney Sweeney x AE backlash + Trisha Paytas addresses infertility

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MINI SCROLL: Molly Mae motherhood struggles, Sydney Sweeney x AE backlash + Trisha Paytas addresses infertility · 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 every Monday
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  through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
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  I'm your host, Lauren Meissner, the founder of the youth digital
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  media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Scroll,
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  everyone. Reminder to please sign up to
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  our newsletter. We are relaunching it this
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  Friday with our first edition of Hit Follow.
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  We've had so many sign up since I talked about it yesterday.
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  I'm so excited. It's going to be a lot more
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  do. So please sign up if you guys
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  want to support and participate. OK, let's just get into the
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  stories for today. So the first story that I have
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  for you guys is Molly May is facing backlash for a lack of
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  relatability while sharing her motherhood journey.
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  Social media is coming for UK influencer Molly May over recent
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  vlogs that she's posted where she shares her motherhood
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  journey. Molly has a 2 year old daughter
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  named Bambi with boxer and Love Island star Tommy Fury.
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  So yes, there seems to be 1 main vlog that Molly has posted in
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  which it seems like she really is not enjoying motherhood.
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  We're trying so, so, so hard to stay positive and have like a
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  really nice day, but feel like I just need to keep my camera
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  running all day. So you guys like actually just
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  see every single thing is a huge problem.
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  Like Scream can't even get like socks and shoes on or just like
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  anything. I don't care who tells me I'm
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  out of touch with reality or like all this stuff that's going
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  on on TikTok at the minute about like I don't care.
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  Like I'm not going to not talk. I'm not going to not talk about
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  it. I'm just not going to not talk
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  about it. A little local farm near us and
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  they've just. Zoe and family have just got in
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  just to leave me to just calm down for a.
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  Minute and that's unrelatable because she has everything right
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  in our eyes. She has money, she works for
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  herself so she can kind of work around Bambi's schedule.
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  She has a very beautiful aesthetic life.
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  They go on all of these luxurious vacations together as
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  a family. So it feels out of touch that
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  Molly complained so much about Bambi and her motherhood journey
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  when she has so much. I've also seen people say that
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  she might be struggling because she is trying too hard to gentle
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  parents. Like she's is leaning too hard
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  into gentle parenting. I'm not a parent so I'm not like
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  across the technique so I'm not going to make a judgment on
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  anyones parenting or techniques. But that is also one of the
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  pieces of feedback. So okay to me I feel like Mollye
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  daughter is 2. I don't know.
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  I personally hear the toddler years are really tough and from
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  what we know it does appear like Molly is very often a solo
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  parent. Like I know she has a nanny but
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  when it comes to the family unit and like her and Tommy together
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  it seems like she is parenting by herself most of the time
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  because of Tommy's career. Also kind of maybe his partying
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  and cheating, but you know, in general, he's away a lot for
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  work and partying and cheating. But I feel like from the
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  perspective of us wanting influencers to be authentic and
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  like share their real lives with us and like, that's what Molly
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  is, right? Like she is a vlogger, she is a
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  YouTube, she is an influencer. I see all of this as her just
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  being open about her experience and how hard she is finding
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  parenting like as an activity itself.
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  In my opinion, I think the way she's talked about motherhood
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  and parenting feels like one of the most relatable parts about
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  her. It echoes so much what we hear
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  in general from mothers all around the world.
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  But yeah, like, I cannot stress enough, the videos like clipping
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  this vlog, millions of views, millions of comments, like this
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  is going so nuts. So if you're a parent, I'm
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  really curious to hear your perspective on this, on like how
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  you feel about this, if you think the criticism is valid, if
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  you think it's relatable for her to share things, if you think
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  it's out of touch, like all of that.
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  I'm interested to hear your perspective because like from an
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  outsider's perspective, despite all her privilege, I do see this
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  as actually relatable content. Like I don't see this as
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  unrelatable, but I imagine when you're in it, when you're a
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  parent yourself and you're consuming this, you might feel
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  differently. All right, the next story that I
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  have for you guys, OK, we need to talk about the Sydney Sweeney
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  American Eagle campaign and its backlash.
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  There's just so much to unpack here.
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  I'm not even honestly probably going to even scratch the
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  surface. I feel we could do like a 5 hour
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  deep dive into this campaign and what it means and what it
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  represents and all the different ties.
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  So I am sure there are going to be points that I miss here.
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  This is going to be of course, like, you know, a mini
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  exploration into this story. But Sydney Sweeney, she is the
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  star of the new American Eagle campaign and the backlash around
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  this campaign has been intense. So the ad shows Sydney
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  auditioning for the commercial, filming herself with a
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  camcorder, working on a vintage car among other things.
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  The visuals are all very Terry Richardson coded, if you know
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  what I mean. And if you know what I mean,
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  then you know what A red flag that is.
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  But the campaigns tagline is Sydney Sweeney has good jeans
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  and a lot of the imagery is like zoom Inns and close-ups of her
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  body and like pans all across her body.
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  The vibes, I don't know, like regardless of I'm I'm obviously
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  going to get into like the messaging and stuff, but like
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  regardless of all that, the vibes are just like weird.
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  They're like uncomfortable. OK, so the overarching criticism
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  is that this whole campaign plays into popular white
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  supremacist and eugenicist tropes.
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  Obviously Sydney Sweeney has good jeans is a play on jeans,
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  jeans like jeans your genealogy and then jeans like denim.
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  And they're not even trying to make that some like hidden
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  message. OK like there's one part of the
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  where she's painting over a billboard of herself and it
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  literally says Sydney Sweeney has good jeans like GENES.
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  So this has not landed well. People are like what the fuck is
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  this? And I don't care.
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  I, I honestly, it does not matter in my opinion how it was
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  meant to land. Like if American Eagle planned
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  it like this, if Sydney Sweeney understood how this was going to
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  land, it doesn't really matter. American Eagle is a brand that
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  is literally about celebrating and endorsing America
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  iconoculture and having a brand where that is like the entire
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  premise saying that this is the image of the ideal American
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  woman, like the woman with ideal American quote, UN quote, jeans,
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  white blonde, blue eyes, big boobs.
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  Like that is being presented to us at a time when everything is
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  being filtered through the lens of the rise of conservativism
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  and the threat of authoritarianism in the US.
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  This isn't a dig at Sidney Sweeney.
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  I'm sure we're going to get some trolls being like, you're just
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  jealous. Yeah, of course I am jealous.
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  Of course I am jealous of Sidney Sweeney and her hot body and her
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  giant tits and her, like, gorgeous face.
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  OK, That is not the criticism here.
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  The people who are looking at this and critiquing it, like
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  being jealous of what she looks like or wishing you looked like
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  her has nothing to do with people criticizing this.
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  And I do think Sidney Sweeney is one of those people who has
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  become somebody that is like constantly criticized for no
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  matter what she does. I think there's reason for that.
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  I think she keeps making kind of stupid decisions with her career
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  and like how she positions herself.
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  I understand that. But this campaign specifically,
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  like, there are so many things wrong with it.
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  And it goes well beyond just people being like, well, I hate
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  Sydney Sweeney because you cannot put out art or music or a
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  campaign like this without looking at the cultural context
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  in which that art or music or campaign was made, where it will
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  land, how it will land, how it's published, all of that.
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  And aside from like the cultural and political climate that this
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  ad was released in, I think we also need to look at who is in
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  the ad and who is behind the ad. So like I said, American Eagle
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  is a very like specific type of brand with a very specific
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  message in general, like overarching message in in
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  general to be releasing this ad, but then choosing Sydney Sweeney
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  specifically and putting her in this position to say this script
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  and you know, to kind of be positioned this way, framed this
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  way was a choice because it's not her fault.
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  But Sydney Sweeney has absolutely been embraced, like
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  really embraced by the far right.
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  And I do think that cultural context should be considered by
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  brands and advertisers in terms of how they position their
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  spokesperson because Sydney's image does not exist in a vacuum
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  and her public persona is actually highly political at the
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  moment. So it's important to consider
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  what message is being sent when you put her in a campaign and
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  have her say a certain script or deliver a certain message for
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  you. Again, I'm not saying Sydney
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  Sweeney herself is going out there and, you know, spouting
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  like far right rhetoric. It's just the fact that like who
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  she is as a person, her image, her public persona, her likeness
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  has been embraced by that corner of the political spectrum.
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  And you need to think about that if you're a brand, you know,
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  when you are putting that person in your campaign.
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  I'm not saying don't put her in your campaign because of that
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  because, again, that's not necessarily her fault.
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  But if you're going to choose her, then what you are asking
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  her to do in that campaign and the script she's saying and all
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  that, it needs to have all of that context in mind.
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  Shane O'Neill for the Washington Post said this.
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  The most provocative part of the campaign is when she's talking
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  about offspring and jeans. But Sweeney also has softer copy
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  in the press release, she says of American Eagle.
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  They have literally been there with me through every version of
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  myself. There's a message about mutable
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  identity there, and that could be extended into a vision of
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  America as a place where you're not bound by who you are at
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  birth. But they went the full opposite
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  of that. Other major issues with this
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  campaign that it seems to be very directly promoting the idea
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  that Sydney Sweeney's body type, again, petite with big boobs, is
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  the ideal. It's really like, oh, we could
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  tell that things were going backwards with body positivity,
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  but like, this is American Eagle really telling us, like, yeah,
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  no, no, no. Like, we are like, we're going
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  back to the 90s, OK. People are also criticizing it
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  for using the male gaze to sell women's jeans.
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  And I don't know, maybe this will work, But I don't
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  personally think it's good marketing.
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  A lot of people online have said they don't feel like it's good
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  marketing. It feels lazy.
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  It feels dated and almost kind of like offensive to the
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  consumer. The other major issue I've seen
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  discussed is that this campaign highlights the brand's problem
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  with blue washing. So this is from sustainability
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  creator John Paben on LinkedIn, he wrote.
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  With the abhorrent American Eagle Outfitters advert making
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  the rounds, now's a great time to talk about blue washing.
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  While not as widely known as its big cousin, green washing, blue
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  washing can often be just as insidious.
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  This is when a company over claims on its social good
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  credentials. For American Eagle, this
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  instance of blue washing is especially astounding.
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  That's because one of the company's key philanthropic
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  initiatives is the Airy Real Foundation.
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  Launched in 2022, the foundation aims to, quote, build confidence
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  in women, and foster an inclusive community to make the
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  world a better place for all. They support causes around
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  disordered eating, self esteem, and body image.
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  There's also the AE Foundation, with a special focus on youth
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  mental health. To claim support of these
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  worthwhile endeavors while pushing a campaign that
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  exacerbates these very problems is the very definition of blue
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  washing. Don't even get me started on the
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  barely veiled eugenic undertones.
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  And this note is important when you consider that the ad, which
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  is hypersexual, also aims to raise money for the domestic
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  violence nonprofit Crisis Text Line.
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  OK, so finally, I wanted to give a response to people that are
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  like, it's not that deep. Like, Sydney Sweeney shouldn't
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  be getting this backlash. Like, she was just doing a job.
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  She's just getting her bag. I personally think that Sidney
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  Sweeney is often very infantilized.
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  I think we see this like pretty white girl and our kind of gut
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  reaction is to be like, Oh my God, no.
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  Like she supports her family. She just needs money.
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  She just know what she's doing. Poor thing.
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  She is a full adult woman with money, fame, power, A-Team
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  around her, OK, helping her make these decisions.
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  And she keeps making very decisions.
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  And I get it. Like she is in her bag.
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  Like she is out here hustling. She is making as much money as
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  she possibly can in this moment while she is so famous.
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  And OK, like, that is fine. But I think we need to stop
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  taking away her agency and assuming that she's not part of
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  making these decisions as well. OK.
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  And the last word that I have for you guys is that Tricia
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  Paytas has addressed questions around her fertility.
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  So since Tricia Paytas gave birth to her third child,
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  Aquaman Moses, there have been a lot of people online, including
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  her ex Frenemies Co host Ethan Klein, who have had a lot to say
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  about her fertility. So Tricia has spoken openly for
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  years on her platforms about how she has suffered from
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  infertility and would probably not be able to conceive
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  naturally. Obviously she then ended up
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  having three children very close together.
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  So now there is kind of this narrative forming online that
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  she lied about having fertility issues for online empathy and
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  clout. And obviously Tricia has lied
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  about many things over the course of her career.
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  So people feel like, well, that would make sense.
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  You know, when she started talking about this, this was in
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  the middle of her being like a troll and like lying about just
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  like so much stuff online. So Tricia has addressed these
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  allegations now in a new YouTube video, explaining that she got
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  her tubes cleared out and that is what led to her being able to
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  conceive. And I was.
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  Infertile for literally like probably 14 years.
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  I think 22 is when I actively was like trying to get pregnant.
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  Have no shame in these videos. OK.
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  I know there's a lot of reasons for people to shame me or judge
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  me. I had chlamydia that I left
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  twice that I left. It was basically undiagnosed for
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  like a year. So it sat in my body.
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  It scarred up my tubes. It was really bad.
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  I had two different, I guess ultrasounds.
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  I'm not I guess that's what it is that are like, you know, your
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  tubes are really scarred. It's actually like it would be
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  hard for you to maybe once I got into like different
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  relationships where I was like, you know, maybe I want a baby.
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  And also that they're just like, you know, like you could do.
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  That's my first time with HSD test as like 3130 or something
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  like that. And they're like, yeah, your
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  tubes are really scarred when I was younger.
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  HSD test is a test that like shoots like liquid through your
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  uterine. I don't know, something like
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  that. It's a test for infertility, but
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  also like clears out your tubes. 95% of women like get pregnant
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  out of it. Like anyway, since I got
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  pregnant with my first two, I think there's.
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  Some misunderstanding here between the difference in being
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  infertile and being sterile. Like, infertility does not mean
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  that you will never conceive. She was dealing with infertility
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  until she got her tubes cleared, which essentially treated that
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  infertility and made it much easier for her to conceive.
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  And I think this just points to a bigger issue around Tricia's
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  reputation in her career in general, even though she has had
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  a bit of like a renaissance. You know, her reputation will
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  forever be that she started her Internet career for years as
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  like, a troll. And like I said, just like,
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  lying about a lot of stuff or like embellishing a lot of
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  stuff. And that will follow her now for
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  years, even into conversations that are sensitive, like
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  fertility and kind of much bigger than, you know, her
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  online career, like her family, Like, all of that's getting kind
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  of brought into this conversation.
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  But unfortunately, that is like the consequence of those
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  actions. And she's been open about how
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  she regrets those years, how she acted online and stuff.
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  But yes, that, in my opinion, is like what we're seeing here.
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  All right, guys, Well, that's it for Mini Scroll today.
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  Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys.
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  Please remember to rate, review and subscribe.
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  Subscribe to our new newsletter, Annabelle.
• 16:18
  We'll talk to you guys tomorrow and then I will talk to you on
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  Thursday. Bye.