Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Ultra Violette pulls sunscreen, Bobbi Althoff x Drake again + Lil Nas X concerns

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MINI SCROLL: Ultra Violette pulls sunscreen, Bobbi Althoff x Drake again + Lil Nas X concerns · 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. All right, let's just get into
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  the stories for today. But as always, Please remember
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  All of it helps so much to keep us going.
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  OK, I have a really big first story, so we just need to dive
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  right in. Ultraviolet has recalled their
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  product after SPF testing scandal situation.
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  I'm not really sure how to describe this, but it's
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  official. The TGA here in Australia has
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  recalled Ultraviolet lean screen sunscreen and Ultraviolet has
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  removed it from shelves. So I did speak about this
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  situation when it first came out in June, but I am going to
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  rehash this story and provide a bit of a comprehensive timeline.
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  I know this story is maybe feels a little bit outside of Internet
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  culture, but there is a big influencer tie in and there's
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  also just a big, big like social media component tie in to this
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  story. Also, Ultraviolet is an
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  incredibly buzzy like luxe sunscreen brand here in
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  Australia. So this is a huge deal.
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  This is like a Roman Empire for me.
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  This story, I'm not even joking. OK, so the timeline breakdown
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  was inspired by one of my besties, Crystal Andrews.
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  She runs Z Feed, an independent publication.
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  She did a full timeline breakdown in her weekly
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  newsletter on Sunday. I will link it in the show notes
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  for you guys. You should definitely subscribe,
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  but reading her timeline put a lot into perspective for me.
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  So I wanted to give you guys that context and that
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  perspective as well. So know that this timeline and
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  link the inspo for it came from her.
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  OK, so in February, the consumer advocacy group Choice tested 20
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  popular Australian sunscreen labeled as SPF 50 plus.
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  The testing was carried out at Eurofins Derma Test Lab in
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  Sydney and each product sample was decanted into amber glass
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  jars and tested within one hour. Results showed that 16 of the 20
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  products fell below their claimed SPF.
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  The worst result was Ultraviolet's lean screen, which
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  came back with an SPF rating of four.
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  The next lowest product that was tested in this study was SPF 24,
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  so that tells you how big of a discrepancy there was there.
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  Choice alerted Ultraviolet to the results and advised that the
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  product undergo a second round of testing at a different lab.
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  In April, Ultraviolet commissioned its own testing at
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  Princeton Consumer Research PCR in Manchester, England.
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  PCR reports an SPF of 61.7 for lean screen.
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  In May, Choice sent the product for further testing at Normick
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  Shonder Institute lab in Germany.
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  This test also returned a low result SPF 5.
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  S Choice got SPF four and SPF 5, whereas Ultraviolet got SPF
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  61.7. In June, Choice published the
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  results. Mainstream media and social
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  media platforms quickly picked up the story.
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  And obviously the particular attention was on Ultraviolet's
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  SPF of four. Because if you know anything
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  about the Australian side, if you are from Australia, if you
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  have been here or you just know anything about it, our son is so
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  extreme here and there are such high rates of skin cancer here.
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  So SPF testing in this country we have, I mean, as far as I
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  know, like I've been here for almost 10 years, have always
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  been told that they are so incredibly strict with it.
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  And like SPF, like everybody that I know wears SPF 50 all
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  over their body every single day.
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  Like it is absolutely necessary even in the winter, like you
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  just have to. So this was like a huge deal for
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  people that have been using ultraviolet SPF, like lean
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  screen thinking they were getting SPF 50.
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  A lot of people using it every single day because it's a facial
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  sunscreen. And really these results were
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  very shocking. So off the back of Choice
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  publishing their results, the TGA, which is like the
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  regulatory body responsible for sunscreens in Australia, issued
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  a statement saying that they will investigate and quote, take
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  regulatory action as required. I do want to note too, there's a
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  lot of information. I don't know if it's like
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  misinformation or disinformation, but there's a
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  lot of like noise about how choice, you know, was like shady
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  and how they published this. I think there's some confusion
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  around how we received this messaging.
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  People are blaming choice for those like sensationalized click
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  baity headlines when really they just published the the results
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  for the most part and it was, you know the media that picked
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  that up. OK so then right after
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  Ultraviolet post a statement on its website which was later
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  deleted. But my friend Crystal did link
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  it. I believe it's archived online.
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  They called the SPF 4 result quote scientifically impossible.
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  The brand suggested that Choice mishandled the product, tested
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  the wrong item, or used an insufficient sample size.
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  They also said they've never received a substantial amount of
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  consumer complaints of like sunburns or anything that would
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  indicate that their SPF was not up to par.
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  Then one of the Co founders, Ava posted on TikTok saying I put
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  lean screen on my children and I still would tomorrow.
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  Basically defending the brand, defending the product and the
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  brand was very much defending itself in the comments section.
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  Then Choice released a follow up statement standing by its
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  results, explaining its testing methodology and publishing
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  reports on all 20 products tested.
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  OK, this is a part of the timeline that I feel has been
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  missing. So people kind of got over this
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  story. So like a couple weeks after the
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  initial bombshell of SPF four and like the media craze around
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  it, the ABC on July 4th published an investigation into
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  PCR, which is the lab used by Ultraviolet.
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  Again, I think that this is the piece that a lot of people are
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  missing. Industry experts told the ABC
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  that PCR results for lean screen appear unusually consistent,
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  with one saying he had, quote, never seen results like PCRS in
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  his entire career. Half of the brands that failed
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  the choice test also relied on PCR for their own certification
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  testing. A couple days later, the
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  Australian Financial Review published an article that
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  essentially claimed that PCR like falsely claims results on
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  products. And this story also revealed
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  that Ultraviolet does not formulate lean screen
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  themselves. The sunscreen is manufactured by
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  Wild Child Laboratories in Perth.
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  And then about a month later on Friday, Ultraviolet announced
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  that it is pulling Lean Screen from the market after additional
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  testing showed in consistencies. The brand also confirmed they
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  are no longer using PCR for testing or Wild child
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  Laboratories for manufacturing. So this is a snippet of their
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  announcement. They say, you know, we
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  prioritize your skin in your health.
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  Before we go further, we want to make it clear that this only
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  concerns the performance of Lean Screen.
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  We had multiple independent labs conduct new tests of Lean Screen
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  this week. We received results from those
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  tests that demonstrated significant and candidly a
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  typical variability across 8 different tests.
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  Lean Screen has now returned SPF data of 4102120633, 6061 and 64.
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  That wasn't good enough for us and it isn't good enough for
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  you. Given this pattern of
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  inconsistency and testing, we have decided to withdraw Lean
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  Slash Velvet Screen from the market effective immediately.
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  And then they had a tile where they explained all the different
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  things that they were going to do to, you know, rectify this
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  situation and they are going to give customers refunds.
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  Now Mecca, which is Australia's basically biggest beauty
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  retailer, is reportedly pulling another buzzy Aussie skin care
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  brand, Naked Sundays, from its shelves as they apparently use
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  the same lab for their SPF products.
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  There is a lot of debate online right now about the brand's
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  initial reaction. And they're kind of like, quote
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  UN quote transparency now. But I don't really want to open
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  that kettle of fish, OK? What I wanted to focus on was
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  the influencer side of things. As someone who used to work in
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  the Australian beauty media industry, I can tell you it is
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  like a cult. And there were so many
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  influencers and beauty journalists alike who publicly
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  defended Ultraviolet and like slammed Choice.
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  Obviously that hasn't necessarily aged well.
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  And I think what we can learn from this as consumers is just
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  how fast influencers are to defend their paycheck because so
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  many of the influencers and creators and journalists that
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  were defending Ultraviolet and slamming Choice, they claim or
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  brand themselves as experts and educators in skin care, in
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  beauty, in that industry. So in theory, you know, their
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  main focus should always be on their audience, who they are
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  providing education and information for.
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  Their allegiance should be to their audience.
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  And obviously we didn't necessarily see this as the
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  case. Like I know this situation was
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  like confusing and bizarre. I'm not like putting the blame
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  on influencers, but I think so many of the biggest beauty in
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  skin care influencers and journalists in this country
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  backed Ultraviolet rather than suggesting to their audience to,
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  I don't know, like take a beat, wait For more information, maybe
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  find another SPF in the meantime until we got more information.
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  I think the entire PR slash like communications around this
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  entire situation was a bit of a mess.
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  It was hard to watch. I don't know if this is going to
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  be totally the end of it. I think there it's possible that
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  there's more brands that come out that need to be recalled,
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  but it's very scary. SPF 4 wearing SPF 4IN Australian
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  sun as your daily sunscreen is honestly horrifying.
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  I hope we don't get any more information like this.
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  Like I hope that this is the end of it.
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  And I also do want to say like, these are female founders and I
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  cannot imagine what they have been going through.
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  But I also feel like with great responsibility, like choosing to
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  produce essentially like a medical product like sunscreen,
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  you know, comes great responsibility, not to quote
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  Spider Man or whoever says that in that movie.
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  So I don't want to add to the pylon.
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  You know, I think this is a really horrible situation to
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  begin with. I can't imagine what they're
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  going through. But I think the reaction that
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  I've seen from honestly some of my ex peers has been
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  questionable. All right, the next story that I
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  have for you guys, Bobby Altoff has announced that she is
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  starting a new podcast called Not This Again.
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  So those of you that were like, she's not done forever, when I
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  announced that her podcast was ending, you guys were right.
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  I wasn't so sure. But no, you guys were right.
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  So in the video announcing the podcast, Bobby is with Drake,
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  which is a call back to her viral moment in 2023.
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  Her viral interview with him sitting on what seems to be a
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  bed in front of a very pretty view.
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  The video is basically just them trying to describe the podcast.
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  It's very deadpan. It's very dry humor.
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  It isn't exactly clear, like what each episode of Not This
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  Again will look like going forward.
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  But based on the trailer, it seems like the exact same vibe
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  as her old podcast. So I'm starting to think maybe
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  her old podcast was just dropped by its network and she just took
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  the concept and is, you know, moving on to a different network
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  or doing it independently by herself and just going to keep
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  the same format. But yeah, I understand the
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  heart. Back to the Drake episode.
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  But I also do think it's interesting for her to align
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  herself with Drake, given everything that went on with him
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  and Kendrick. You know, I think she is
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  obviously trying to kind of chase that level of virality and
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  buzziness again, especially for the launch of this.
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  But I don't know, it's an interesting choice, All right?
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  And the last story that I have for you guys is a very sad one.
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  Lil Nas X has been detained and hospitalized.
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  In the early hours of Thursday morning.
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  Last week, police in Los Angeles were called to investigate a
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  report of a naked man walking through the streets.
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  This man was Lil Nas X. The video has since been
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  obtained by TMZ. I'm not going to share a clip of
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  it just out of privacy because there is something I would say
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  like definitely going on with him in the video.
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  But you can see him walking down the street wearing cowboy boots
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  and underwear. Lil Nas X was subsequently taken
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  to hospital and also booked on suspicion for obstructing a
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  police officer. Pulling from statements made by
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  police spokesperson Charles Miller.
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  Quote, upon arrival, the suspect charged at officers and was
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  taken into custody. He was transported to a local
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  hospital for possible overdose and placed under arrest for
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  battery on a police officer. So obviously, many people are
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  really upset to see Lil Nas X in this situation and are wishing
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  him the best. There's been a lot of reflection
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  on his rise to fame and how he was treated by the industry that
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  would have led him to this point.
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  Quote. The amount of racism and
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  homophobia Lil Nas X has had to contend with while being a cog
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  in the wheel of these already dehumanizing record labels is
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  truly unimaginable. I wish him love and privacy,
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  wrote Matt, 14. So there has been speculation
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  that Lil Nas X has been dealing with addiction or just dealing
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  with a lot of like mental health battles over the past couple of
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  years. I will say that some people
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  thought this video was a marketing stunt for his album,
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  which could be a whole deep dive episode on its own, of kind of
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  our obsession with looking for like covert marketing schemes,
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  Easter eggs. Everything's a conspiracy theory
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  in the music industry and pop culture right now.
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  We touched on that a little bit in the deep dive from Friday.
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  But, yeah, obviously that was not the case.
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  But he's also been dealing with some health issues.
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  He revealed in April of this year that he had been
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  hospitalized after experiencing a sudden paralysis of his face.
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  So, yeah, this is just horrible. I completely agree with the fans
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  who, you know, are concerned about how steep his rise to fame
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  was, how sudden it was, the lack of support around him in that
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  moment. And, yeah, I can't imagine how
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  difficult that would be. I think it's really sick that
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  people are posting this clip and and you know, if you do see it,
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  don't give it engagement click like block user or not
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  interested like don't engage because that's why people are
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  posting this, right? They want those views.
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  They want the engagement. Don't give it to them like this
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  should be a private video. I think it's I think it's
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  fucked. Anyways guys that's it for mini
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  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. Buy us a coffee if you feel so
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  inclined. Spotify star rate US and I will
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  talk to you tomorrow. Bye.