Most marketing departments would dream of the exposure that comes with a TikTok video going viral. But what are the consequences when it falls onto the wrong side of the internet?
That’s exactly what happened to Australian brand tbh Skincare, whose TikTok video went from harmless fun to garnering vitriol from some of the darkest corners of X seemingly overnight. Allow us to explain.
Chances are, you’ve seen the video in question – or some iteration of it – on your social media feeds. The trend began on TikTok, where three female friends invented the format (which involves participants standing in a circle and chanting two identifying characteristics about themselves) to rave reviews. Comments on the original video read things like, “Women are literally so creative and fun,” and, “Now this is girlhood.”
Naturally, it wasn’t long before others made the trend their own. Among them was the tbh Skincare team – all of them young women – who put their spin on the video in their Sydney office.
Their take begins with Rachael Wilde, the company’s co-founder, who describes herself as a “Gen Z boss in a mini.” It then circles through the rest of the team, who introduce themselves as follows: “5’3 with an attitude,” “secret product and a trench”, “itty bitty titties and a bob”, “fake tan hands and a hoop” and “new Frank Green and a sneaky link.” Again, the initial comments spanned praise like, “This is my new national anthem,” and “Can I work here?”
So how did it go so wrong? The video was shared to X, where the reception was starkly different. “This is why women don’t belong in the workforce,” wrote one user, while others chimed in, “Then they cry when there is a gender pay gap,” and, “Women’s suffrage was a mistake.”
Shortly after, the video was reposted by Andrew Tate, which is when the misogynistic hate really took hold.
For context, Tate is a self-proclaimed “misogynist”, who first rose to notoriety in 2016, when he was a contestant on the British version of Big Brother. During his stint on the show, video surfaced that showed him beating a woman with a belt (Tate claimed the video was ‘consensual’), and he was removed from the show. In the years since, Tate has earnt a following for his outward chauvinism and dangerously sexist beliefs, including that women belong in the home, shouldn’t drive and are a man’s property.
Unsurprisingly, then, Tate’s review of the tbh Skincare video was less than glowing.
“If you do not escape The Matrix women like this will be your boss,” he wrote alongside it. “Zog Corp loves emasculating men by forcing them to listen to semi-sentient females. If that doesn’t motivate you to get rich. Nothing will.”
How Did tbh Skincare Turn Misogyny Into Profit?
While Wilde and her team were undoubtedly blindsided by the negative attention their video garnered, they didn’t let it get to them.
“There was a mix of feedback, as there always is on these kinds of videos when you go viral, but it really took a turn when we were reposted onto X,” Wilde said in a statement SmartCompany.
“Essentially, we just ended up finding ourselves on the wrong side of the internet. We were surprised to see innocent fun upsetting so many people online. Not sure how us doing a dance in the office warranted so much feedback and hatred like this. In amongst the negative comments there have also been so many that have seen the fun in what we are doing, and have also come to our defense.”
“We are choosing to focus on that. At the heart of what we do we are marketers.”
In testament to her marketing spirit, Wilde turned the newfound attention into an opportunity, reintroducing her brand and its offering on social media, and even instating a ‘gen z boss and a mini’ bundle of their best-selling products. They even filmed a second version of the video using hate comments as the lyrics to the catchy chant.
This article originally appeared on Marie Claire Australia and is republished here with permission.
