Keep scrolling for the strategy behind Chris Olsen’s (wildly successful) TikTok.
Balenciaga’s Demna sits down with Vogue to discuss *those* campaigns
Nearly three months after Balenciaga faced intense backlash for two controversial campaigns that platformed the sexualisation of children, the brand’s artistic director sat down for an interview with Vogue. The journalist’s byline is noticeably absent from the piece, likely to protect them from harassment on social media.
Demna (he goes by a single name) said both campaigns were completely unrelated to each other. He also managed to covertly mention that he is not present at campaign shoots.
The most shocking images emerged from the 2022 holiday campaign called 'Gift Shop’, which depicted children holding teddy bear bags dressed in bondage.
“Kidswear was a part of the selection for the Gift Shop, as well as the plush teddy bear bags, referencing punk and DIY culture, absolutely not BDSM, and they were worn by adults in the October 2022 show.”
On why party paraphernalia was included in the campaign photos with young children, Demna said they wanted to feature as many products included in the Gift Shop collection as possible because “we can’t make 100 images for all of these different products we need to show.”
Demna admits that “no one” involved externally or internally in this campaign thought it was problematic.
“This is where my error comes in. That was my big mistake. I didn’t realize how inappropriate it would be to put these objects [in the image] and still have the kid in the middle. It unfortunately was the wrong idea and a bad decision from me. We should not have featured kids in images that included objects that were not related and inappropriate to them. No one, myself included, raised a question of it being inappropriate.”
The second campaign to come under fire, Spring 2023, included a prop document of a Supreme Court ruling 'United States v. Williams' 2008 which confirms the promotion of child pornography as illegal and not protected by freedom of speech. Demna said this was a “coincidence.”
“I was shocked when I heard about their presence on the set of the Spring 2023 campaign. It was a set of negligent and unfortunate but not intentional coincidences. At first, we were told the documents were confirmed to be fake. The Gift Shop campaign was different because the inappropriate nature of associating kids with those objects was clearly our mistake. When the scandal was sparked [by the documents and props], I was like, everybody, my team, was shocked. I don’t know how they ended up there. They were not supposed to be there. I was completely stunned".”
Read Demna’s full interview via Vogue.
Taylor Swift doppelgänger accidentally made the Grammy’s relevant on TikTok
TikTok star Ashley Leechin is facing backlash on TikTok for allegedly lying about being invited to the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.
Ashley rose to TikTok fame as Taylor Swift’s doppelgänger.
Though she’s faced scrutiny in the past for her (borderline scary) obsession with looking and acting exactly like the songstress, Ashley made headlines this week when she claimed her invite to the Grammy’s was rescinded after she had already paid for flights and accommodation.
Social media users were skeptical of Ashley’s claims, with many calling her a liar given she has misled her followers in the past.
“Is this like that time when you said there was a date pencilled in the calendar for you to meet Taylor in the midst of a pandemic? Similar vibes? A hoax?” said Thee Swiftologist on TikTok.
Ashley posted a series of TikToks with screenshots of emails, direct messages, and a contract with Gen Z media company Sweety High, who allegedly contracted her for the Grammy’s gig.
She explained that Sweety High contacted her on January 18, asking whether she would be interested in partnering with the Grammys, where she was chosen to add a “Swiftie take” to their coverage of the award show. However, the outlet explained that while they could provide the ticket to the ceremony, Ashley would need to cover the trip’s costs.
Ashley went on to share the “initial contract” with Sweety High, outlining the content she was obliged to post for the partnership.
TikTok users have four main theories as to what happened:
Sweety High scammed her. (Why would they do this? Unclear.)
Ashley is lying about the situation for attention and followers. (If so, it worked)
Taylor Swift’s team caught wind that Ashley would be attending the Grammys and shut it down. (Taylor attended the award show and Ashley’s presence could be weird for her.)
As a Gen Z media company, Sweety High was given a handful of tickets to distribute to relevant influencers to drive up youth viewership. Someone on the team reached out to Ashley as she is connected to the Swiftie community. Sweety High ended up getting too many responses than they had tickets, and had to prioritise creators with bigger followings. (Most plausible, but still shitty.)
Read the full story via Centennial Beauty.
Elon Musk only cares about his declining view count
A new piece by Zoe Schiffer and Casey Newton for the Platformer Substack explores the internal turmoil at Twitter over the last several weeks.
After introducing tweet view counts seven weeks ago, Elon Musk held a meeting to discuss his declining relevancy on the platform he recently purchased for $44 billion.
Employees reportedly pulled up internal data as well as a report from Google Trends that showed his popularity had declined significantly in recent months. Twitter engineers could not find evidence that Twitter’s algorithm is being biased against Musk.
“Musk did not take the news well. “You’re fired, you’re fired,” Musk told the engineer.”
Introducing tweet view counts has had the opposite of its intended effect—emphasising how little engagement most posts get in comparison to a user’s audience size.
To add fuel to this dumpster fire, Twitter suffered one of its first major outages since Musk took over on Wednesday, with users inexplicitly being told they had reached their tweet limit for the day. Many were also unable to follow new users.
“Interviews with current Twitter employees paint a picture of a deeply troubled workplace, where Musk’s whim-based approach to product management leaves workers scrambling to implement new features even as the core service falls apart. The disarray makes it less likely that Musk will ever recoup the $44 billion he spent to buy Twitter, and may hasten its decline into insolvency.”
Platformer reports that the San Francisco headquarters (whose landlord is currently suing Twitter for unpaid rent) “has a melancholy air” with employees openly discussing where they are interviewing and when they’re quitting. Twitter’s Slack channels have “gone dormant” and employees are constantly torn between giving Musk the right answer versus an answer that will appease his ego and keep them safe.
Read the full expose via Platformer.
Chris Olsen is TikTok’s unofficial mascot
A new piece by Nolan Feeney for Elite Daily profiles TikTok’s favourite “chaotic” creator on maintaining his viral success.
Chris Olsen rose to TikTok fame in the early days of the pandemic for his messy and hilarious “slice-of-life” videos. With nearly 10 million followers, he has since become one of the most prevalent digital creators, partnering with celebrities like Meghan Trainor and Sabrina Carpenter to help their music go viral and acting as an ambassador between brands and youth culture.
Chris refuses to “pick a lane” when it comes to his content rather than sticking to a niche. His unhinged sense of humour is the through-line that connects his content and makes everything he does recognisable to fans.
“When brands come to me and ask to work with me, a lot of their initial thought is, ‘We want that chaotic energy you always bring!’” he says. “I am not very chaotic in my day-to-day life! I’m pretty kept to myself. I was telling a friend about one of these brand campaigns they asked me to be chaotic for, and she was like, ‘I’m pretty sure you’re like that 2% of the time.’”
This strategy has helped Chris avoid the fast burnout we see from so many TikTok creators who share too much of themselves in an effort to show up authentically.
Chris has mastered the balance of performing for TikTok while remaining true to himself (just not all of himself!).
Read the full profile via Elite Daily.
Why TikTok’s de-influencing trend won’t stick around
This week’s infinite scroll podcast explores TikTok’s de-influencing trend, how and why it came about, and why we think it’s not genuinely here to stay.
Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.