Keep scrolling for why women are taking over the F1 fandom.
Why are brands capitalising on ‘female rivalry’ for social media marketing?
A new piece by Annabel Bendavid for Centennial Beauty explores brands’ involvement in the Hailey Bieber “witch-hunt” that’s swept the internet over the past few weeks.
A Justin Bieber fan account on Twitter has recently gone viral for a thread documenting the brands that have shaded his wife in the latest Hailey Bieber vs. Selena Gomez “feud”.
The thread lists numerous brands that have made snide comments about the drama, including Duo Lingo, Hulu, Facetune, and Buzzfeed. Comments and quote tweets of the thread see many users praising these brands for “siding” with Selena.
Bendavid notes that the attack on Hailey can be compared to that of Amber Heard during her defamation trial against Johnny Depp.
“There is no denying that the Hailey-Selena saga is very different to Amber’s situation, where comparisons between the two trivialise the seriousness of domestic abuse. However, as brands continue to pile on the hate, it’s clear that internet users have an obsession with collectively ganging up on and humiliating women.”
The volatile nature of TikTok makes it easy and appealing for brands to engage in misogynistic discourse.
“With the algorithm democratising virality, brands that feed into the app’s mob mentality are rewarded with clicks, views, and likes. That said, companies taking advantage of the drama and shading Hailey are setting a dangerous precedent where viral success becomes synonymous with misogynistic content.”
Read the full story via Centennial Beauty.
Amelia Dimoldenberg finds fame from her Chicken Shop dates
The Washington Post’s Jessica Goldstein interviews YouTube star Amelia Dimoldenberg on why her Chicken Shop Date series has found viral success.
Chicken Shop Date is a web series that airs on Amelia’s YouTube channel in which she (awkwardly) interviews celebrities at London’s fried chicken spots. Her interview style is described as “tense, confusing or uncomfortable”.
The series is in its ninth year, but with the help of TikTok and a few viral red carpet appearances over the past couple of years, Amelia is now flirting with fame herself.
Goldstein suggests the success of the series boils down to three main factors:
Amelia’s awkward flirtation with male guests is a “gleeful subversion of the classic late-night talk show format where male hosts often engage with female guests by hitting on them,” television and pop culture scholar Robert Thompson tells Goldstein. In Chicken Shop Date, Amelia appears in complete control of the interview and how she makes guests feel.
Amelia skips the tedious PR dribble that plague celebrity interviews and goes straight to the “fun stuff”— “Do you have a type?” “Would you ever date a fan?” “Do you have any turnoffs?”
“She’s talking to very confident media performers, but she’s kind of not really playing the game,” says documentarian Louis Theroux, who’s Chicken Shop Date with Amelia went viral last year when she prompted him to rap ‘my money don’t jiggle jiggle, it folds’. “She doesn’t really invite them to do the usual talk-show shtick of ‘tell me the anecdote.’ She doesn’t attempt to especially put them at ease.”
Her signature is “making male stars giggle uncontrollably”.
“When they sit opposite me, they [still] don’t know how this plays out,” Amelia tells Goldstein. As a result, most male guests get “adorably flustered.”
Read the full profile via The Washington Post.
Drew Afualo defends her place on the Oscars champagne carpet
Feminist TikTok star Drew Afualo faced an onslaught of hate from men after attending the Oscars as an “Academy correspondent” this past Sunday.
Drew was one of three TikTok creators officially invited to the award show by the Academy. Her role included interviewing celebrities on the champagne carpet to drive up youth viewership. Reece Feldman and Khaby Lame were also in attendance.
Angry men flooded TikTok criticising the Academy for inviting “a misandrist” like Drew.
No stranger to misogynistic vitriol, Drew responded to the backlash on Twitter. She joked that her “job is officially done” after making so many men “jealous, ugly & mad”.
See some of Drew’s Oscars coverage via TikTok.
How women are taking over the Formula One fandom
A new piece by Crystal Andrews for Zee Feed explores how and why women are flocking to F1 for their sports-entertainment hybrid fix.
A survey by Heineken found that 65% of new F1 fans in Australia are women.
Obviously the wildly popular Netflix series Formula 1: Drive to Survive (likened to Real Housewives) has a lot to do with this spike in female viewership.
“Drive to Survive gave me a lot of reasons to care beyond just ‘this car goes fast’,” gaming journalist Stephanie “Hex” Bendixsen tells Andrews.
Because of this, Andrews notes that the “new army of F1 girlies” are armed with a comprehensive understanding of the sport on and off the track.
“Just like ‘old’ fans, they like the danger, speed and sound of the cars, admire the skills of the drivers, and thinking about how money influences it all. DTS gives them an accessible education on the jargon, technical rules, and crucial background context.”
This boost in female fandom is directly correlated to the financial growth of the sport. However, hostility towards new female fans from ‘old fans’ has been well documented.
“There are a lot of parallels with my experience in video games,” Hex tells Andrews. “There were always women playing games but not being vocal about it because the scene was very male dominated. To learn or even ask questions was scary because people would put you down for just developing an interest in something.”
Read the full story via Zee Feed.
The Shumirun Nessa vs. Jeffrey Marsh TikTok controversy, explained
Users are calling out creators Shumirun Nessa and Jeffrey Marsh after the two have clashed in the past week.
Jeffrey is a nonbinary LGBTQIA+ activist known for making sit-down-style videos advocating for queer experiences and issues.
Shumirun, better known online as @therealoverloadcomedy, primarily creates comedic videos. She has over 7 million followers.
It all kicked off after Shumirun stitched a TikTok that Jeffrey posted.
“Stop telling trans people that we are an inspiration,” Jeffrey begins. Shumirun then pops up and says, “Stop telling kids to go on your Patreon and chat to you privately without their parents knowing.”
Her response sparked debate across the platform, with many users coming to Jeffrey’s defence. These users claimed that Shumirun’s TikTok perpetuates harmful narratives about the LGBTQIA+ community, given that trans folk have a history of being falsely accused of grooming minors.
Much of the criticism levelled at Shumirun was cloaked in Islamophobic rhetoric.
In response, Shumirun spliced together different clips from Jeffrey’s videos where they directly reference “kids” and tell young people to join their Patreon to discuss their parents.
Shumirun took issue with Jeffrey vilifying parents and speaking to minors about topics like sex.
Despite this, many TikTok users have noted that "chosen families" are a significant part of the LGBTQIA community - something that Shumirun doesn't mention in her video. These communities offer support when a person's biological family does not support their queerness.
Shumirun has since deleted her videos criticising Jeffrey after being doxxed by internet users.
Read the full breakdown via Centennial Beauty.
A controversial Scandoval breakdown
This week’s infinite scroll podcast breaks down The Vanderpump Rules Scandavol drama. We share all our controversial opinions on the situation, the backlash, and how the cast members are handling this.
Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.