Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
media, the creator economy and the digital space.
Every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
I'm your host, Lauren Meisner, the founder of the youth digital
media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Scroll,
everyone. OK, it's December 1st, which you
guys know that means our Patreon has officially launched.
It launched overnight. Thank you so much to those of
you who have already subscribed. I just put it as a community
note on YouTube. So, you know, I know a lot of
you guys probably haven't seen it yet, but it will be the first
link in the description. If you guys want to subscribe, I
talk more about what you guys can expect from it on the first
Patreon episode. I also do a bit of AQ and A and
I give you guys a brief history of Centennial World's business
journey and all the things that I've been through especially in
these past couple of years. But as a very high level recap,
right now we have only one tier. It is $5.99 Australian per
month. You will get behind the scenes
content of Centennial World. You'll get vlogs, chatty podcast
episodes with myself, friends, Annabelle, possibly my husband
also host crossover episodes I thought could be really cool.
So like if you want to see Annabelle and like, I don't
know, Maddie from high stakes podcast together or something,
advice segments, Q&A's, pop culture hot take explainers,
things that I'm not super comfortable talking about
publicly and extra mini scroll episodes for when we are on a
break, when it's a public holiday, stuff like that.
Also a private Discord chat where you guys can chat with us.
So yes, I'm really excited. Thank you guys so much to
everyone that has signed up so far, like I said, and I'm really
excited to kind of start this new journey of the business.
All right, let's just get into the stories for today.
So the first story that I have for you guys is I need to talk
about the TikTok boy band, Boy Throb and how there are
questions over if they're real, how we're now following the
journey to getting Darshan's O1 visa.
Like this is a whole narrative on TikTok and I need to fill you
guys in. So Boy Throb are this boy band.
They were created on TikTok and they've been going viral for a
couple of reasons. First of all, there are four
members of Boy Throb. Three of them are based in the
US and one is based in India. His name is Darshan.
Now the other three members include Evan Papier, Anthony Key
and Zach Sabinia. They launched at the end of
October, and they have since taken over the online zeitgeist
because people just cannot tell if this is a troll or if this is
a real boy band. Given that both Evan and Anthony
have content creation or like musical backgrounds, some think
that's a pretty big indication that this is a real band.
Despite this, they've had two major goals this entire time.
First, get Darshan over to America and second, win a
Grammy. So to achieve this, they were
trying to get to 1,000,000 followers, which they actually
just achieved yesterday. And now they're asking
journalists to give them press mentions so Darshan can apply
for his O1 visa and hopefully have a better chance of getting
approved. And O1 visa in the US is
basically a visa for like a special talent.
So if you have press mentions and write ups and lots of
followers and stuff like that, you're considered more of like a
special person with like a special talent and therefore
it's more likely that you'll get this visa.
So I don't know if mini scroll counts, probably not, but we're
here for you, Darshan. This is a press mentioned from
us. So this is from the tab quote on
on their road to the Grammys. Boethrob has performed at a
nursing home and in a public park.
They're still worlds away from selling out arenas, but
considering how fast they've grown their followers, nothing
is off limits. Across TikTok, they've dropped
covers of wicked somber, Sabrina Carpenter, K pop demon hunters,
cats I Taylor Swift and Olivia Dean.
Their repertoire is ever expanding.
I want to say part of their success is not just that they're
documenting, you know, trying to get Darshan over to the US and
trying to win a Grammy and trying to build this boy.
And it's like, the style of content is also so funny.
That's why people are like, is this satire?
It is kind of like brain rot mixed with, like, 2000s music
video culture. It's really interesting and
funny and bizarre and very chronically online.
So in response to the allegations that they are
satire, this is what they said. Quote.
While the reception is mainly positive, there are quite a few
unkind comments, mainly people asking if we're satire.
We know our content can seem playful and fun, but comments
like this really affect us as we are aspiring to be legitimate
artists. But we're not going to let the
negativity stop us. In fact, we've been actively
using it as fuel to prove the haters wrong, which is why we
are currently in the process of creating original music.
That's right, we're currently working on a debut single.
OK, so if the band is real, this narrative of getting Sean over
to America through reaching 1,000,000 followers and the
press mentions like all of that is honestly marketing genius.
Because we know that right now the music industry has this huge
focus on follower count, right? And artists are expected to play
a huge role in promoting their own songs through social media
now. So this gets them ahead of that.
Like they're getting all of that tough stuff like building a
following, getting organic press mentions, becoming part of the
cultural zeitgeist in general. Like they're getting all of that
out of the way first. And now they have millions of
people invested in them. So I actually think that this is
a really great strategy. I don't know if it will really
translate to like longevity if they do let's say, like release
an original album, if they'll be able to sell out stadiums and
actually win a Grammy and like actually develop fans or if this
is more of just like an in joke with the people that are
following them right now. But either way, it's working.
Whatever they're doing so far is working.
They hit a million followers in basically one month.
Darshan is getting press mentions.
He's on his way to America soon, I'm sure.
And yeah, it's all working out for them.
OK, the next story that I have for you guys is a creator on
TikTok is going viral after proposing to her partner of 14
years this weekend. So a creator named Estella is
the talk of relationship talk right now after she took the
viewers along on her experience proposing to her partner of 14
years. They have children together.
I will say the reports on how many kids they have is very
conflicting. It's either two children or
four. And they also currently live
with his parents. She said that she wants to
propose to him because she wants to be married and he's never
proposed. Even though she said that he
tells her that, you know, he wants to spend the rest of his
life with her. They have children together,
they've been together for so long, but he's just never gotten
around to proposing. So this has sparked such intense
discourse online around the whole like if he wanted to, he
would narrative. Lots of women are saying that
this is an example of when you leave your man, like you deserve
better. If he won't give you the
commitment that you want and have wanted this entire time
while still having children with you, that's not a man that
respects you. That's what people are saying.
It's also sparked a whole trend of women asking their husbands
what they would do that they proposed to them after being
together for 14 years and getting their husband's
reactions on camera did. You guys hear about the girl
that proposed to her boyfriend of 14 years and they even have
like two children together. I just want to know like what
was in her decision making process that made her think
like, you know what, this man has been with me for 14 years.
He's never proposed. I'm just going to go ahead and
take that load off of his shoulder and I'll propose for
him. Like I just don't get that
process. Like because we all know as
women, especially if he really wanted to, he would.
So I just want to know like what do you guys think about this?
Like my honest opinion is like, more power to you girl.
Like if this is where you felt like you were in the
relationship, like I'm just going to go ahead and put the
pants on and do what I need to do.
I get it. But like a are you genuinely
happy and B how much of the pants do you wear in the
relationship? I don't think that proposing to
your partner, to your boyfriend, whatever is cringe.
I have a few friends who have proposed to their partners and
it's like if you want to get married just do it.
Like you definitely don't need to wait for your man to be the
one to propose. However, what most people seem
to have an issue with is that she's wanted this for so long.
Like they've been together for 14 years and he still wouldn't
do it. And a lot of people are saying
that is giving red flag. So I'm interested to hear your
guys's perspective on this. I think for me, if marriage was
so important to me, I probably wouldn't have children with a
man who wasn't at least on the same page with me.
It with that, like, I don't know, I, I think I would care to
be married or at least engaged. Like knowing that that is
something like that. I really want, I really want
that for my future with this person.
So it's like, OK, if you want to have kids with me, if we want to
start a family together, like I need that level of commitment.
I think that is probably where I land on that.
But I'm interested to hear what your guys opinion is.
Reminder, Please remember to rate, review and subscribe if
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OK, the next story that I have for you guys is a quick update
on the TikTok Awards, the whole saga that I reported on back on
Friday. So TikTok Australia has made a
public address about the racism and all of the event backlash
that occurred. So for an incredibly high level
recap, there's several black creators who have come out, some
of them nominees, some of them not.
Regardless, creators who were at the awards saying that they
experienced racism specifically from the photographers at the
media wall and event staff. So this has really blown up even
more over the weekend. However, I will still say that
mainstream media has not covered this yet.
At the time of recording, none of the mainstream media that was
on the red carpet, as far as I've been able to find has
actually covered this. I mean, aside from us, but I
wouldn't consider us mainstream media at all.
So TikTok has now issued a statement on TikTok in a
carousel. They said we are all deeply
upset that some of our valued guests had a negative experience
at this year's TikTok Awards and we wanted to address our
community personally. This year's event was the
biggest ever with more than 5000 guests.
The huge increase and change of venue was to accommodate more of
our valued creator community who previously couldn't attend due
to capacity. Tickets for everyone were free.
It was always our intention for everyone to walk the red carpet,
but two hours before guests arrived, the venue's risk
management team told us a severe storm was coming and it was not
safe for our media wall and some activations to proceed.
In the interest of safety, we made the decision to move
inside, having the space available and making the flow of
people throughout the venue challenging.
We sincerely apologize to anyone who felt excluded or
uncomfortable at this year's TikTok Awards.
Our amazing and diverse community is what makes TikTok
great, and the awards are designed to celebrate that.
More than 1/3 of this year's nominees were from culturally or
linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Our priority is always to maintain a safe, positive, and
inclusive environment for everyone.
We appreciate the feedback to help us improve future events.
So instead of going into this again and also inserting my
opinion over top of, you know, the women who are speaking out
about this, the creators of color, the black women, I don't
want to be doing that in this situation.
So I'm going to actually direct you guys to a newsletter by Z
Feed by my friend Crystal Andrews.
She is the founder of Z Feed and she spoke to TikTok Australia's
PR team. She spoke to Niall, who was the
first creator that spoke out about this.
She spoke to various different sources to figure out what
happened here, how this could have happened.
And she put together a piece that essentially dissects
Australias racism problem in the media and how lack of safeguards
in place because of like this quote UN quote weather event and
having to move everything inside.
How that kind of contributed to allowing the discernment to fall
on the individuals, as in the photographers of who gets their
photo taken and who doesn't. Because creators were not made
aware that, you know, their position at the awards change,
that people didn't want their photos unless they were nominees
and media was not necessarily briefed well on kind of these
changes. And therefore allowing the
discernment to fall on an individual is what brings out
that individual's bias and bigotry and racism and
discrimination. The root of it is that the
Australian media industry is incredibly racist and there is
nowhere near enough diversity and you know, because of the
logistical issues that racism was able to present itself.
So anyway, she did a much better job of explaining that in her
piece. So I will link it down below and
I highly suggest you guys go read it.
OK. And the last story that I have
for you guys is there is this Black Friday quote UN quote scam
by Michael's craft store that is going viral.
So a gaming creator named AJ has gone viral after she exposed
what she has called, quote, the biggest Black Friday scam that
she's ever seen at Michael's. For those who are not in North
America, at Michaels is a craft store across the US and Canada.
AJ is a big crafter so she buys a lot of things from Michaels.
Specifically, she builds winter villages with small wooden
houses that she gets at Michaels.
So yesterday she made a video explaining that she went to
Michaels to buy some on Black Friday sale.
The price of these houses are normally $6.49.
Michaels had them marked as 50% off for Black Friday, so she
expects to go into the store and that she'd be able to buy them
for $3.20. However, when she went into the
store, the houses were tagged newly as costing 1299, which
meant with the 50% Black Friday discount, they actually ended up
costing more. I mean by 1 cent, but still,
they ended up costing more than they normally would have without
Black Friday. So she was essentially
insinuating that they marked the price up and then put it on
Black Friday sale so they could essentially charge like the same
amount. She also noted that many items
that were marked for Black Friday had the price stickers
ripped off the display items. So you were unable to see what
the original price was. And then they were like, these
are 50% off and it's like from what?
We can't even see what the original price was.
However, a lot of the items that were not on Black Friday sale,
they still had the display price stickers.
So that led her to believe that Michaels was doing shady pricing
stuff with basically most of their Black Friday items.
These are 50% off today, so I thought I was going to come in
here and get it for $3.20 No 1299.
It cost more today. Than it usually does.
Editing me bumping in here. What I meant is that it cost
more on the Black Friday. Sale to buy it.
With the 50% off than it would to buy it on a regular day, OK.
We all hear about. Items being marked up on Black
Friday? No, it was costing more to buy
it with the 50% off than it would to buy on a regular.
Price the week before let. Me show you something else.
Anything that's on sale on Black Friday today has had the tag
removed. Anything that's not on sale
hasn't had it removed. So if it's only on these items
that have had the tags removed, you ready for the most insane.
Part. Price check.
There used to be a price check here.
Every single price check has been removed.
I was here last week, they were here.
Now, there were tons of people in her comments section
explaining that a lot of stores do this, but there were also
some people who have come out saying that they noticed the
same thing at their local Michael store.
So one woman in particular claims that she went in to look
at Christmas trees before Black Friday.
She took a photo of the one she wanted.
So the price was in that photo. She went back during Black
Friday and the store had upped the price by $50 and then quote,
UN quote, put it on sale. So Michaels has responded to AJ
about the situation. She now says that some of the
information she put in her original video was maybe not
totally accurate. But the important thing here is
that the information that she provided in that first video,
she has said this is, you know, like what she was able to gather
from the information she had. She was like any general
consumer, would assume these things based on what I was
seeing and what I was hearing. I don't want to take my video
down, I think that's wrong, but I do feel like the information I
gave in the video might not be 100% correct.
Now as the consumer, this is all the information that I had.
Nobody was giving me an explanation until I had 4
million views and Michael's employees were messaging me.
So I expect that there are plenty of people that were in
the store and saw the same exact thing from me that I saw with no
explanation. So I still do believe that they
are scamming and deceiving people, whether or not they tell
you the reasons for things or not.
From the information that I have received, I believe that the
house has been 649 since the day it came on the shelves, but it's
been 50% off the entire time. They were never technically
selling it for 1299 because they advertised their Christmas stuff
as 50% off the whole time. Now, is Michael's the only store
in the world to do this? No, but it's a new model that
I've seen and have experienced this holiday season that things
are on sale as soon as they hit the shelf.
So this house that I've been buying for 649 since October
must have had to be honest, a 50% off Christmas in that
section. But they removed the original
signs and replaced them all with one day Black Friday signage.
OK, Black Friday deal, just today you can get this item for
50% off. They took away the original sale
item, put the same sale back on, but slapped it on that this is a
deal. It's only going to be happening
this one day. Now let's get to the scanner.
So what I've heard is that the scanner system changed, right?
Like the programming that they were using, it changed and
Michaels was too lazy, literally the words of many people, and
too cheap to afford to fix it and pay for the new service,
right? So they just got rid of it all
so that you have to use their app to scan items.
I have the app. I tried to scan items and
anything that had the new tag on it, I could not scan.
It did not work. So if the whole truth is that
the scanners were not working, they were.
They didn't want to pay for them.
And they didn't just do this for Black Friday.
OK, But I couldn't scan items. And as the consumer and as you
know, as a human being, this is the information you're shown.
You're not hearing this explanation, right?
So what else are you supposed to believe?
Now, for the price tags, plenty of people are telling me that
the reason it's ripped off and placed with new tags is because
of tariffs. OK, They didn't know the price
that it was going to be. They shipped them in and made
employees stick the individual stickers on.
So those are the technical 3 reasons for why that those
things might have happened. But has Michaels made a
statement? No.
I think something we can really take away from this episode in
general, especially with the TikTok awards and now with this
Michaels thing. And this is no surprise, right?
Like we know this about TikTok, but TikTok in so many ways has
given the power to the consumer, to the individual, and that can
really challenge systems, right, and corporations and
exploitation. So what that is what I would
like to take away from these final two stories.
Is that positive in it? I never even thought about the
fact that stores when they put things on sale, could up the
price 1st and then be like, look, it's on sale.
That literally never even crossed my mind.
And now I'm going to be so aware of this and because, and that's
all because of TikTok. Anyways, guys, that's it for
mini scroll today. Thank you so much for listening.
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Bye.