to ask if any of you are watching the Zoella Advent Calendar hoo ha?

[BriechonCheese]

Now, I might be enjoying this fall out because my DS went to the HelloWorld event and was badly ripped off (a YouTuber event which went terribly wrong) but finally Zoella is being challenged on her over priced tat merchandise. Particularly her advent calendar which is £50 FIFTY FUCKING POUNDS for the likes of confetti, 2 tiny candles, a thin copy book and a Pom Pom!

www.boots.com/zoella-12-days-of-christmas-advent-calendar-10235552

Social media is going mad, there are thousands of tweets, a viral video lampooning it is doing the rounds and it was discussed on 5Live last night.

Is anyone watching this fall out?

Do we think this will finally be the end of these terrible, vacuous idiots? Or am I too optimistic?

But there are lots of beauty calendars aimed at tweens priced at the under £15 price point. (Check Superdrug, Wilkos etc) It clearly should have been £15-£20 tops.

Reanimated- what about her misogyny?

twitter.com/zoella/status/161568953557200898

My link below is Not Safe For Work!!!!

I'd still argue there's a bit of a difference between an adult making an informed purchasing decision and something aggressively marketed towards tweens/young teens.

May I ask, how can so many of you not understand commerce?

Do you think that footballers care whether the team shirt some kid buys is fairly priced? Or that Mickey Mouse is bothered by the expense of a trip to Disney?

Zoella's new vlog where she discusses the calendar from 33 minutes.
She says she has no input or decision in the price. Lies.

make Those footballers etc arent pretending to care and reach out to their target market on social media.

It's not a comparison.

That's a good point, SGB. It is horrible to see that.

Yeah, exactly Nicknacky.
Her whole 'thing' is loving everyone, doing everything for her fans and being sickly sweet with it. Not comparable to a football team.

I just don’t believe that

a) she doesn’t have involvement on price
b) she “doesn’t do this for the money”?!

It's not comparable to a football team (though for the record I think the money that's involved in football is disgusting), or even comparable to reading Smash Hits magazine in 2000 and having the occasional photoshoot of NSYNC's "pad". There was still a gulf between the fans and the celebs, which isn't what Youtubers like the Gleam crowd work on. Their whole reason for being was the invitation to almost live their life alongside them, inviting viewers into their homes on a daily basis for some. Selling friendship. It's a completely different beast.

I haven’t reall all the thread and don’t know much about this Zoella as my DS is 26 and possibly not her target audience 🤣

However, I’m getting the impression that she targets the tween market. If so wtf is she doing having a candle in her shitty offering. I really don’t think a candle is appropriate for children that young.

Just watched the vid where she says she has no input in the price. What absolute bollocks. Plus nice that she adds it on to the end of a video where I think it’s highly evident where all the money she’s making is spent. Nice house Zoella! Such a shame you have input on absolutely everything apart from the ridiculous price. You poor thing having that taken out of your hands. Bollocks bollocks bollocks.

Eyebrows: That's petty and nasty, sure, but not quite in the same league as the (now fairly standard) direct threats of physical and sexual violence that certain men feel justified in hurling at any woman who is portrayed as having 'crossed a line'.

I don't think it's unreasonable to criticize her business model, or to call her a greedy scammer etc but whenever a famous woman gets criticized, up pop these woman-hating arseholes to pile right on...

Yeah that bit of video really doesn't do her any favours. I can believe the retailer decides the final price they want to sell at, but to go the other extreme and say she "has absolutely NO input on price" is clearly rubbish. Anyone with half a brain can see you don't develop a product like this, creatively or otherwise, without discussing price at any point.

She could have at least said "I don't get to decide the price, but since it has my name on it's unacceptable and I'll be making sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again". Plus I notice she says she's sad that people are upset, not sad that people were charged £50 for it in the first place.

I do think a lot of her young fans will just take what she says at face value though, judging by the comments underneath the video.

Or that Mickey Mouse is bothered by the expense of a trip to Disney?

Will I break it to her?

Mickey Mouse isn't real babe.

You could well ask how Zoella (and her business manager) don’t understand commerce and the delicate relationship that exists between Youtuber and audience (or parents of audience). It all depends on her being chummy and relatable.

The fairytale of the Golden Goose comes to mind…

This is the Tanya Burr calendar.

https://www.superdrug.com/Gifts-for-Her/Tanya-Burr-12-Sweet-Days-Beauty-Calendar/p/738783?gclid=EAIaIQobChMItPwurDA1wIVbijTCh1xhwArEAQYASABEgK23fDD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CMeBz72wwNcCFQwEGQodhtMJQg

Not cheap but the price and content is much more realistic for their tween market.
The cynic in me has noticed that it’s been discounted £10. When did this happen?

The only way that Zoella can save this is to apologize sincerely (not crying on camera and making out that she’s the victim)

Being mindful of what you type online is an important lesson that she could help drive home to children and teens who don’t understand how past tweets can come back and bite them in the arse later. Cyber bullying is a major problem and she has the attention of a very impressionable fan base who will listen to what she says.

I’m surprised that her and her squad haven’t ditched Gleam management yet. You’d think that scrubbing her Tweets was an obvious thing to do.

squoosh

WHAT DO YOU MEAN MICKEY MOUSE ISNT REAL???

m.youtube.com/watch?v=rA91BaJWYQw

Made me laugh x

Clear she is full of bollocks: metro.co.uk/2017/09/07/zoellas-released-a-lifestyle-advent-calendar-filled-with-12-days-worth-of-surprises-6907046/

That article came out right at the beginning of September as says the calendar will be retailing at 50 pounds. So she had plenty of time to interject.

Also, 'I worked really hard on it' is just funny.
At 27 years old, two cookie cutters and a pen was something she worked really hard at?

Yes, the price was announced ages ago - plenty of time for Zoella and her team to be aware! It was also sent out to newspapers and some bloggers early for them to review, again with the price tag. Selection below. It seems to me that it would have been very hard for her to be unaware of the price being asked for it.

hellosubscription.com/2017/09/2017-zoella-12-days-christmas-advent-calendar-available-now/
beautymarkdown.co.uk/2017/09/23/boots-beauty-advent-calendars-2017-first-look/
www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/zoella-zoe-sugg-beauty-lifestyle-make-up-christmas-range-2017-a7959746.html

The Cosmopolitan piece about it that MillicentFawcett linked to was embarrassing.

According to the product description, it's "the ultimate Christmas calendar" with "12 amazing and exclusive treats, from beautifully scented candles to stunning accessories, stationery, baking goodies and other special surprises".

Candles, cookie cutters, stationery and more? WE. WANT. ONE.

Stunning accessories? Would that be the keyring, or what?

Yeah, it does go to show even more that you should never, ever trust any reviews in magazines or online. They're just in thrall of the PR companies and brands sending them all the free products and justifying their magazine's existence.

Ironically I think youtube was once a good platform for getting honest product reviews, because it was normal people on normal budgets wanting value for money and sharing their recommendations with other people. But as soon as a reviewer starts to come to people's attention, the PR companies start sending them free stuff and then the whole thing inevitably loses its credibility.