Ashy Bines Thinks You Stink

that the pair are fighting. Yeah, So, on Wednesday, Tammy shared a car sing along to her Instagram's story, and in it, she sang along to poison song every Rose Has Its Thorn, and she sang this lyric directly to the camera. For those who aren't across this eighties track, the song is about a rock star coming home after

touring and finding his girlfriend cheating on him. So the lead singer, Bret Michaels, wrote the song after he called his girlfriend and heard another man's voice in the background. So a lot of followers are speculating this is a bit of a clue as to what has gone on. Between Matt and Tammy. Is never a good sign when someone is doing a sing along in the car because normally,

when you are doing passionate singalongs, it's to a breakup song. Yeah, and in this case, she wasn't even driving in the car. This was a strategic decision to set up her camera and mind directly to this song on an Instagram story. And she did put clues out like this when she was breaking up with Matt Paul. It is very telling. And things escalated further on Saturday when fans noticed that Tammy changed her name on Instagram so ahead of Tammy

and Matt's wedding. Tammy confirmed that she would be officially changing her last name to Sakowski, and a lot of followers wondered if she'd actually go through with a name change on Instagram because it could be detrimental to her brand. I mean, her profile is a lot bigger than Matt Szakowski's. There have been a lot of influencers who have kept their maiden name. I mean, Laura Henshaw is a prime example. Her husband actually took on her surname, and Zakowski isn't

the easiest to spell. People also just know her as Tammy Hembros. It's her brand, yeah, and if new people are trying to find her, they're going to struggle to find her on Instagram now. After the wedding, Tammy didn't actually change her handle, but in her bio she wrote missus Zakowski with an engagement ring emoji. But on Saturday morning, she removed missus Zakowski from her bio altogether and replaced

it with Tammy Hembro. I was listening to Matt's podcast the other day and he was talking about how Tammy has been going through the official channels to change her surname. So I wonder how fast she is in that process, because it's an absolute nightmare to change your name officially. I went through it two years ago and it took so long to get everything changed, like your driver's life,

since your bank details. It's actually on my list of things to do this week because I've got three months before my baby's born and I want to have my name changed before I give birth so we all have the same last name. Well, you better get onto it. This is making me think that there's even more to this name change on Instagram. Clearly it's a topic of discussion in their household. At the moment, it seemed like Matt was really pushing this name change and that it's

important for him to have his wife have Sakowski. It didn't take long for gossip pages to pick up on this news, and there were pages like influencer updates, are you reporting on the news? And within a few hours missus Zekowski was back in the bio. It seemed like Tammy didn't like the negative attention that it was bringing her. Then changing it back made it even more obvious that it was a thing. Yeah, because then the pages could show that the change actually did happen because they have

the screenshots to prove it. Otherwise you could think, oh, maybe it wasn't actually in there to begin with. Yeah, But the fact that she was like, oh shit, I better put it back in, or Matt has seen it and said you better put it back. Despite the name being back up, Tammy and Matt spent the weekend apart. So Tammy was on this sponsored stay ca at a Gold Coast hotel with her kids, sister, and also her nieces and nephews, and he was notably absent from the trip.

He hasn't posted on his stories throughout the whole weekend. He's been very quiet. In fact, he hasn't been seen on Tammy's Instagram since the unfollowed last week. Hmm, it's very interesting. I'm guessing that they'll do what they normally do and put some loved up thing and they'll patch it over again. Well, it sounds like he's still in Melbourne. I don't even know if he's back on the Gold Coast, so it's not a very good sign.

hook yourself up Kiora now. There was then a link to Hideaway's website to purchase the perfume. Now around an hour and twenty minutes later, the brand followed up with a text message that said, sorry if our last message came off wrong, just Kiwi banter, We've got proud Kiwis on the team, and meant no offense, all love. So clearly people were very offended by this text message. I can see why, and to put this into perspective of

how tone deaf the message was. For those unfamiliar with the Rotarua, it's a city in New Zealand that's a tourist hotspot, so it's actually situated in a volcanic region and it's renowned for its geothermal activity and Maori culture. It's also known for having a distinct sulfur smell due to the area's geothermal activity, so basically, the area releases a lot of hydrogen sulfide gas, which is known to

smell like rotten eggs. I get really pissed off when brands text me because I'm almost like, who is this? And then it ends up being like Domino's. Domino sends me messages on the daily and I'm like, how do they even get my number? But to receive a text message like this, there's not only annoying but it's also offensive,

like what are these marketers think? And the people who received the text message said that it wasn't really clear it was even from a brand because it was trying to pass itself off as being a legitimate text message from a friend, and then it had the link at the end, so it would have been very confusing. It was clearly their way to attract attention and get people to read further into the message and click on the link.

But they've totally missed the market. Yeah, and Rotarua's mayor, Tanya Tapsle is not happy, so she weighed into the matter, saying they clearly don't have a grasp on reality as Rotorua is a beautiful place with beautiful people. That's why we get up to three million visitors a year. She also said it was unbelievably unfortunate that Ashy and her

team in Australia thought that this message was acceptable. She went on to say, whoever thought the marketing text you sent out to New Zealand as mocking our slang would go down well as an Australian company missed the mark big time. Now the follow up text message from Hideaway did absolutely nothing to squash the avalanche of online complaints. One person wrote what the hell did you just text me? Whilst another said I've just got the eke from your

text and the dismissal text following just KeyWe banter. Another said I came across this company a few days ago and that text was the first communication I had received, So I guess the marketing team is taking notes from the how to Lose Customer's handbook. Someone else wrote wild marketing strategy offending every New Zealand woman. It's giving mean girl energy and a big nope from a former customer. There were some customers who defended Hideaway. One wrote, as

a keyw girl, just ignore these hate comments. Your stuff is so nice. I just ordered two body miss and one perfume. Another said when did people get offended so easily? You can't breathe anymore without offending someone now. Hideaway are yet to put out a public apology, but their social media team responded individually to some of the comments, so on Friday they wrote to a disgruntled customer, we are truly sorry for any hurt or offense we have caused.

Our attention was never to be insensitive, but we now recognize that our message came across in a way that was very inappropriate. This was written as lighthearted banter by one of our key WE team members, but upon reflection, we can see how it has been received differently. Your feelings are completely valid and we take full responsibility for our words. We're taking this as an opportunity to reflect and do better moving forward. Now. The brand tried to

clear Ashy of any wrongdoing. They wrote as she did not approve this message she was away for her podcast, but by Saturday night, the post containing the comments was deleted from Hardaway social media account, and ash Bines was also ignoring the backlash on her own Instagram channel and instead was spooking the fragrances. This is what she said.

think that's a bit fishy. I think she would have been well aware of the marketing tactics they were doing, particularly because they're trying to get into New Zealand. Well, it was the product's launch into New Zealand, and as she Bindes is not only the co founder of Hideaway alongside her husband Steve, but she's the creative director. So you're telling me that the creative director doesn't sign off on a campaign when you're launching a product into a

new country. Her face was all over the marketing like that is bullshit? Did her husband Steve it? Well, apparently it's only more recently that as she has been more hands on with Hideaway. Before it was kind of Steve's baby, so it is a bit awkward that now she's more involved. These things are happening because now that she's gotten rid of Baseline, Hideaway is her focus alongside her podcast, and she came out and said that the podcast isn't actually

making much money, but she finds it really enjoyable. I just wish she would take responsibility for this. I think it looks worse to say that you're not across your business and don't know the key marketing strategies you're implementing when you're launching into another country, and it just looks like you're trying to distance yourself from your own brand.

I also thought it was a pretty poor excuse to say, oh, we actually have kei we team members, so it was okay that we wrote that ash Bindes may have been born in New Zealand and a social media manager is also a keiw but neither of them are Maori. So it seems really inappropriate to appropriate slang into that text message. And also for the text message to say you stink That is just such a bizarre argument. It's like an Australian brand saying Oh, we've got Aussie's on the team,

so we can mock aboriginal slang. Sorry, that doesn't fly. No, it does not fly. I saw someone compare the approach to if a gym sound out a text message saying hey, Fatty, come and join us. I mean, it's not bad enough that they were racially stereotyping people, but why would a fragrance company try and attract clients by telling them that they stink. It's a very strange marketing tactic, because to me,

perfume is about aspiration. That's why there's so many celebrities who are the face of perfumes, because you think I want to smell like this celebrity, or I really like this fruity sense, not to mask an odor. It's more to smell note. But they're really playing on insecurity. I mean I feel like that's more marketing for a deodorant brand, not a perfume brand. Yeah, exactly. And I was just thinking, how did this marketing campaign pass through so many hands

without someone flagging this as an issue? Oh come on, Kate as she was recording a podcast one day, so she wasn't across this marketing campaign. There's clearly been weeks in the words yeah, I mean ironically, it seems like a lot of Hydaway's customers didn't even realize that as she was connected to the brand, and that's actually put off a lot of people.

a Melbourne shopping in porium which houses a Genesis showroom. Now, Victoria said she was in a rush and accidentally parked her car in a bay reserve strictly for Genesis staff, and when she returned to her car, Victoria discovered that she had been double parked by a very unhappy Genesis staff member who the park is normally reserved for. I want to point out that Victoria does not drive a Genesis. I feel like this fact is integral to the story because when I saw her stories popping up, I was

really confused. I assumed that she drove a Genesis and that she was dropping a car off for a service or to meet with the team. However, she was just at the shopping center where the dealership is based, running other errands. She actually drives a Porsche, so staff would have quickly realized the car was out of place, particularly a Porsche, because I remember when Toby Pierce used to live in Adelaide, Kayla Assinas's business partner and her ex

fiance baby Daddy Rachel Dilon's new husband. He used to appear on an Instagram account called shit Adelaide because he would park his very expensive sports car across like two parks or in disabled parking areas, and it was very obvious who it was because he had a custom number plate. Did it say Toby or yeah it was a biased or something along those lines. In this case, I feel like the Genesis staff members would have seen this Porsche

and thought, fuck you, who's this? In titled person has just parked here, oh and thinks at their time is more important than everyone else. I'm not saying that that is the case with Victoria, but there's a general assumption when you see a very flash car as to who was driving and what their personality is like. I definitely think that is the case. I think the car being

a Porsche would have particularly pissed off the staff members. Now, after discovering that her car had been boxed in, Victoria said that she went into the dealership and apologized for the mishap and asked if they could please move the car. She says a Genesis staff member claimed he didn't have the keys to move the car and refused to call his colleague who had blocked her in, as he didn't

want to interrupt him with a customer. He then allegedly told Victoria that he was trying to teach her a lesson.

in brackets. Yes, I should have double checked, but I was in a rush, and the guy at this dealership is low key, really rude and has parked me in and won't call the person who moved the car, and I just want to get out of their spot. So we are just standing in the showroom because he said he can't do anything now. Victoria followed it up by joking that if anyone wants to buy a Genesis, they're on full display currently, or her followers can check out

the one that has double parked her in now. She clearly was not impressed, and she continued saying that the behavior was petty and reminded her audience that this was a business acting in this way, not a person. She seemed particularly miffed by the Genesis staff member, saying that they were teaching her a lesson, like.

had to get back to work. She probably had meetings going on, and the person flat out refused to help her, so she thought, well, I'm going to take this matter into my own hands.

be sitting in your car, probably for a couple more hours. Yeah. Well, whilst Victoria was left waiting, she decided to call in the big gun. So she contacted Genesis's head office and alerted them to what was going down. I'm really surprised whoever runs Genesis social media hadn't already sounded them, because Victoria was tagging them in so many posts and this was over an hour period. Now, Victoria said, the team at head office were mortified and apologized, saying that this

behavior was not part of their policy. It's quite clear that the head office then rang the dealership and directed them to move the car immediately. So after waiting for over an hour. Victoria and her assistant Zara, finally returned to the car, but the drama didn't stop there, so Victoria decided to show her followers exactly where she was parked, which I feel actually weakened her case because the reserve

sign honestly couldn't be any bigger. There were giant letters spelling out reserved across multiple parks, and there was even a sign that said if you park here, you will get told. So I think she was actually lucky that she didn't get told. She did call herself a dufus in the post and said, yes, it says in giant letters that it's reserved, but I didn't see it as I was in a rush. Here's more of what she said, So I thought it.

and then I'll go back into my reserve park. Yeah, and clearly the team at that Genesis dealership were probably copying an absolute ear bashing from head office their behavior, and you'd see absolute red if you saw the individual in question who'd complained about you sitting there uploading more social media posts about the incident and inflaming it more. This is when the female staff member started taking photos of Victoria and Zara in the car, presumably to send

a head office. Here's what Victoria said about her exchange with the female staff member.

taught me her name. I won't say that I have shared it with the business anyway. It was a very strange altercation where clearly the business did not endorse this. The business has apologized and they are like from the messages, I'm getting the vibe that they're mortified, but like, that is not how you do it.

my car up into another park that wasn't reserved. I think it's also because influencers almost have a sense of entitled when when it comes to some brands. I mean, there'd be brands, particularly car brands, bending over backwards to work with the She's on the money team through sponsorships and that sort of thing, and you think she's like, oh my god, do these people know who I am? They should be more polite. To me, it did come across as very entitled, particularly when she was the one

in the wrong in the first place. And when I was watching these stories, that's well, I could not get my head around. It's like, you're the one who's parked in the reserve spot. The person has come back to their park and you've taken it, so they've parked in front of you because they couldn't get a park. Then they're trying to do their job, and you expect them to drop everything and move their car so you can leave. That's not how it works well. This situation has left

Victoria's followers divided. Some did agree with Victoria and said that the carry on by the dealership was unprofessional and unfair, whilst others were in disbelief that Victoria didn't see the large reserve sign and said that they'd also double park

someone in if their park was taken. Victoria responded by saying that she knew she was in the wrong by parking in the spot, but she would have actually preferred them to follow the policy which was in place and to have towed her car, then to have had to experience this weird power trip. I really keep going back and forth with where I sit with this, because when

I first saw Victoria's stories pop up. I assumed that she drove a Genesis like you did, Kate, and I thought she was a customer who was visiting the showroom, and I thought, wow, this is pretty out of line for a dealership to act like this to a customer. And perhaps, you know, she had some confusion over whether the parking bay was reserved for customers if it was

in this shopping center. But when I realized that Victoria wasn't actually a Genesis customer and that she was trying to find a park in a shopping center, the dealership's reaction made a bit more sense to me, because I feel like this must be a regular problem for them if they're threatening to toe cars. I mean, if there's a sign up, clearly their parks get taken all the time.

And I think that this staff member would have seen the Porsche made a generalization about Porsche owners and thought, wow, this person is fucking entitled. Yeah, I agree completely, and I'm not saying that I think the Genesis staff acted professionally, but I can understand if I was trying to do my job and I went to park my car, and they probably use it to do test drives as well.

With customers. I can see why they would have got annoyed, and I don't think it's unreasonable to ask Victoria to wait while the person finished with a client before they moved their car, considering it was her fault in the first place that her car was parked in that spot. I don't think that the dealership is completely innocent in all of this, because they have gone on to make the brand look pretty bad. Victoria says that it was

an honest mistake. She came in and apologized, and instead of being pricks and making her wait for over an hour, they could have just moved the car. They were clearly trying to teach her a lesson because they were annoyed. Well, they said that that's what. Yeah, And as Victoria said, this isn't an individual these are staff members representing a bigger business, one which subsequently then got scolded online to

over eighty five thousand people. I'd be really interested to hear their side of events, though, because Victoria said, you know, she came in and politely asked them to move, but it would be interesting to hear how the staff thought that exchange played out in real life, because clearly she was annoyed that she got double parked in, and perhaps she didn't come across as polite as she may have

hoped in saying that. I also think that in those largely male dominated areas like car dealerships, women can be treated very patronizingly. So I can see how she would have felt pretty helpless if she's got this group of men who were refusing to move the car. I know over there were men, though, because she referenced a female stuff it was later on two male staff members that she was dealing with. Initially for her, she runs multiple businesses.

She probably had this huge stressful day ahead of her, and I think maybe some of the men at the dealership could have potentially got their noses out of joint that here's this successful woman in her early thirties driving a portion and they thought, fuck you, we're gonna punish you. Yeah, it doesn't sound like they acted with good intentions either, and this is a pr disaster I think for everyone involved.

In saying that, though, I was surprised that Victoria would act like that, considering she is someone who works with brands, being an influencer and through her podcast, and also someone who has a business, Because can you imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and someone spotted Victoria Devine getting out of her car that was parked in a reserve spot that clearly she wasn't meant to be parking in, and then named and shamed her publicly, like

she wouldn't be happy with that look. To be honest, I think car parking dramas bring out the worst in everyone, though I have never experienced more rage than in a car park, particularly when it's Christmas time and someone steals your park. So I think that it can turn everyone into a of a jerk and you kind of revert back to acting like a child. Yeah. Well that is where we're going to leave things today. Thank you for

listening to another episode of Outspoken. If you do enjoy the show, we would really appreciate it if you could leave us a review. This podcast was recorded on the traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes. We pay respect to elders past and present,