This is Outspoken. The podcast is not afraid to say exactly what you're thinking. Our names are Amy Kate and Sophie Torbor.
We're identical triplets, but we often.
Don't have identical opinions, so sometimes things can get heated. Outspoken covers all things reality TV, influences, entertainment, and issues facing women.
That is so fetch Thank you.
Hello and welcome to Outspoken. Thank you for joining us again. Now it is a momentous week for us because Sophie is becoming a mother, well a fur mother, and we have been counting down the days as it has been eight weeks now. SOPHI, yeah, it's been eight very very long weeks. I have had like a countdown going since week six. I keep sending my boyfriend Brandon updates of how many more sleeps it is. It is currently four
more sleeps till mister Archie comes into my life. And there is a bit of contentious issues around the name because I think you should be calling the dog Manuka because it is a goalded.
This is great.
Off the back of our puppy farming topic yesterday, It's definitely not from a puppy farm, is it. Sophie's from a very prestigious breeder and Adelaide it is the only one that breeds golden coccusstig. Well, yeah, well it's a golden It's a golden Cocker Spaniel. And what's funny about that is that Sophie's boyfriend's last name is Hancock.
But don't you.
Think that it would be really cute to be called Manuka because it's a honey flavor.
Manuka Honey, it's a that's a girl's.
Name, though, No, I think it's unisex. Well, I think Archie because we've got Meghan and Harry who have Archie, Master Archie. We can call him archiball if he's being naughty.
But do you know what Archie?
The name Archie for a dog is like a diamond, doesn't if I you know, if you want this dog to go off on Instagram, which I think you do because you've already made an Instagram account for the dog by actually having it, I think you should call it Manuka if anyone would like to go and follow him. It's Archie and it's got a golden Cocker Spaniel potentially changed to Minuka.
Well, I feel like spaniel.
Well, I feel like when you're at the dog park, you're gonna really feel that there are a lot of archies out there. When you call him back and there's like ten dogs come running at you, I think you're gonna regret not calling a mahanookah. The thing that I'm most worried about is I've done so much research into Cocker spaniels and apparently they we every thirty minutes, which is similar to me. I've got a very very small bladder,
So we'll be getting along just fine. Well, in regards to the name, we will put a poll up and to see if you agree with Kate and I that Sophie should call her puppy manookah or if she should just call it Archie. What about Winston, I know that was a name that we allso his name.
Is already on his official.
Breeders letters can be changed.
Manookah.
Look, I think that Amy and I, even though were aunties, we probably have no writing naming. Well. I think if I'm paying two and a half grand for this dog, I should be able to name it. Well. Anyway, let's move along, and I'm sure Sophie will be inundating The outspoken Instagram feed with pictures of Archie. Have you been wondering why there's an influx of influencers promoting alcohol on
your news feed? Like many businesses, the alcohol industry has been forced to pivot their marketing to reflect social distancing and self isolation. And with influencers normal brand deals falling through thanks to the pandemic, many have lined up payments through alcohol brands. Sob, can you explain to us just how prevalent alcohol advertising is in the influencer sphere? Well, even before lockdown, alcohol advertising with influencers has been incredibly prevalent.
I mean you look at a recent study by vic Health and it shows that three quarters of Australia's top seventy influencers feature alcohol in their posts, and worryingly, only a quarter of those actually reveal that these posts are sponsored and have been paid for. And vic Health has described the alcohol's industry's use of social media as completely underhanded and says that it is used to influence young children. Well, one bit of info I found really interesting was the
a that influencers are actually allowed to promote alcohol. I didn't realize that you had to be over the age of twenty five to actually be advertising alcohol. Yeah, that really surprised me because it made me reflect there are a lot of big influencers out there who have been pretty quiet in the alcohol space. While they'll show themselves drinking, I haven't seen them officially advertising alcohol.
That was an interesting revelation.
Well, a few years back there was actually a campaign from a vodka cruser company, and they received a lot of complaints because the model that they used in their ad looked a lot younger than eighteen. She was over eighteen, but people said she looked as if she was a teenager, and so there were a lot of complaints. She even part of the ad showed her using glitter to cover up dark circles around her eyes, which are obviously caused from heavy drinking as well, which a lot of people
thought was a bit unnecessary. I do find this whole over twenty five thing pretty interesting because for someone who has always been idd up until my late twenties, I always got annoyed because apparently the and selling the alcohol must think that you look over twenty five. So it's quite interesting that even an influencer who can legally drink
isn't actually allowed to advertise an alcoholic product. But how many influencers who are over twenty five, how many would you confuse for being in the early twenties as well. I mean it opens up a camera. I think it's quite the opposite. Chloe Zepp, I literally thought she was in her late twenties and I found out she's only twenty one. So it's quite interesting that she can't advertise alcohol even though she has been. We'll get into that
a little bit later. The other thing that I didn't know was that if you are promoting alcohol, twenty five percent of your audience can't be under the age of eighteen, which is a rule that I didn't know was in place, and it is a good rule to have. That is good, but on social media you can be so deceptive with
your age. I remember making accounts back in the day for our little cousins on Facebook, and I think you had to be over thirteen, and we of course just put that they were over thirteen when there were eight and ten.
That is such a.
Good point, And the thing that a lot of people don't realize is in Australia, the alcohol industry self regulates it's advertising, which means that there's no government body to intervene and to keep people accountable. Yeah, and that means that an alcohol company can put out an ad on social media and it doesn't have to be approved by the government. It just has to meet these certain code
of ethics. However, as Soav said, that's a self regulated code of ethics, and while people can make complaints to the Advertising Standards Bureau, it's just a system where they then look into it and the ad is taken down. So what I found really interesting is that when an influencer works with an alcohol brand, if it is deemed that the ad doesn't meet this code of ethics, then
the add has just pulled. The influencer has to delete their post, but there's no onus on the influencer to ensure that that post meets the standards, which I found really interesting. In light of Kendall Jenner getting sued for her involvement in advertising the Fire Festival, it seems like the Australian law is a lot more lenient on influencers than it is in say the UK and America, where we have seen an influx of influence advertising alcohol during
COVID nineteen Kate, how has alcohol marketing changed since the pandemic. Well, just like a lot of other industries, the alcohol industry has had to pivot their marketing to reflect social distancing and self isolation. So many have taken this opportunity to capitalize on people staying at home by promoting their contact less home deliveries, which is raising a lot of issues because that means that people don't have to show ID.
So you can be a kid and you can go in order from BWUS alcohol and then the alcohol has just dropped at your door. The delivery person doesn't have to see who's getting the alcohol.
So it's a bit of a worry what you don't even have to put in your ID.
Well, you could literally take your parents' ID, put the details in at the checkout and then it's just dropped off at the door. I think the other thing that is worrying is a lot of brand seem to be promoting stockpiling and heavy consumption of alcohol during this time as well. I mean, you look at Thirsty Camel and they were made to remove a Facebook post because it joked about customers stockpiling their goods as opposed to toilet paper,
and they were made to remove this post. But it does come into question whether brands can actually use humor or memes to convey a particular message during this time. Yeah. Well, I think with the Thirsty Camel example, they had a complaint made and their response was, well, it was in humor and it was in good fun, but it actually had to be taken down because it did breach the
code of ethics. And I think it's interesting to note that obviously during the pandemic a lot of bars and clubs have been closed, and that has meant that alcohol consumption in bottle shops in the last week of March actually rose eighty six percent compared to the year before. Well, I've had heaps of friends who say that they can't believe how often they've now been to b ws's or you drive through alcohol places since the pandemic. Well, it's fairly obvious because I've seen a lot of my own
friends and people I know that are drinking more. And I think it's because when you're working at home, there's no differentiation between the weekend and a week night.
It just seems like a lot.
Of people are awarding themselves with alcohol, which is their choice. But I suppose it does trickle down into people that are at home with kids and that becoming a normalized thing to do.
Well.
I have seen a lot of posts that are sort of promoting alcohol as a relaxant. So, whether it's just mums who are saying, oh, I'm having a wine tonight because basically the kids are home from school when they're driving me mental, but there are apparently laws around promoting alcohol as a relaxant.
Yeah.
Yeah.
One of the codes says that that you must not suggest the consumption of alcohol may create or contribute to a significant change in mood or environment, or suggests that it offers any therapeutic benefits. And I think that what has landed a lot of alcohol brands in hot water at the moment, because that seems to be their key marketing strategy. A lot have also started offering care packages as well. I think in terms of promoting alcohol as a relaxant, I think BWS as Good wines Chat has
really done that. So they've got comedian Celeste Barber as the face of their campaign, and obviously everyone loves Celest and she's Hilens and she is in isolation and the first part of the campaign is she's got like a towel on her head, she's got a robe on, and she's got you know, like the little eyemasks that you see everyone in isolation wearing, and she is rewarding herself with a glass of champagne.
Oh my god.
I was actually shocked when I saw one of her recent videos because it showed her it sort of implied that she just got out of bed and then the BWS had dropped off some drinks to her doorstep, and then she pops open the champagne and I think it was a wine, sorry, and she starts drinking it in the morning, and I would assume that that's almost promoting binge drinking in a way. I just felt kind of uncomfortable about how it.
Was all right.
Well, I think looking closer at bws's campaign, I think they have been quite ethical in the influences they have used, because a lot of them are a bit of a slightly older demographic. You know, you've got Georgia Love who's in her thirties, Olivia Rodgers who's late twenties, and also
Celeste Barbara, as you said, who's in her forties. And they've also required all of the influencers to write hashtag ad which legally isn't required of them, but is an ethical step in making sure that young people don't think that this is just what they do it. They're actually
getting paid for this. The thing is, while they're being ethical around it, do you guys actually feel a little bit uncomfortable when you do see alcohol being advertised on say podcasts or in your Instagram fee Because I'm finding it a little bit sort of I don't.
Know if I like it.
Well, it's really ramped up, and that is due to the pandemic because while a lot of brands marketing budgets have dropped off, obviously, the alcohol industry is booming because people are ordering more alcohol online and at the bottle shop, so they have marketing budget to push onto influencers. So maybe an influencer who maybe didn't want to advertise alcohol before is actually thinking, well, I might actually have to
because all my other brand deals have dropped off. Well, I've seen a crazy stat that shows that social media brands advertising alcohol have risen by three hundred and fifty percent during the coronavirus pandemic. And there was a little study done on a Friday night and it showed that every thirty five seconds there was a new alcohol brand
advertising something which is pretty scary. Well, I think it's also interesting because a lot of alcohol brands invest a lot of money into festivals that are obviously not happening at the moment, so that means they've got, as we
were saying before, a bigger budget to spend on influencers. Well, on the topic of alcohol promotion and festivals, I didn't realize that so many alcohol companies actually paid for influencers to go to events like Coachella, And also when there are festivals that are sponsored by alcohol companies, I didn't realize as well that they will send photographers down to get sort of sneaky picks of the festival, but they will purposely choose people to pose with cups promoting whatever
brand it is, or bottles or whatever.
I suppose it's a.
Bit like when Canadian Clubs sponsored the Australian Open and they had the Canadian Club Bar and they invited a lot of influencers to attend.
I think with festivals as well, I think we're used.
To seeing clothing brands sending influencers and you don't really look into the deals then that they have with alcohol brand because you just generally think that influencers are going to be drinking at these events. That is true, I mean, playing Devil's Advocate, we kind of seem as if we're demonizing any influencer that does promote alcohol, which I don't
necessarily think is a bad thing. I think what I find a bit iffy though, is the fact that some of the influencers who are being targeted do have a very young and impressionable audience. Well that's based on our own impression, though, because if we don't have access to their analytics, so we really don't know. Like you might think that someone has a young audience, but when you look into it, they may not. But what I would
find interesting is how is the audience looked at. So someone like Michael Finch or Shiny Grimman, who you may think has a young audience, their young audience might all be on YouTube, but their older audience might be on Instagram. I'm wondering if whatever platform that they choose to advertise on, is it just that audience that they look at, Because there are people that are huge on YouTube and Instagram
and Facebook and TikTok. Well TikTok's a big one because obviously TikTok have a massively young audience, so it's just interesting to see. Is it just that one.
Platform that they look at now.
We touched on before that you actually have to be over twenty five in order to promote alcohol on Instagram, But I actually didn't realize that if you have publicized that you have an issue with alcohol, you're actually not meant to be able to promote alcohol either, which kind of opens another can of worms because we have seen Mitchell Orvil recently talk about his issues with alcohol, but he's also then when he's talked about his issues with
alcohol in different podcasts or different interviews, he's then spooked his own alcohol business. Yeah. Well, for those who don't know Mitchell Orval, he has admitted to being an alcoholic and has spoken very openly about his struggles with that and also his struggles with drug addiction. And as you say, it is kind of an awkward situation because he is a recovering alcoholic who runs an alcohol brand, and recently they have got quite inventive and creative with the ways
they're promoting their brand. They're doing a lot of competitions in order to give away their their product, and that does get them into a little bit of trouble because there are rules around promotions of competitions which encourage heavy consumption of alcohol. Yeah, so one of their competitions is a little bit similar to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory finding the Golden Ticket, except you I think it's
using your smartphone. You scan the bottle of wine and if there's a some sort of gremlin or Genie or something I'd like a Pokemon.
Yeah, some sort of character.
Comes out, you win. I also think in terms of the competition, another interesting side of this whole thing with Mitchell is the fact that he's actually only twenty three, and when I was looking through the Instagram page that promotes his alcohol business, his girlfriend Chloe Zepp was obviously
front of the promotion and she's only twenty one. So it is interesting because obviously, as we said, it's a self regulated system and it's based on people making complaints, but I don't think the everyday person would know that that's what the ruling is. So in that scenario, while they're sharing photos of Chloe Zepp, my understanding is both Mitchell and Chloe own the company. So in terms of
people actually getting in trouble. They would probably get in trouble if they are breaching those guidelines because they're the owners, they're not just appearing as influencers. Well that's a really tough one though, because if you are a young influencer, lots of people make up their own brands. It is weird that you can be over eighteen be allowed to own the brand, but yet can't appear in the marketing. Well. Another very problematic campaign that has come up during COVID
nineteen is a US beer company called Bush Beer. I hope I'm pronouncing that right, because I have not drunk a beer in my life for to pronounce Bush beer. It's b usc h, so I assume that's Bush anyway. So they've had a campaign where in order to win three months worth of beer, you have to foster or adopt a dog from a rescue center. Now, how many problematic issues does that bring up? I mean, are we going to have these dogs then having to find a new home once this campaign is over?
Well, what's the issue?
So you can have some competitions, but you can't have others.
I thought it was that you you.
Can't promote a competition where you're sculling alcohol. I'm more saying that this campaign is an issue because people are going to go out and buy a dog and then they are going to probably abandon the dog when they haven't won the competition. Specially if it's an alcoholic that really wants to win our year supply of beer, is it best that we get them to foster a dog. Yeah, I don't know. Well, the rule there is amy that marketers must not encourage the excessive or rapid consumption of alcohol.
So where there are competitions, for instance, like Mitchell Orvil's where they're promoting you to find a golden ticket, that is encouraging you to buy more and more and more beer, so you couldn't do like a neck nomination as an Instagram competition. No, probably not anymore. It is interesting because the whole issue of influencers promoting alcohol is it is really glamorizing alcohol consumption. And I suppose in some way
binge drinking and daily drinking. And if you look at laws surrounding the advertisement of gambling, you're actually not allowed to glamorize gambling. So it'll be interesting to see if there are laws in the future which stop the glamor rization of alcohol. I definitely think there needs to be those rules in place. Well, I think the interesting thing is that we always seem to be a little bit
behind with the influencer industry. As we touched upon earlier, the Australian laws are very different to the UK and American laws and it's sort of reflected in one of the campaigns that has been launched by the Alcohol and Drug Foundation. So recently, off the back of the pandemic, they launched a campaign saying you haven't been drinking alone that was based on kids seeing their parents drinking in lockdown.
The ads centered around kids on stage zoom calls and they were repeating commonly used adult phrases in regards to drinking. So it's quite interesting that there's this big focus on drinking in the home, but not so much on how kids are viewing drinking by influential people on the internet that are readibly coming into their home as well. Well, it's obviously working for alcohol companies because they keep doing it,
so they're obviously seeing a return on their investment. Well, it's also a lot cheaper than paying for a big shoot with five models you can't really track that return on investment, but you get five influencers in we then create their own content.
So if you look at.
The BWS, Olivia Rodgers has gone and take in her own photo of her and her dog on the couch. Georgia Love has filmed her own little video about it. So it's like they don't have to pay for the production of the video. They're getting that influencers audience, so it's probably a lot cheaper than creating a big new
campaign that they film themselves. You know what's scary though, all the ads seem to be targeted at women, and there have been stats recently that showed consumption of alcohol has risen by at least forty percent for young women, and we're seeing more and more young women who are
going out and are binge drinking. I mean, I'm not saying it's not okay for people to enjoy a drink on the weekend, but it is a little bit scary when you can see the alcohol companies specifically targeting young women, not a normalizing I think the thing that is most concerning is that the alcohol is of course a depressant, so in these times, we we're already feeling anxious and
stress that's just going to emphasize these feelings further. And these effects are creating new habits, as you guys were suggesting before, So once we do return to normal, we're going to see more people binge drinking during the week because it's a new habit that they've developed.
Yeah.
I think it's this issue of normalizing it, which was very apparent in choosing someone like Celeste Barber who everyone relates to, and then having her drinking through the day. It's almost an excuse that, well, she's doing it, so.
I can do it as well.
Well. I just think that instead of being bombarded with all of these ads encouraging us to drink, there should be some more education around what alcohol can actually do to us and the negative effects it's having. But do you guys think the onus is on the influencer to actually reject these campaigns? Because I know it is a hard time for influencers, as we were saying, a lot of their income has dropped off because brands can't be
paying for the advertisement they previously had. But do you think a lot of influencers should actually just be.
Saying, no, I'm not going to do these ads.
Well, it's interesting you say that, because I did notice on the weekend Sarah Davidson, who's an influencer, put out a video and she had partnered up with Jacob Creek Wines. And in the video, it showed her in a husband putting together a boozy lunch for her family. But in the caption of the video, she said that she doesn't
really regularly partake in drinking. And I found that odd because for someone who also doesn't drink regularly, I would find it weird to be approached by an alcohol company and then be putting out an ad saying, oh yeah, buy this alcohol when I don't actually drink it.
It kind of took the validity away from the ad. Well, she did it in a clever way though, because she obviously doesn't drink.
That's why she put on the lunch for her family, So it was clever of her to actually promote it in that way rather than her just pretending she was drinking it.
Oh yeah, I think it was one of the better ads.
Well. The thing that didn't really sit well with me was seeing a number of influencers who are mental health advocates promoting alcohol is this kind of self care product, and as I touched on because it is a depressant. Yeah, it just didn't align well with me. It just didn't sit well with me. I get what you're saying, but I think it's a bit unfair because I think even if you are a mental health advocate, you can responsibly
enjoy a drink. So I don't know, but I think if your audience has made up for people following you because you are that advocate, it is a bit troubling.
Do you know what though?
I mean, I look at some of those ads and I see straight through, I'm like, that's an ad.
Well, it would have been.
Nice if people had used the hashtag drink responsibly, which wasn't used in any of the ads. I suppose, moving forward into more normality, it will be really interesting to see how the alcohol companies again pivot and with more of a budget now for influencers, how that's going to move on and look like in the future.
Actually, so sunny.
Let's move on to the pit and peak of the social media week, and the peak for me had to be when Kim Kardashian shared a worksheet her son Saint had made for her for Mother's Day.
Did you guys see this yes, it was bloody hilarious.
So in the sheet, he had to fill out some questions about his mum and included her age, which he put as eleven years old. It also said what she likes to do, the best thing, She cooks her favorite food. It was quite interesting that he noted she likes to leave me alone.
Now, I'm not quite sure if that was insinuating that he's always with his nanny.
Well, I've read a couple of articles about mum shaming during the coronavirus pandemic, and Kim Kardashian has been one who has being shamed a lot. I mean, she got in trouble because she asked her audience what are some fun activities that we can do with kids during this time? And people thought, oh, because you're a mum, you should be able to come up in your own activity. So
I think she has been unfairly criticized during this time. Well, one other thing, I mean, I'm not trying to shame her, but it was funny he put, as you can see, my mum is special because and he wrote, she snuggles me and she buys things for me. Now, I found that quite hilarious considering her wealth and the amount that they I'm assuming they would be spoiled. I thinks that being said, I think it's all in fun. I mean, she probably wouldn't have shared it if he was being genuine.
Do you think the teachers sit there and the kids are like, oh, shah, right this and they're like, yeah, go on, well, moving on to the pit of the week. And I am getting so frustrated because I am literally seeing the I Am Beautiful filter everywhere and it's really annoying me. So for those who aren't familiar with the filter, it is one way you kind of end up looking like an alien, so your nose is really thinned out, then you've got really big lips, and I think it
also enlarges your eyes. Now, bet Judd has been guilty of using this filter quite a lot, and I usually watch her stories and I'm kind of thinking why she looks so different, and then there's that light bulb moment
where I'm like, oh, she's using that filter. The thing that sounds a bit contradictory is calling it I AM Beautiful footer, because to me, that sounds like a caption about embracing your own natural beauty, not putting on a filter to make your nose look incredibly thin and your lips look big.
I just feel like.
It's weird for influencers to do it because we obviously know what they look like, and then it's just normalizing them looking a certain way, so then that they then begin face tuning their photos so they look like the
filter they're using on their story. I think Instagram is going to run into a lot of trouble with these new filters because, as you say, there needs to be some regulations because it's promoting plastic surgery for children, because they're getting a look at what they could look like with these enhanced features, and it's not giving them any realistic impression of what other women look like in real life.
Was really contradictory, because I feel like the Instagram stories were brought in to provide a more authentic look into people's lives, and since the introduction of the filters, it's now beginning to have that esthetic across to the Instagram story that we kind of rebelled against on the feed. Mad Mardeling, Bad.
Mardeling.
Now let's get into the reality wrap and after eighteen years and forty seasons, the American Bachelor finally has a black leading man. Now, Kay, can you tell us about Matt James. So, mattters a twenty eight year old real estate broker, and the most interesting thing about his selection is the fact that he hasn't actually yet appeared on The Bachelorette. So he was actually friends of a contestant from Hannah B's season, so people have seen him when she went on the hometown visit because he was a
friend of one of the contestants. And he actually was picked to appear in Claire Crawley's season of The Bachelorette, which is yet to be filmed because it's been pushed back because of the pandemic. So he was announced in her cast, but suddenly he's now been taken off her cast and is the Bachelor. And this is all because of the Bachelor Diversity campaign that was launched a couple of days ago, and in a couple of days it
received over ninety thousand signatures. Wow, that's incredible. I mean, it is amazing that we are going to have our first black bachelor in America. But the thing that is troubling is it does seem like a knee jerk reaction and kind of almost not very genuine by the Bachelor team. Well, the interesting thing is the diversity campaign has actually called for thirteen steps for the ABC and Warner Brothers who
produced The American Bachelor, to combat racism. So the first step was to actually cast at their first black Bachelor. On your view of it being a knee jerk reaction, that's actually what Rachel lindsay, who was the first black female bachelort, That's exactly what she said.
She congratulated Matt.
She said, I'm happy to see that a black man was cast after eighteen years and fourteen seasons. I believe it is a step in the right direction. I would be remiss to not point out that, based on the current climate, it feels like a knee jerk reaction and a result of societal pressure. This announcement, without any further commitments regarding diversity, sweepingly brushes deeper issues under the rug until we see action to address the systematic racism within
the franchise. The casting use today is equivalent to the trend of posting a black box on your social media account without other steps taken to dismantle the systems if injustice. What do you guys think of her comments. Well, it's actually not the first time she's condemned the Bachelor series.
So she's got her own podcast talking about The Bachelor, and she has come out and said it's embarrassing that they haven't had a black Bachelor, and two years ago she actually said that that the Bachelor production team didn't look after her and one of the after the Rose ceremonies and that she was getting baited and harassed on air.
She's also been critical of the casting of The Bachelor before, so she was saying that social media influencers are ruining the Bachelor because they're just picking them as contestants and they're not actually there to find love. So it's quite interesting that she has made so many comments about the Bachelor and Bachelorette which are true. I think it's great because I don't think we would have seen a black Bachelor in the twenty fifth season of The Bachelor if
it hadn't been for Rachel pushing it. Well, it's interesting to look a bit closer to home. And of course in Australia, Blake Garvey was our second Bachelor and he is of course a black man. But what is troubling is despite the fact that he was our second Bachelor. Black people have not been well represented as contestants in the Australian franchise and that's something they too have been heavily criticized for well, and that's exactly what this diversity
campaign petitioner is calling for. So not only did they want a black man cast as the lead, but they also said that black and indigenous people of color should make up thirty five percent of the cast. Now. Bachelor creator Mike Fleece has actually previously blamed the show's lack of diversity on the claim that, for whatever reason, people of color don't come forward to actually be on the show. And I feel like you can't say that, Like it's.
A bit of a how do you prove that? I'm sorry?
When you look at shows like The Bachelor or any other reality show, they do have casting call and people do apply, but most of the time they ignore those calls and they find them.
They find them on Instagram.
So that's ridiculous, exactly right, So why are we not looking at Instagram of people of color and inviting them to be on the show.
It's a bit of a cop out.
Well, despite it being a knee jerk reaction, it is a good reaction and it is a positive step forward. And this guy, he looks incredible. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. Yeah. Well, Matt himself has actually been asked about what he thinks of the decision, and he said he thinks it's a step in the right direction. And he was actually asked about what type of woman he's looking for, and he said,
it's not a black and white thing. So I'm hoping that when the limo pulls up, there's a lot of diversity and I see every type of woman coming out of that limo. So we'll be interesting to see how The Bachelor follows through with that casting process. Well, it's kind of ironic because I watched the show Unreal, which is sort of a fictitious take on The Bachelor. Well, it's actually been produced by a former Bachelor producer, so a lot of people think it's kind of behind the
scenes of what really happens on the show. Yeah, and even in a few of the episodes, they've brought up the issue that there aren't a lot of people of color on those shows, and there was a reoccurring sort of storyline that they needed to have this particular man who was a person of color make a certain week like apparently a person of color had never made it
past week three or something crazy like that. Was not surprising because you do see that they have a couple of black guys on there, but they never seem to actually, as you say, make it through a certain level, and they're never very big.
Parts of the show.
Well, Lindsey, I think she was probably only one woman of color that actually made it to the top four. And I think it has a lot more to do with the percentage of people of color put in as contestants. If they suddenly put in thirty five percent contestants who are of color, we will see a lot more people
of make it further into the show. Yeah. Well, The Bachelor did release a statement on the issue, and they said, we know we have a responsibility to make sure the love stories we're seeing on screen are representative of the world we live in, and we are proudly in service to our audience. This is just the beginning, and we will continue to take action with regard to diversity issues
on this franchise. So fingers crossed that this is the start of a really big change and we will see the Bachelor, ticking off those thirteen points that the Bachelor Diversity campaign has asked for.
If you said to me, Sky, what's two times? What's eight times? Twoe like, I would not even know. I cannot tell you.
Now let's get into our favorite topic of the week, and it is, of course awkward turtle. Now, we thought we'd kick off this discussion by talking about the awkward and kind of eye rolling things that your partner does. That then you're somewhat implicated in Now, Kate, you have a story to share about your ex. Yeah, so my ex boyfriend used to ask me to take photos of him just shirtless to see if he was progressing at
the gym or if he looked quote fat. Now, I think it was more awkward for me because I used to walk in on these little photo shoots. They'd happened downstairs and I just walk into a shirtless They weren't really photo shoots. He literally just stood there and I snapped the photo on his phone. I didn't have any of these photos. And another awkward thing was he was fanatical about practicing his golf swing, which was so annoying.
You'd be at the shops and he'd be practicing that stupid like squat pose and the swing back, and sometimes I'd have to film that and it was just so awkward. It just I didn't want to be involved. It made me feel uncomfortable. This has actually made me think of another awkward thing that my ex used to do. But I wasn't actually implicated in it, but I would be embarrassed because after every meal he would get his napkin and.
Blow his nose. And this would happen obviously at.
Family dinner and one time he blew his nose into a material napkin as well.
That is so disgusting.
It's not a bloody hanky actually, but you kind of are implicated because you're with him, do you know what I mean? It comes across badly on you. What about when my ex boyfriend, I think it was when we used to go to Cottonon to buy stuff and what do.
You mean used to Cottonon's great?
Yeah, I know it's great, but I had somehow got him into cotton and he used to buy like expensive stuff and then he really loved cotton On. And I remember being in the Chaine rooms because they were muni sex and he would like parade out of them, and I'd be in there just like you know, I hate those people that parade around in their outfits in front of the mirror.
It would just be so awkward.
That's very unusual for a boy though, because usually they don't like to try anything, or they'd just be like, yep, that's.
Large as mine. That kind of reminds me.
Do you remember when you were younger and used to go shopping with your mum and then Mum would always make you try on the clothes and like do a little fashion parade for dad. And when you're at home, Yeah, Dad wouldn't give a shit what was going on now, But Dad now does that. So Dad's really got into online shopping, so at family dinner he'll come down and show his purchases.
It's so cute.
Well, if your partner does anything awkward and you're somewhat involved, implicating, implicated in that awkwardness, we'd love it if you could share it in our podcast community, so you can find us that outspoken podcast community on Facebook.
Yes, it would be really nice to hear that other poor people have been implicated in these embarrassing tasks. And that's not just me now, I think that's all we have time for. Thank you so much for joining us for today's episode. If you have enjoyed, it would be great if you could share a screenshot of where you're listening from on your Instagram story and tag us out Outspoken, Underscore, the Underscore Podcast. It would also be great if you could leave us a review. It really helps us get
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