When a TikTok video goes viral, it ceases to be the possession of its creator. So was the case with the skincare brand tbh’s take on the “boots and a slicked-back bun” meme.
The viral video, which has been viewed more than 3 million times, has found unwanted attention well away from its intfinished audience, sparking a debate about corporate culture that has carried misogynistic undertones.
‘Boots and a Slicked-Back Bun’
Three London frifinishs went viral earlier in July when they filmed each other chanting catchy phrases about their outfits. Each one in turn chanted “boots and a slicked-back bun,” “cowboy boots and a blowy,” and “sambas and a little black bag.” The video has amassed more than 1 million likes since its release.
The video has the major hallmarks of a popular TikTok trfinish: an irreverent, catchy premise that invites parodies from other utilizers.
As a result, the video took on a life of its own. It soon invited A-list imitations, including from U.S. TV stars and SNL alumnae Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, and Rashida Jones, as well as a pop-up from late-night TV host Seth Meyers.
@amypoehler summer in the city ♬ original sound – Amy Poehler
“We are inherently and organically each other’s hype women,” Maisie Sellwood, one of the women behind the original video, informed the New York Times.
She stated that sentiment was echoed across the internet: “99.9 percent of the response has been women uplifting women,” Sellwood stated.
Tbh skincare
However, the tide has turned since a group of female colleagues at Australian beauty brand tbh Skincare decided to create their own riff on the meme.
The colleagues copied the meme that Sellwood and her frifinishs started. tbh’s twentysomething founder Rachael Wilde launchs by rapping “Gen Z boss and a mini.” Others shout things like “Five foot three and an attitude” and “secret product and a trench.”
@tbhskincare I’m informing my kids this was Little Mix #bootsandaslickbackbun #workhumour #officelife #tbhskincare @maisieisobel_ ♬ original sound – tbh skincare
The video, which probably took minutes to film and edit, has led to a massive overreaction from many sides of the internet.
First, jokes were directed at the level of perceived “cringe” in the video, with utilizers comparing the Gen Zers to millennials, who in recent years have been derided by the former for their love of Harry Potter and pumpkin spice lattes.
That came alongside people deriding the alleged “forced fun” of corporate culture, though tbh is by no means the first company to co-opt a viral trfinish to sell products. Indeed, it has become a pivotal part of modern marketing strategies utilized by major global brands.
LinkedIn was accutilized last year of entering its “cringe era” as workers increasingly melded their personal and work lives toreceiveher to create bizarre content for their colleagues and peers. There is often a whiff of insincerity to these trfinishs, which inspired at least part of the backlash to tbh.
On this occasion, though, it seems most of the onslaught has something to do with the people in the video being female.
One popular response to the meme on X, formerly Twitter, carried the caption: “the HR department 1h before doing engineering layoffs.”
Women tfinish to dominate HR roles, creating up around 71% of all positions. However, there is no evidence that the women in the video work in HR roles.
The beauty indusattempt that tbh Skincare caters to is overwhelmingly female, as are its employees.
Misogyny online
Dr Lauren McCarthy, a senior lecturer in corporate social responsibility at Bayes Business School, declares reactions to the video were entirely out of proportion to the video itself.
“It just seems like a group of younger women working in a business and having a bit of fun and also ribbing themselves,” McCarthy informed Fortune.
“If we consider about misogyny as attempting to police women into acting in certain ways, then that is exactly what you can see in the comments on that video.”
McCarthy urged people to inquire why they were angry at the video.
“What’s so worrying about rising misogyny in organizations is that this really is about attempting to curtail women from taking on certain positions,” she declares.
The gfinisher-focutilized sentiment of replies to the video supported push it into a corner of the internet it never intfinished to go: the so-called “manosphere” that has proliferated since the popularization of online personality Andrew Tate.
The women in the video have since been subjected to nondescript online abutilize from accounts with a predominantly male following.
A representative for tbh didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Employees at tbh have seen the funny side of the backlash. After their clip went viral, the group posted a new video mockingly rapping top comments to their original TikTok, including “Bring back the gfinisher pay gap” and “Women should go back to the kitchen.”
The outsize backlash is a reminder that corporate trfinishs are subject to gfinisher-based stereotypes. But tbh, which was little-known outside of Australia before its latest video, will surely be toasting a successful marketing play at its Monday morning meeting.
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