More Than You Think!

In this episode, we discuss how Gen Z's emphasis on ethical consumerism is tied to the ridiculous pop-culture fiasco known as 2019's "Dramageddon."

Sound effects used:

Sound Effect by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/universfield-28281460/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=352766">Official Profile</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/sound-effects//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=352766">Pixabay</a>

Sound Effect by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/playzz-53838214/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=491559">Idris Farah</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=491559">Pixabay</a>

Sound Effect by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/freesound_community-46691455/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=88084">freesound_community</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/sound-effects//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=88084">Pixabay</a>

Sound Effect by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/ribhavagrawal-39286533/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=390899">Ribhav Agrawal</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/sound-effects//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=390899">Pixabay</a>

More Than You Think! is a podcast produced by WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2, student-run radio from NC State University. Like what you hear? Consider supporting it with a gift to the WKNC Enhancement Fund. Visit our podcast page to hear more and follow us on all social media platforms @WKNC881. Thanks for listening.

Creators and Guests

Host
Valerie Gorham
WKNC Podcast Content Creator

What is More Than You Think!?

“More Than You Think!" is a podcast that explores the deeper layers of pop culture, uncovering how today’s trends connect with the political, economic, and social climate shaping our world. Each episode dives into the ways music, media, and cultural moments reflect — and influence — the society we live in. "More Than You Think!" is a podcast produced by WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 at NC State University.

00:01 
Valerie

Hello and welcome back to another episode of more than you think. I am your host, Valerie. Once again, this is a podcast about how political, economic and social events interact with pop culture. And you know what? Let's not beat around the bush. Let's just get straight into this, because last time we talked about what was it, Toys R Us or how Toys R Us is coming back because Gen Z is freaking buying freaking toys. Even though we're pretty much all in our late teens to early 20s now, so pretty much all adults today, we are going to talk also about consumerism, but not toys. We are going to talk about ethical consumerism and the rise of it within the demographic of Gen Z. And how am I going to articulate this? Well, we're going to start with a little something called dramageddon too.

00:55 
Valerie

Yes, anyone who was on YouTube in 2019 might remember by Sister. Bye, sister. The whole James Charles. Freaking James Charles Jeffree star. Tati. Oh my gosh, you did at my birthday dinner. Shane Dawson. Everyone was in it. And here is a little background on that. It starts with a vitamin advertisement. And this is basically the story of how a single vitamin advertisement brought down the biggest makeup empire on the Internet. So let's break this down to set the scene. Back in 2019, James Charles was at the absolute top of the world. He was 18. He was the first male cover girl. He was making millions. And you know, everyone remembers freaking, hey, sister. Like that freaking thing, like, okay. And his mentor was a woman named Tati Westbrook, who we all know. And you did it at my birthday dinner.

01:53
 Valerie

I'm going to say that a million times today. But James Charles was kind of like a son to her. And so this is kind of where it all starts. James Charles posted an Instagram story for Sugar Bear Hair, which is a gummy vitamin brand. But Sugar Bear Hair was the direct competitor to Tati's own supplement company, Halo Beauty. Tati felt betrayed and James Charles tried to apologize, but things behind the scenes were out of control. And Jeffree Star. This is where Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson, aka Shane Yaw come into play. On May 10, 2019, Tati Westbrook dropped the nuclear bomb that is now known as by Sister, a 40 minute YouTube video. And she didn't just talk about vitamins. Tati accused James of using his fame and his influence to do some pretty gruesome and actually very like intensely bad things.

02:58 
Valerie

And everyone at my freaking lunch table was talking about this back in school where they were like, oh, my gosh, did you hear that? James Charles Is a pedophile, and he was preying on young boys. And I was like, well, no, I didn't know about this until you just brought it up to me, like, dang. So who came to back up Tati? Well, Jeffrey Starr. He called James Charles a danger to society. And who else was backing them up? Shane Dawson. Shane yawn. And people on the Internet were shocked. There were people in class. I remember this, watching James Charles, YouTube subscriber count drop by the thousands and then eventually by the millions. He lost over 3 million subscribers in a matter of days, which is like, a historic number on YouTube. Brands that were working with him, they dropped him.

03:59 
Valerie

And many of the other influencers and youtubers that he had been associated with, they stopped associating with him instantly. And for a period of time, right, his career was not looking great. Four days after Tati's bi sister video, James uploads a video called no more lies. Oh, it gets crazy. And he brought text message receipts. He had, like, flight logs. He had what else? Like, timestamp, like, screenshots that just proved that he was not guilty. They disproved the timeline that Tati had put out. And James Charles was like, yeah, I'm young and I'm messy, but I'm not a pedophile, and I'm not a predator. And overnight, people were like, what? What? What did we just do? We just accused this, like, young teenage boy of, like, being a pedophile, and maybe it was all wrong, and we just did this for no reason.

05:03 
Valerie

It's like, whoa, 2020 arrives. You know, everything's sort of settled. The dust has settled. Tati released another video claiming that she had been manipulated and gaslit by jeffree star and Shane Dawson. Shane yaw. I'm going to say Shane yaw every time I say Shane Dawson. By the way, she had been manipulated by these two. And she said that they fed her lies about James, using her frustration to orchestrate his downfall because they were jealous of his success and his explosive growth on the Internet. And they wanted to clear out the competition for their own upcoming makeup launches because. Well, I don't know much about Shane Dawson's makeup line, but you. Everyone knows that jeffree star is, like, authority on makeup. And if you want to know if something is good, you see if it's jeffree star approved. Right, because you were messaging drama channels.

06:04 
Valerie

Oh, sorry. But they did it at her birthday dinner anyways. Now, since then, James Charles has been repeatedly, like, accused of similar stuff. And I personally have him blocked on TikTok. And oh my God, I just want to talk about ethical consumerism. And in the whole context of this specific issue, that whole drama get into. Gen Z was online watching this happen and Gen Z was trying to take sides and Gen Z was like, do we buy from James Charles? Do we buy from, you know, brands that are associated with him? And this has been something that has carried on into our adult life because I think it's really interesting as a marketing student myself, what we are taught daily is that Gen Z is the most active generation when it comes to considering companies ethics before purchasing.

07:08 
Valerie

So if you see like something controversial in the news, then you boycott or if you see that this company is doing something positive, then you buy from them. And that's like something that Gen Z is really big on. And I feel like it all started with freaking by Sister Dramageddon. I know that's not the real source. I know that's a generational thing that has a lot of different reasons why we are that way. But I think that Dramageddon was a very telling situation where people were like, oh, I revel in seeing this unethical man's life be destroyed. And I like, it was something that sort of predicted the generation and how were going to be.

07:53
 Valerie

Another really good example of like a celebrity that has gotten a lot of attention not necessarily because of the actual music that the, that she makes, but because people just really like her. Her ethics is Zara Larson. So a never ending midnight Sun. Okay. Vocals, vocal alert. So basically Zara Larson is woke. She's woke as frick. She made that post that was like, I love immigrants, I love women. Like, and everyone was like, oh, okay, queen. Like, I might stream. And the thing is, she was, as we know, she was in the Kia Asylum. She was ikea. She was a Kia. And has she put out any groundbreaking music stateside? Yes. Midnight Sun a hit. But is she doing anything like musically, is she doing anything that no one's ever done before? No, but. But who cares?

08:55
 Valerie

Because she's just seems like a vibe and an amazing person and a very positive person with a great mindset and a great set of values and that people resonate with, especially women. Most of her fans are women and gays. And that's how she attracted her fan base, by being somebody who appeals to them ethically, morally, with her values. And so a lot of people make the comparison between her and Sydney Sweeney because Sydney Sweeney is also like a very beautiful, like blonde hair, blue eyed chick. But Zara Larson doesn't have a male fan base like the way that Sydney Sweeney does. Sydney Sweeney's fan base is just a bunch of, I don't even know like what to call him. It's just a bunch of like men who like have no life, I think.

09:45 
Valerie

And then Zara Larson is just attracting all of the like deep woke music fans, which, these are the people who are going to bring in the most money because these are the most passionate people who actually support causes and things like that. And that is why Gen Z and you know, ethical consumerism is so important. It's also something that, you know, we learned it in class, in our marketing classes because it's something that we need to keep in mind as marketing professionals. And people who are marketing professionals keep it in mind because they know that if you slip up, you're gonna get, you know, canceled. Cancel culture. That's like a very Gen Z thing is cancel culture. So that's something that people need to be aware of when they are marketing.

10:36
 Valerie

I already talked on this podcast once about, I did a whole episode on the Olivia Rodrigo baby doll dress bloomer freaking shorts. I saw coming from miles away the whole discussion about, oh, she's trying to look like a baby. I knew people were going to say that the second I saw the Drop Dead music video. The second I saw that, I knew. And nobody, apparently nobody saw that coming. And that's a problem. Like a lot of these marketing and publicity teams don't realize that we live in a post woke one society. And I say woke one because woke two will happen. Woke two will happen someday. Woke one 2020. Everyone was, they them, everyone was, you know, questioning every. Like it was a very progressive time. It really was. And it changed the Internet forever. People are woke. We're woker than ever
.
11:31
 Valerie

And marketing teams be mindful of Woke 1 and be mindful of Woke 2 when it happens. Some, some people talk about Woke 1 like it was a mass psychosis and it kind of was cuz it was during lockdown and everyone was going a little bit crazy. But it did change the world, like it really did. And for the better, I think, because it was a little extreme. Yes. But then it died down and it like leveled out and I think it's perfect. But yeah, so dramageddon woke one. Dramageddon two and woke one. And then Zara Larson is here too. These are just three things that are very, they're very telling of who we are as a generation. Gen Z woke one and Millennial. I always mention the millennials are a little bit part of this too.

12:23
 Valerie

Like the younger millennials, they are included sometimes every now and then. But you have your Woke one older or, sorry, younger millennials. And some of the medium millennials. I don't want like the medium millennials. Like I don't know, the ones in the middle. And then, yeah, like a lot of people were affected by Woke 1. Can't wait for Woke 2 to see like what people come up with for that. Gay Halloween is going to be happening this weekend and I think this will be out after Gay Halloween. But next episode we are going to be talking about the Hunger Games because the new movie comes out November 20th. This is not promo. Nobody has paid me. I just love the Hunger Games. Down to the my. From my toes to the top tip of my head. Like I love.

13:14
 Valerie

Oh I love the Hunger Games. Oh, I love the Hunger Games. Hunger Games. Did anyone else play Minecraft Hunger Games as a kid? Shout out to Lifeboat Survival games on Minecraft. Minecraft servers. Okay, so ethical consumerism. I'm about to end the episode. But what was the lesson we learned today? Ethical consumerism is on the rise. The by sister phenomenon was the first sign of ethical consumerism taking over Gen Z. Zara Larson is a big player in like how ethics can boost someone's career even if you don't have the best product to sell. And of course Woke one was a formative point in what is now the peak of ethical consumerism in Gen Z. I could have just said that and just been. Instead I went on about freaking wogua.

14:08 
Valerie

Anyways, we will speak about the Hunger Games next week and how relevant it is and how we might low key be living in it. Okay, slay. You will hear me next episode. And until then, love you. Thank you for listening. Love you. Bye.