Everything Is Content - Wicked For Good, Christmas Ads & Ad Fatigue

Episode Date: December 5, 2025

Hey EICrackers, merry Friday...get ready for a magical, festive &... fatigued, episode!First up, Wicked For Good. We all went down the yellow brick road to the cinema to see the sequel. The story picks up after Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) has fled the Emerald City and been branded the "Wicked Witch of the West" by the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). Glinda (Ariana Grande), now "Glinda the Good," struggles with her public role as the Wizard's associate while her friendship with Elphaba is tested. The film focuses on their final journey to see each other with empathy and change Oz "for good". We get into it.Next! We don’t know if you've heard, but Christmas is coming. How do we know this? Because the annual supermarket/high street Christmas adverts have dropped in the UK. High street festive ads have become peak Christmas culture in the UK. For our non-UK listeners, Lena Dunham did a fairly good poke at this in Too Much with the John Lewis Rita Ora playing Santa ad. So this year, we’re going to take a look at some of the big ones that have dropped.And finally... from Christmas Ads to CHRIST, not another ad. In a piece on Substack, Hannah Glenn explores her own fatigue with advertising, in a world where everything and everyone seems to be trying to sell her something. We hope you enjoy as always please do leave a review on your podcast player app, LY, O,R,B xxxThank you so much to Cue for editing this podcast!Beth's been loving: No One Is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood, Oenone's Substack Ruchira's been loving: Wuthering Heights,BroadchurchOenone's been loving: Pluribus, Mother Mary TrailerWicked For Good - box office smash“Wicked: For Good” Is Very, Very BadCrisis At Christmas AppealTop 10 UK Christmas AdsJoel Goldby's Gift GuideNothing Feels Authentic Anymore Because Everything is an Ad, Hannah Glenn Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Beth. I'm Ruchera. And I'm Anoni. And this is Everything is Content, the podcast that dives into the week's biggest and best pop culture stories. Whether it's TikTok sagas, celeb gossip or global politics, we're across it. We're the Yellow Brick Road leading you to the magical world of content.

This week on the podcast, we're discussing Wicked for Good, Christmas adverts and how everything is an ad. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok. at Everything is Content Pod and make sure you hit follow on your podcast player app so you never miss an episode. But first,

what have you both been loving this week? I have two actually, so I don't know if we've mentioned this on the podcast before, but I recently, as in over the weekend when I was in bed, re-read No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood. I can't remember if we've talked about this on the podcast. You've both read it, haven't you?

I haven't. Oh, okay, in my mind? I did it for Book Club like, years ago. In my mind it was Ruchero who'd brought it. Hit me with a synopsis. What's it about? It's from 2021 and it is, it's the first novel of, um, by Patricia Lockwood, who's, I think her memoir was the first to come out. She's a poet and she wrote this memoir called priest daddy, which is non-fiction, obviously, I just said memoir. Loll. My brain's not in it today. Sorry, girls. Um, but it was and still is one of my favorite books. That's priest daddy. She has this like command of language, which is so

like otherworldly. I can't describe it. The things that she can make words and senses do. especially with, no one is talking about this, which is like the weirdest novel, but it makes so much sense. And it's written from the perspective of an unnamed narrator who is via posting heavily in something that she calls the portal, which is like a stand in for the internet and Twitter especially. She gains notoriety and fame and makes into this like real world career where she travels all over the world talking about the portal. She is so internet poisoned, internet adult. And the plot for maybe like the first third of the novel is, her coming in and out of the portal getting very sucked into online discourse and then going to

these places all over the globe to talk about it. It's really stream of consciousness, really like random thoughts, glimpses into the world that she's living in where she's in America and this hateful dictator figure has been elected and people online are so weird and getting their own brains addled by like misinformation and hate. It's just very, very funny at the same time as being like really eerie. And then the plot sort of comes into its own when the narrative sort of narrows towards her sister's pregnancy and the complications with that and the birth of her daughter, the protagonist's niece. And it's very political, but it's very beautiful. It's just like an unbelievable novel, which I can obviously

only read it from the perspective of someone with my own brand of internet poisoning. It was so critically acclaimed, so highly loved. I kind of want to hear from someone that didn't really get all the references and whether they just loved it for its insights or the way it's written, but like it is the most unbelievably written book. It's just so, it's so fantastic. I hope I sold it. I completely forgot about this. I did it for my book club and it must have been like December 20. I remember it was like around a Christmas. No, that's a lie actually. Anyway, a few years ago. And I'd completely forgotten about it until you said it. Also, it's tiny. It's like a pamphlet. It's not very long. But there's so much in it. It is really good.

I really want to reread it. But I do remember it was one of those books where you kind of have to just go with the flow with it and accept you understand what she's saying. Because if you try and figure out what she's saying, it actually could just read like gobbly gook. Oh. Yeah, it is that. It's like some bits, even with the amount of internet that I consume, some bits I was like, whoa, that was, it's very poetic. I was like, okay, that's a little bit strange.

But it's so good on like human behaviour online. And it came out in 2021, but it is still, and I wanted to revisit it to be like, is this, because of the way the internet moves so rapidly, and now we're in this age of AI, which this was just slightly before. I think Sam Altman was hinting at chat GPT in like 2022, but it's still really massively holds up and it's just, it's so good. It is laugh out loud funny,

but then you'll be like, oh my God, my gut has been punched by the very next line. Like, it's the kind of book I read and I'm like, God, I should just give up being a writer. But also I'm like, no, if this is what someone can do with the English language, I must persist. So that is my first one, a little book.

And the second one, it kind of links to that and to today's episode. And so, I know, I don't know if this is going to make you want to curl up and die, but it's actually your substack from this week, which is, and I know if you did this to me, I'd be like, but it's hilarity called, don't be ridiculous, Andrea, everybody wants this. And it's about, this for the listeners, obviously, Anoni, you know what this is about. It's about, like, the shifting, like, tide of the influence of the economy and the online landscape and, like, social media as this tool. It's kind of tool-turned weapon now, basically, against its most devoted users. and it nailed to the wall what I am thinking as a non-influencer but someone whose whole career was born from Twitter and now I can't really make it work for me because I like you, I think I really chafe against the algorithm

and the games it wants me to play and it's like, I don't know, I think it's really, really good and I'm reluctant to say too much because I think it's going to tie into one of our topics today which is about ad fatigue and how the internet is a big advert. But yeah, we will link at the show notes,

but it was just one of those things I read and I was like, fuck yes. And obviously, if you weren't on the podcast, we would immediately be like, we have to cover this. So yeah, thanks for that. I have the tab open. I cannot fucking wait to read this. It looks so fucking good.

You will love. Oh my God, you're so sweet because what I wanted to do is message you both and be like, can you read it and tell me what you think? But that's so beggy. So I just didn't say anything and just wondered because you both liked the Instagram post and I was like, maybe they'll read it. But I'm glad it's something I've always got off my test for ages. So thank you for reading and I'm glad that it chimed true for you.

But also I do want to know, what is Patricia Lockwood up? to right now. I think she's just come out with another novel, which I didn't know. I only, because I googled her to immediately see exactly the same thing. I think a new novel has just come out, but I didn't hear a thing about it, which is quite weird. Maybe she's not online so much. Oh my God.

Well, I need to keep a breast. What should we go to, Richieira, what have you been loving this week? So mine, not particularly contemporary recommendations. I have reread Wuthering Heights accidentally a bit too far ahead of the film dropping in February next year. What I wanted to do was read it because it is a tome. It is so fat and thick and juicy. I wanted to read it just before the film came out. But I was in between books, so I read it way too early. And my God, when I was 17, this was my favourite book and it was my identity. In the same way that the bell jar is some girl's identity when they first read it. Mine was weathering

Heights and I still stand by it. It is such a good book and I'm sorry to be like, guys, did you know Ebly Bronte's really good? But that's what I'm doing. Oh, it's so good. It's such a good. I need to do that because I cannot remember. I think I read Wuthering Heights in like, yes, no, I went to a phase with my best friend where we were reading all those books and we wanted to get long skirts and just walk around fields. But yes, it's a really good plan because I love being abreast of things in the cut. And also I do just have that quite annoying thing where if a book is being adapted, I have to have read the book quite recently so that I can snobbishly say it's nothing like the book when I watch the film.

It's so good. And I have since learnt that Emerald Fennell is only doing the first half of the book in the film. So everyone who is pissed off at her, I'm now in the club. I'm going to be so angry, even though I know this information when the film comes out. But yeah, so if anyone's pissed off, DM me because I need to chat, I need to talk and get it off my chest even more. The second recommendation I have is Broadchurch, which must be like 10 years old at this point. But Netflix have just acquired it and it's on the platform. So I just thought, why not give it a go? And it's so good, especially in the winter seeing this, you know, very picturesque,

British seaside town going through this challenging murder of a local boy. It feels so cozy even though it's so thrilling and so scary. It just weirdly feels like a wintry watch. Have either of you watched this? yeah I watched it when it first came out and weirdly I not on Netflix but I started watching this on I think what had happened I basically paid by accident for ITV premium and I'm like I was so bitter about it so I was like I'm going to watch something and I decided to watch that so I've watched

the first three episodes quite recently and it is I think it's more than 10 years old because the second series which not as good but still worth watching they filmed some of that in my university in Exeter and it was long after I graduated so I think it must be I reckon this is close to 15 than 10 years old but it is It really holds up. It's Olivia Coleman. David Tennant. And who's the Doctor Who that's in it?

Jody. Yes, Jody Whittaker. What a car. It's absolutely smashing. And David Tennant's also Doctor Who. Oh my God. Double Doctor. Yes.

And Jonathan Bailey, a very baby-faced Jonathan Bailey's in it as this like plucky reporter. It's amazing. It's so good. Oh my God. Jonathan Bailey is in everything. Once you know who he is, he's in every single show. So true. I keep thinking this too.

Every time he's on TV, I'm like, oh, so he's literally been acting for like three decades now. It's actually quite nice to see. He really is so worth it. Yeah, because it makes you realize that how long people have actually been doing stuff without us knowing. And then we're like, oh my God, where's he come from? And it's like, baby, he's been there all along. I also got Sir Broadchurch. I never watched it the first time around.

And I have been, it has been shouting at me from my Netflix algorithm. So I have been thinking about adding that on. Emotionally devastating. But yeah, it's great. What have you been loving this week and only? Well, you're both going to kill me because the main thing I've been loving is pluribus. Which we can't recommend. No.

Three weeks in a row. But we've hit the trifecta now. All three of us have spent three weeks recommending it. There's something special, like a loyalty card stamp now. Yeah. Well, what I was excited about was actually I thought I wasn't enjoying it. And I was really pleased. I was like, I'm going to come on.

I'm going to tell those bitches what for. And then I've got to the end. I got to the end of episode, too. And then I was like, oh my God. I don't know why the first episode, I was like, okay the second episode for some reason it wasn't quite doing it for me and I was actually getting a bit bored and then it really kind of turned and got me going and now I'm fully in I think I'm on episode four so that's that we don't need to go in again because we both disgust it

my next thing isn't really a thing but I'm excited because I'm hoping you've both seen it but my next thing is the trailer which I watched yesterday for mother mary which is the new psychological thriller written and directed by david larry starring anne hathaway and macaela cole and Anne Hathaway is a fictional pop star and Michaela Cole is like her estranged, former best friend and costume designer. Have you watched the trailer? It's the one that Charlie Axiax has been working on.

Intrigued to know your thoughts if you have seen it. I haven't seen it. I saw the stills, like the promotional stills drop for this. And I forgot because I remember hearing about this like a year ago or maybe when it just first got announced, completely forgetting about it. And now I'm so pumped. I'm so pumped for this film.

Yeah, it kind of has missed me a little. bit. And then I did, I just saw a tweet today about maybe she'd made a comment about this is like, I'm an LGBTQI legend or something in the film. It was, it was, she was pinpointing, this is gay. And I was like, well, obviously I will be sat. But it's just one of those releases, which Michaela Cole, I love. I feel like I think about Anne Hathaway, weird amounts. I don't know how this hasn't crossed my desk at all. It's okay. It did literally come out yesterday the trailer. So you're not, I think like 23 hours ago. But yeah, because anything, I've been waiting for Michaela Cole's next thing

like with baited breath because she does disappear she does post the most random Instagram posts which I really enjoy but she's always kind of like on a building site in underwear love but I cannot wait for this yeah music from Jack Antonov Charlie XX and FKO Twigs it looks fun there's a lot there's a lot going on I feel in this sort of like

psychothery space people are loving that being psychologically thrilled oh I'm excited wait when is when is this out do we know yet expected to be in theatres in spring 2026. That's soon as well, okay. Something to live for. Yeah. Something to live for.

You could have so little. Because I know you, Beth and Ruchera, I have been changed for good. Do you agree? Yes, no. Tell me in a minute. So Wicked for Good or Wicked Part 2 is out in cinemas now.

We've all been to see it and I'm actually really looking forward to discussing it. the story picks up after Alphabur has fled Emerald City and been branded The Wicked Witch of the West by The Wizard and Madame Morrible. And Glinda, now Glinda the Good, struggles with her public role as the Wizards Associate while her friendship with Alphabet is tested. And the film focuses on the final journey to see each other with empathy and change

Oz for good. I once again, like I did last time, went with my school friend and friend of the podcast, Livy Petter, which I do think adds an element of magic just being with someone that you've known for that long who knew the songs when you're younger and also as a side note we went to the electric cinema in notting hill and i need to recommend that you go to that cinema because it is so bougie and so nice that being said there were lots of parents obviously because it's kids film with their children and there's a really nice loo that's next to the screen and when i sat down i thought oh that's so helpful that there's a toilet there because if i really need to wee it's really easy

to go it's actually not good because there was a toddler upon toddler upon toddler heading to that Lou throughout the film and the mums were just whispering sorry oh sorry sorry sorry and I was sitting there like actually just if they weren't apologize anyway go to cinema but just see an adult film so wicked for good has already racked up nearly 270 million in the US alone according to box office mojo which means that it might even have a bigger hit than 24's wicked which is kind of wild because the film has had some criticisms or people are slightly less enamoured with this movie mostly because all of the big bangers are in the first half and not a lot happens in the second

and people are still quite cross about the colour grading which I think we discussed last time even though I think it's definitely more vibrant it's not technical enough for some there is still enduring conversation and speculation around Cynthia and Ariana's emotional relationship as well as a lot of noise about the whole cast thinness and there's some people who feel shortchanged by the fact

that this wouldn't lead seamlessly on to the Wizard of Oz, which sparked quite a fun debate on X about whether or not Wicked could ever exist in the canon of the Wizard of Oz and the resounding answer was no, but the Wizard of Oz does exist in the canon of Wicked. Right, so with all of that out of the way, please give me your thoughts.

On A, if you've been changed for good through meeting me, and B, the film. Absolutely on A. Secret B that I'm interjecting on is the electric cinema point you made. I have wanted to go to that cinema for years and years and years, but I feel like they only put on really specific films and they tend to be quite family-friendly films, I think.

So I've never been... That's the cinema where they basically have beds, I think. It's really famous on TikTok because it is just a bed. You basically are horizontal while you watch the film, which is crazy and so cool. And then C to answer the actual question about this whole thing. I liked this film. Before I went in, I saw all of the kind of three...

star, two-star, negative conversation around it. I liked it. I enjoyed it. I don't know what you want from me. I had a good fucking time. The first one was definitely better. It was a better film overall. But when you have a second rounding up of the story, that's what you're going to get.

You're going to get the rounding up. And I didn't think it was bad. I thought the relationship between Elfa and Belinda was really powerful. I felt so moved by them two. And Jonathan Bailey and Elphabar's kind of arc coming through the romantic storyline, you know, the tension between them, they're coming together. I found really poignant and I found really beautiful. And I do think Jonathan Bailey is one of the best romantic leads of our time, to be honest. I think he could honestly find chemistry with a brick wall.

Luckily, Cynthia Arevo is amazing. So them two together. I was just so I was so Romanced by it I was so moved I think even though the storyline isn't as fun as the first half it wasn't as comedic

it was a lot more serious that is just the rounding off of the story and I think it's a lot more dramatic I think it's a lot more kind of emotional for that reason the stakes are much higher

so I enjoyed it what about you Beth yeah I think that kind of merit I did enjoy it I think my cinema experience was probably opposite to yours and only. I went at 2pm on a Monday afternoon, which is jobless behavior, but obviously I am a bit jobless at the moment. So I was like, I'm going to make a bit of a day

for myself. I'm going to go to Popper Winter 2. I'm going to go to the popcorn at 2. I'm going to go to cinema at 2 and get my popcorn, dump like two things of revels in it. I'm going to just treat myself. And there was maybe four other people in this enormous screening room at the cinema. So I was, there was no beds there, but I was kind of like bedded down. Shoes were off. I was tucked up onto my coat again. Not fiddling, if you remember the episode about baby girl. But I got no one was fiddling. But again, I was like tucked up. I was like, I kind of feel like I'm at home. It was really nice, which I do think I will go into cinema. And if people are, even if people are whispering, I am, I'm just, I just make about 25 enemies. So I have to go to these like off peak screenings.

Because otherwise I will have to have a word and it just would have annoyed me. So I had a really nice time, but it may have been the snacks and the setup. I do think, You haven't mentioned the film once, babe. Yeah, I know. I'm really, I'm like, how do I say, no, it was, it was a film. I did enjoy the film. It's, I think going into it, everyone's like, it's just not as good as the first. And I was like, oh, well, why didn't they just make it as good as the first?

But I understand the source material was a bit lacking. Like, you do have those big old numbers in the first one. I enjoyed the songs in the second one, but I wasn't like, oh, that is defined gravity. They weren't as big and belty. But I just think Cynthia Revo is so, she's so talented and so watchable that I did. that was maybe worth whatever the cinema cost like 20 quid

with snacks included I just I think as someone who has no relationship to Wicked beyond these films I was like yeah that's wrapped it up

that's fine but speaking to Wicked Stans I can see why there is a bit of like this was kind of bloated this was a bit weird what I want to talk about at some point

probably in this episode with you too is the fact that I think it felt a little bit fluffy like the fascism of it was quite fluffy and I sort of thought

I know this is a kid's film, but I sort of thought like I was being a bit shortchanged on the wrapping up of like how fascist Oz was because that's sort of, I thought that was sort of the meat of the film. And you don't really get too much more on that. I don't know. I think maybe I feel fine about it, but I can see why Wicked Stans are a little bit like glum about this. And also, yes, I have been changed for good by both of you. Love you, but love you. Well, first of all, I perfected my snack because I was not paying. for snacks, electric cinema. I paid for the ticket, which I think was 15 pounds, and I was not going to give that establishment any more of my money. So I went to Tesco's and I bought

sweet and salty popcorn and then I bought a bag of wine gums, the mini ones, what they called fruit gums, and I tipped them into the sweet and salty popcorn. And oh my God, was it a delight to behold, it was perfect and it went on forever. So that's the first thing. Second thing, I'm Camperaturea. I absolutely loved the film, which I wasn't expecting to do. Farr's point of that for me is I do love magical world building so actually I think I probably could have sat in the cinema for six hours just watching Oz

I love the world but the state what's it called the set design that they'd done and the fact that they built all of that I just think it's so beautiful I actually thought because Ariana is getting quite a lot of heat for her acting I thought she was genuinely incredible when you watch her perform

as a singer she's such a different person from who she is as Glinda which is more than could be said from some of the most famous actors who are often being themselves as a character who was shaped around who they are in real life. Anyway, also thought Cynthia was amazing. I remember at the time watching the film and thinking, I think I even turned to Livy at one point and said something about the fact that they weren't making enough of the fascism. And I know it's a kid's film, but I certainly think the kind of texts and movies that we were Feber when we were younger didn't shy away

from really following through on whatever the moral fable storytelling thing was. So I do agree on that point. The thing that annoyed me a tiny bit was, which just kind of goes back into that story about whether or not this would fit in the Wizard of Oz. But I got so frustrated when Dorothy just arrived with the tin man and the scarecrow and the lion. And we hadn't really seen how they'd come to be. And there was also very little of Jonathan Bailey's character as the scarecrow. There was bits where I didn't feel it was bloated. I almost felt like there was actually bits missing and another thing that I saw that was like a criticism was there are flashback scenes within the second film that we never actually saw in the first film but they filmed it all in

one go so I imagine that they could have been in the first film so I think there was like a tiny bit of like a continuity thing and the other thing that I loved was I couldn't get over the outfits like Ariana's wedding dress or Glinda's wedding dress and she puts that beautiful like pink chiffon little nighty thing over the top I am such a child in that way like sparkly things pink green stuff that looks like sweets like buildings that look like they're made up a masterpiece of candy i am i'm kind of all in and i do love all of the music so i was a suck of this film and i thought it was really quite gorgeous but the color great like it is still a little bit washed out i guess that is the style of the film i saw on twitter it was like one of

those joke headlines about um it was like john m chu forgot to color gray the film my bad he said or I forgot he said and he replied being like this is not true he got caught in the trap of like an onion headline but it is still like the enduring criticism and I saw um justin chang for the new or i think in the past i've called him justine chang like writing so good i thought it was a woman so apologies justin justin chang wrote um why is everything this movie for all it's lavishly gilded emerald studded set design either too dim or too bright so blindingly backlit the oz seems to be under perpetual thermonuclear attack or so murky that you could scarcely tell a monkey from a munchkin And I do think that took me out of it a bit because I was like, it does look a bit dishwater.

It does look a bit washed out. But I wonder whether that is just having seen so much of the first film, which is like blind you with the technicolor, which I know that we can't do anymore. I don't know. I just thought brighten it up a little bit, my love. Yeah, I do get that. And I also think it still really looks like AI slop, the design of Oz and Shiz. And it, what is it about it? It's almost like this hyper-realness to it.

And I feel like lots of films look like this, like the set of Wonka look like this, I feel like having seen the stills. It's this like lurid hyper-real quality that makes it look as if, you know, those AI constructed videos of cats like whisking eggs and stuff like that. It gives that kind of quality. And I'm really not loving that aesthetic being quite dominant in film. And I mean, we see enough of it on social media. It's hideous.

So I don't know. I just, I wish it didn't look like that, but I do really get that criticism. Have you also seen all the chat about the sex cardigan? Yes. Oh my God. I long for that cardigan. I know. When I saw it on screen, I also was in the cinema full of families. I really wanted to turn around and be like, that's the sex cardigan. Do you know about that? But I couldn't, annoyingly. And it's so funny. It made me laugh so much. she wears the cardigan for so long she like drapes it under her shoulder

when it's meant to be like they're about to have sexy time and then she like pulls it back on it's like such a dominant feature of the sexy time scene I thought people were taking the piss but it really it steals the show it's so funny because if people hadn't been talking about it

I really wouldn't have done a double take like someone messaged did someone tweet to something about this like that is what sexy time is that you kind of get into your snuggling comfy clothes you've taken all your makeup off and then it happens there's actually this is such a tangent but I actually really want to talk about it sorry to change subject but have you seen the woman that has done this like 50 tweet strong thread about like the

horrors of wearing nude underwear and it's like sparked this whole debate have you seen this no what is that not even a second have I seen this so basically she's like talking about how it's actually like a crime to her underwear that is beige she's so horrified by it so disgusted by it that she can't believe that women do it anyway it's then birthed this new conversation which is actually kind of tangentially related to this and what I just said which is that Netflix and Chill has made our generation forget the promise of lingerie and like erotica and kind of like creating the scene for sex because what we do is the thing that I just said which is like you kind of get cozy, you stripped off and in front of your partner you are

this sort of like goblin fleshy vessel covered in trackies which I think is nice and then it also this is coming from a really kind of quite anti-women angle but at the same time I did think it was quite an interesting observation and maybe we should talk about it for another day but anyway well i'll link that thread in the in the show notes and maybe we can get into another time but the sex cardigan it did make me laugh but i didn't find it as egregious as some people some people it was like the main thing they took away from the film yeah the thing i found interesting was that's um that's a thick knit it's not a thin you know um willowy thing draped around the shoulder that's a thick knit you could wear that out with no coat and scarf i

think. Where she got that as well? Because she's in the woods. There's not like a uniclo or a gap. That is so funny. He said that because I didn't think that about the cardigan. I was like it makes complete sense. She's living in a bird's nest in a tree. Like I can understand how she could have cobbled together potentially knitted herself from like rabbit fur that she'd found on the floor. What I didn't understand was she did seem to have I think different outfits at points. And I was like, is she going to dressmaker to get new like outfit? Because Glinda obviously has probably like seamstresses on hand unless she can magic the up she's a witch she is a witch that's quite fundamental she that is a witch so one thing which

i do think we have to talk about is madame morrible flip it around wicked witch um because people have been really really nasty to michelle yo for not being able to sing like obviously she knows she can't sing she almost didn't take the role because she can't sing and it's a choice much higher than her to include her singing i think mostly unaltered she has not got a good singing voice i think that's fine i didn't I can understand, like, going to a musical and you're like, good singing as part of this. But everyone I've spoken to, normal people have been like, well, she can't really, it's not the point that she's a great singer and actually on stage. It's never been, like, you had Miriam Margulies was, she's not vocalist.

She was mademarable. People have been so, so nasty to the point saying that she's so bad in this film that they should take her Oscar back, which I think is just like, touch grass. What did you both think? That's so funny. I'm an abnormal person because I, at the end of the film, you just reminded me that my biggest gripe, I turned to Livy and I was like, they should have auto-suoned her, or they should have like just dubbed in someone else's voice because it's the opening scene and it's her singing and it's such a it's a really interesting choice I think because I think they wanted to keep the integrity of making it feel like it's a play like I don't know if you've seen some of the behind the scenes things but Ariana literally kind of like runs behind a stage does a quick change and comes back on to set so I don't know if they were all of it was them singing live and so they wanted to keep that to it but I actually do think that it does set you off slightly on the wrong foot.

remember now that you brought it up that I did have qualms. People were saying this with the first film as well and I think I think you're right and only I think it's because with this one because she's the opening and throws you back into the scene. It's a huge ask for that first song not to be close to great and perfect. I think that's the thing that made this even more heightened and maybe not hitting those high notes literally and figuratively because in the first film I remember that still being the discourse point but that honestly I didn't really even notice it in the first film I

picked it up but it didn't bother me because it's sandwiched with so many other big belters and it really doesn't impact the film but I do I do think I did notice it a lot more this time around honestly I think people saying she needs to lose her Oscar need to get a fucking life that is that is too much I do think the musical stands I hope they don't come for me but I do think they're quite wild and I do think they're so I think much like all the kind of backlash to weathering heights I think people are so protective of things that have been in the ether

for years and years and years and they have seen so many iterations of it they have their favourites they have their worst with something like this there's obviously can be so many thoughts on like what went wrong what went great and I think it's I don't know I think that's quite an intense reaction sorry yeah I think because I think she's

perfect as Madam Morrible I think she's so good it just I think it was her opening her singing I I'm gonna sit on the fence I'm gonna let it poke up my bum oh um also the one thing that i did really want to ask you about is i really liked the more kind of lesbian arc between glinda and elphaba poking through sorry to do poking through again in this i know it's poke me up the bum all sorts and they spoke about it as well i think they've said in interviews that they believe that there is something between the two characters

and I'm not a huge, you know, wicked aficionado. I don't know much about the worlds, but I really liked that that was coming through and shining through because that makes so much sense to me. It makes sense that they have this very, you know, spilling over kind of dynamic between them, and it's not really clear. Is it romantic love?

Is it platonic love? Is it all of those two? Is it more? And then the Jonathan Bailey of it all character, Fierro, confusing that dynamic too. I think that makes sense to me. did you think? I'm holding space for Alphabet and Glinda to be bisexual. Same. Yeah, it's not a wild reading, is it? I think when people are like, you can't have a queer reading of everything.

One, you absolutely can. And two, they are absolutely obsessed with each other. There is like sexual jealousy, there is tension, there is like a soulmate vibe going on. I think it would be foolish not to think about the scissoring of it all. But again, it's a kid's film. I would say the thing that I just couldn't look away from was how tiny Ariana looked and the corseted dresses and it felt like it was really accentuated in the costume and I actually watching it felt quite alarmed by that but I don't even know if we should talk about that. We did talk about this a little bit last year and I think I'm reticent to get into it because actually the discourse this time has been a lot less kind. I mean there are a lot of people genuinely concerned and having really interesting

worthy conversations about like what do we do when people are getting this small? What do you do when someone in your life suddenly does become very, very small and very, very slight? But like I've been seeing, and maybe this is hand in hand with how horrible people are being to Cynthia Reva, especially after Ariana Grande got kind of rushed on the red carpet and she protected her, which is just like, she did a fantastic thing. And then she is getting so much hate people are making out that she is, you know, drawing cartoons where she's very masculine, masculine.

and being very, very racist about it. And I think the conversations about the bodies in this film and the cast and rumors of an onset eating disorder have also been like a lot less generous this time around. And it's so hard to not want to feed into that at the same time as I think there is a way. I think people can talk about and people probably do have to talk about food and dieting and body images at this point in history because people are getting very small and thin is very is back in in a big way. and the famous people, like famous people are where people look to for that kind of inspiration. Again, it's really depressing. But I'm just, I'm seeing it hand in hand with so much, like, racism and dehumanizing of the women. But I have to say, I did, watching the film.

I did. It was very difficult not to be alarmed. And I say that just as someone who, just knowing people who have suffered from eating disorders, knowing a certain body sometimes does, like, spark alarm, it's really, it's been really hard to separate it. And I still, I think we talked about this last year. and we were like, we don't really know how to have this conversation, but we feel like we have to, like, not us three specifically, but just like in society.

And I still just don't know how to have it. If you've watched Wicked, if you're a Wicked Stand, we welcome your DMs. We especially want to know what you think about the sex cardigan, of course. So I don't know if you've heard, but Christmas is coming. And the reason we know this is because the annual supermarket, High Street Christmas adverts have all dropped in the UK. For our non-UK listeners, the High Street festive ads have become peak Christmas culture in the UK.

Lena Dunham did a really good poke at this in too much with the John Lewis Rita Orra playing Santa ad. This year, we're going to take a look at some of the big ones that have dropped. And the main one that I want to discuss, which has had quite a bit of discourse around it, is the John Lewis advert. I would say they went quite hard this year emotionally. You get a teenage sound with headphones looking dejected and lonely. glancing at his dad on Christmas Day, we believe. He starts to walk away from the Christmas scene and his dad opens up a present from him is the vinyl of Where Love Lies by Alison Limerick. Suddenly the dad's in a rave and the scene becomes literally like a scene, I think, from afterson,

where he sees his son across the room, suddenly it's just the two of them, his son turns into a baby and the dad is cradling him. We're then thrown back to present day and he embraces his son who breaks into a smile and they both start to dance with each other. the tagline is if you can't find the words find the gift so before i even had read any discourse points i looked to the youtube comments and i was really moved actually there was so many dads and men talking about how this advert made them feel i'm going to read a few of them one of them was i'm a 51 year old dad with a 19 year old son i've watched this five times now cried every single time the other one that i picked out was i'm not sure you realize just how

important this advert is for men right now, both young and old. The entire team responsible for this deserve a serious Christmas bonus. Congratulations, John Lewis and a very merry Christmas. So I know both of you have watched the advert. I was wondering, what did you think about it? It's definitely a lot fluffier than the Christmas ads that we've seen in years before. Did it hit you emotionally? What did you think about it? Right. I feel like such a cow, but my entry point to seeing this advert was a comedian that Laura Smyth on Instagram, talking over. it basically saying that this advert is basically about a dad who loves popping pills more than loves hanging out with his kids. He's been like a really absent dad. And so then one of the kids

is trying to get into talk to him and make him remember that, you know, they're there as well. I don't know. It was something really funny. It was a really funny take. And then I just have not been able to tap into whatever the emotional language that it's clearly conveying. And I've listened to podcasts with people who are parents on it who are all finding this really emotional. But even I think without that comedy take, All of the adverts, all that I can think is it's so bleak. There's this obsession with like hyperrealism, even to go back to the color grading

and the stuff we're talking about with Wicked, there is this seeming want to make everything like, we know life shit, but that's just life. And it's like, can we not have a bit of joie de vivre? Like a bit of technicolor, some sparkles, something that looks fantastical. Like sell me the American dream again because I really, I know it's shit out here,

but it clearly does work. I am just like brands it's such a branding thing I'm god this whole episode's going to be about this but it's way too much like I'm just like you guys hey cool kids is the sense I get from all of them personally what about you bear yeah I think the same I what I've realized I look for in adverse I think Tesca did this really really well which is like a bit of realism of like Christmas is kind of about arguing and like awkward moments and a bit of a fath and like the test going's quite good because it's kind of like a family trying to take a one nice photo before the kids go crazy and people arguing with the board games and I think it was quite funny and I

I realized that's what I look for. This is a kind of realism that's like someone has sat down and tried to make me have feelings and I am really resistant to that. I will say I do quite like that it is has this focus on fathers and sons masculinity. We do need to bridge those gaps and we do need to be talking about. Adolescent men especially and like their fathers, the emotional oppression, the way, the inroads to feeling like we can have feelings, we can be friends. And I think there's something there, but it did feel a little bit nothing burger because maybe in the past, there have been a bit more whimsy in the old John Lewis. And I, I think I'm also a little bit irony-pilled in that I now probably will not be able to watch it without thinking, that man

just wants to be at the rave. And I had it with, I remember a few years ago, there was one where a little girl had a telescope and she was looking at the man on the moon and everyone was like wow that's so sweet and then a few people were like why did they put that man on the moon he must have done a pretty serious crime and now I'm like oh the pervert on the moon so I think something's broken inside me that I was not I was a bit moved by this but I think mostly I was moved by a bit because it kind of felt like after sun but yeah that's what I think I think I'm maybe a bit of broken person because I was kind of like okay what's next yes I do wonder if if you are viewing Christmas ads with the eyes of the pervert on the moon. I do wonder if any ad will touch

your soul. Yeah, this is a me problem for sure. But I do actually agree with you both. I was feeling quite sad in my tummy when I was watching this advert and it just made me feel kind of upset. And I think on the barometer of an advert that's trying to get you in the feels but wraps up nicely and makes you feel like the world is okay, this missed the mark for me a bit. It just made me feel like the world is not okay. Families can't talk properly. Fathers need gifts to understand their son. And like that's not, I don't know, I wasn't feeling like, I wasn't really feeling the emotional depth of if you can't say the words, maybe a gift can. That just made me feel quite bad. Surely words should be better than gifts. Yeah. Have you both seen the Waitrose advert,

which is the mini rom-com with Joe Wilkinson and Kira Knightley? For me, that's hit every metric that I need from a Christmas advert, which is romanticism, fantasy, Christmas being this, you know, the best time of the year, also not making me feel like I'm expressly being sold to and it's not capitalist directly, even though it is fully capitalist. Yeah, I actually did really enjoy that. And I'm finding interesting, Beth, that you said you like the Tesco one because I found that again. I was like, oh my God, we know it's dreary. And I found even like the beat of it was so slow. I really loved, I did love the Waitrose one even though Kira Knightley is in my bad books because of that very odd video of her talking about J.K. Rowling, which I actually can like hear it on a loop in my head.

But other than that, I thought it was like capturing the essence of something. I think we're too like in the thing. We're going to come on to this in the next segment. But it's like at least add a bit of pizzazz, a bit of sparkle. It's everything The color grading thing Such a good point Because did you see I'm just sorry

It's such an thing Like I keep thinking about Have you seen the posters Of the old Freaky Friday film Versus like today's Freaky Friday film And like the colours that they are Yeah Everything is this really horrible

Kind of like grey Neutral Bullshit And I think that the I used to love Christmas adverts When I was younger Because it did sell you this magic And I think part of

We kind of need to have that false sense of security that magic is going to happen at Christmas otherwise none of us will turn up. I've had the biggest arguments of my life over Christmas. One Christmas me and my sister fell out so badly we didn't speak for like six months but this year I'm actually really excited

and genuinely optimistic and we've seemed to I think since we've got children there it's fine but it was always kind of the dream that Christmas suddenly would solve all your problems that actually got us to sit around the table because if we'd accepted the truth which is someone's going to have a fight mum every year forgets

to put the Yorkshire puddings on something's going to get burned. We actually sit down to eat probably about 8pm after planning to have a dinner at like two. Everyone's a bit drunk. Someone wants to have a nap. I know that's going to happen but I don't want to be told that it's going to happen by my adverts.

I want my adverts to tell me actually what's going to happen is everyone's going to be so happy. Someone's won the lottery. You've got the best meal you've ever had. You're never going to fight again. You're actually going to resolve some really bad childhood trauma that you never thought would be resolved. If my advert is telling me it's going to be shit,

what is making me want to get involved in it? Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I think there is a line. Like, I really didn't like the boots Christmas advert because it was all about person boots. And as I've expressed, of both for you, I just don't like person boots. I don't know what it is, but he gets on my wick.

And I think there's that kind of fantastical stuff. And you're like, what's the point of this? But then there's sometimes when you're like, oh, that is the warm glow of the pre-AI Coca-Cola ad. There is some element of nostalgia, something that says you can have, for even a second, that little bit of glow, which is what I'm looking for every single year. I'm like, the magic of Christmas is just a feeling of, like, family, safety, warmth.

Yes, chaos, but that is what I'm after. It is not, yeah, maybe there is too much realism about, and I do, I would like a more traditional Christmas ad without the use of AI. Is it too much to ask? So one thing I did want to say, and I meant to mention this last week, but Dunnell basically were doing their delivering joy campaign in stores where you basically go, collect a tag, has like an age of someone and things that they want, and you fulfill that, you buy the stuff and give it back to them and they get it to the person.

I think it might still be going on. Last year it went on into December, but it got really difficult to find tags. So do go and see if you can do that. But something this year that I'm doing instead of that because I'm finding it really difficult to get to a Dunel store and I've left it a little bit late is I saw on, and I've done this before,

but I saw on Joel Golby's gift guide, which will also link it's very, very good. You can donate like a Christmas dinner for people experiencing homelessness via crisis and it's 2950. So I'm going to do that. I'm going to do it actually on behalf of other people like you know difficult to buy people very nice thing to do we'll also link that in the show notes because I think I like when a company and I think a few of the ads like Liddle promoted their toy bank or someone promoted their toy bank

I think that's a really nice way to do it I think a lot of the ads are nodding towards the economic crisis but the point is a lot of people are not having a very merry Christmas so I'm going to get off my soapbox now but if you want to do that as well we'll put the link in the short notes Next up, from Christmas ads to Christ, not another ad. In a piece on Substack, Hannah Glenn explores her own fatigue with advertising in a world where everything and everyone seems to be trying to sell her something. She writes, quote, I have 26,916 unread emails, mostly marketing.

I don't even go on Instagram anymore because it's just sponsored posts. I tried to watch a YouTube video the other day and I had to watch three ads every five minutes. I found out that a lot of run clubs are sponsored, if not started, by sports brands. Pinterest is just one big old ad now. Black Friday somehow lasts for a month and nothing is actually on sale. Every time I open the comment section of a viral video, a major corporation pretending to be as Gen Z intern awaits me. I have an ever-increasing feeling that something is off.

I find myself feeling skeptical, cynical, wary of whatever I encounter, feeling like nothing is authentic or genuine, because someone is always trying to sell. me something. Around every corner and ad lurks, waiting to capitalize off my attention, capitalize off any genuine moment in real life or online. I think I have ad fatigue, end quote. And in the piece, she explores how the internet, which was once the place with platforms she could genuinely use and enjoy and people who seemed genuinely interesting, is now a never-ending shop front and a constant effort to monetise and make a shop. And I think this piece was great and I absolutely have ad fatigue, especially after the endlessness of Black Friday that filled my inbox

with deals that may or may not have been any good and influences with nonstop affiliating and the messaging constantly being, whatever I have is not enough. Do you both, especially off the back of Black Friday, have that same ad fatigue or are you immune slash finding ways to avoid the overwhelm? God, I'm not immune at all from being so far. frustrated by it. So I've said this to you both, but I have my original hotmail, which is the one that I made when I was whatever got my first email, has now become kind of like a dumping ground for things that I've signed up to that I don't even remember signing up for 10% probably like 10 years ago. But also, because it's not my work email, it's the one that I might get my NHS emails

for or like council tax or like things that I really need but that just aren't work. And I cannot find anything because every day I get, I shit you not. hundreds if not thousands of emails from things that I don't even know what they I'm like when have I signed up to this I don't know if there's been like data breaches I'm sure there has been because recently my phone rings all the time or I got these really weird text messages from numbers that aren't they don't say anything they're like hey can we have a quick chat and it turns out it's like indeed or something I get text notifications for discounts of things all the time again things I don't really think that I've ever bought anything from or wanted to buy anything

from and it's so infuriating because it feels like especially someone and I'm well one of the things I'm sure I have ADHD keep missing the email for that because can't fucking find it so as someone with a slightly neurodivergent brain the noise of the amount of adverts clogging up my phone because my phone to me is a bit like I have to clean my flat and tidy my flat in order to be able to concentrate and when my phone is like overwhelmed with stuff I find it quite hard to work on that because I'm conscious that there's like 8000 emails taking my inbox so that was just like one part of it. But Black Friday, I specifically do not let myself, this is a rule I made ages

ago, but not really buy things in the sale unless it's something really crucial, like you need a toaster. So good idea when Black Friday rolls around, buy a toaster. Otherwise, don't look at things in the sale because that is exactly when you overconsume because you're convinced because it's such good value that you should buy it. Then on to the third part of this article, which I'd never really thought about as concisely as she puts it, but it's like, in order to get anywhere, you have to go through ads. So like the fact that you have to watch so many adverts on YouTube videos, the fact that there are ads all over Instagram, there are some ads that I don't mind. I actually don't mind like organically made ads. I love Adam Buxton's

ad in his podcast. I'll never skip those. Some influencer ads are genuinely really good. But the fact that there is no such thing as an ad free world is really unsettling. And it made me realise this is why we must not stop reading books because I realize it's the only time in my life when I'm not interrupted by an advert. I have the exact same thing as you where my hot mail has just become just the worst place for me. It has so many unopened emails because it's at this point impossible to get through them all. Black Friday I was inundated with so much shit. And there are so many brands, I won't name them, but it's wreaking of desperation of trying to get people to buy

because I would get so many emails and a few of them have extended the blackmail. Black Friday deals into this week, the week after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And it's really, it's giving me the ick. It's like that person that you've been on a few dates with, you let them down gently and they're still kind of trying to get you back in. It really reeks of desperation and it's making me feel grossed out by capitalism. So if anything, it's doing the complete opposite effect. It's just making me like recoil back in disgust almost. and I'm definitely not immune from it. I think previous years I've definitely really struggled with feeling almost like

I'm just on the internet and then I'm getting lured into spaces where I'm just like scrolling and scrolling through pages of clothes and adding to basket because I get enthralled by the discounts and then just at the end just realize, oh, I don't actually need this or maybe I do buy something and then I feel bad about it. This year I feel a bit more able to weather it because I just have not opened the emails, haven't gone on the websites, I don't need anything. I'm lucky enough to not need any new things at the minute. There's no reason for me to spend.

The thing I also found quite interesting about this piece is the idea that nothing is creative or original for the sake of it anymore or the perception that that's true and kind of tangentially talking about Christmas adverts. Denise Welch released a song, Slay Bells, and it started going a bit viral, people thought it was really iconic. She's dressed like Charlie XX, the actual song, in my opinion, is awful and should never be played out loud, but that's a

separate issue. But I saw that and I was like, oh, okay, that's kind of funny. You don't really see celebrities doing funny things anymore. And then lo and behold, at the bottom, is a sponsored thing for celebrations. And that's the thing that really pissed me off, actually, because I think we're in a real lack of fun space for the sake of fun. Everything feels like there's a purpose for it to be commercialized in some way. And that makes total sense. Art has to have money behind it these days because no one can afford to do it without there being some kind of sponsorship or patron element to it. That's fucking depressing. But it just, I don't know, it's just internet culture is so boring and so dull. Everything is commercialized. The tube

girl suddenly is at the Balenciaga show. The so demure, so mindful woman is now the Mark Jacobs face for the new handbag. It's all just cyclical. Everything is sponsored. Everything becomes sponsored and nothing feels fun for the sake of just being a funny thing to do anymore and to talk back to you know an episode that we did ages ago I think that's why vine really holds up as this fun part of the internet because it didn't feel like it had the same injection of money shopping or commerce behind it in the same way that everything does now and I'm really feeling fatigued by all of that what about you beth it's it's kind of like that you want a balance of like okay I want this thing to exist and what we know is money makes well

go around and it has to have some sort of corporate sponsor but i i mean i agree with you and i also agree with hannah in the piece that she it's just making her resentful of brands and actually if they if the brand gets it wrong she's like i'm i will actually withhold my attention i'm quite spiteful that way i think if a brand sort of sets my teeth on edge and does something which i think is kind of shady one example being you know those marketing emails that they will send out what looks it's style to be like an internal email that shouldn't have gone to the consumer and it says like this cannot get out but this is the discount and it's no one must ever see this and then they some of them are actually they look quite convincing unless you know you might not know and I think

that should be fully illegal I think it's so I think it should be fraud I think it's so manipulative and I just any brand that has done that is on my shit list forever like I am petty I will actually never shop I will make my life harder I will spend more money rather than shop with a brand that's pissed me off and I think there is that fatigue does lead to a real lack of goodwill towards brands and it's the obviousness of them. I mean, as you know, Ruchera, I love the Denise Welsh song. It injected so much joy into my life.

But there is a moment where you're like, oh, that is kind of disappointing that this wasn't just like a gorgeous camp thing that she did, kind of on the subject. So remember we talked about nobody wants this and I don't think we actually talked about the product placement in that show, which was some of the most egregious product placement

I have ever seen. There's a bit like when Joanne is on the phone to her sister and there's this shot. If I think it's Estee Laude, something like the serum is perfectly lit, there was a time when brands, I think, understood that they have to be a bit crafty and clever in getting that. And it had to make sense, like, you know, James Bond, he has a Rolex. They will mention the Rolex that will show the face.

But of course, he'd have a Rolex. So it doesn't take care out of the action. Nobody wants this. That was mad. And I kicked myself after for not bringing up, but I bring it up now because advertising is so blatant now. It almost feels like they just don't give a shit about. our enjoyment or they think that we're so ad-pilled that we won't mind but I really really

mind and it really pisses me off it's so two things say about the brands that send emails being like oh my god I didn't mean to send you that but you can use the code anyway bestie I'm not your bestie there's another thing that happened to me recently I keep getting them when they're like thank you for your purchase and I'm like what I haven't bought anything from a jury what are you talking about and then I panics I'm not I haven't got any money why am I buying things for majority did I do this in my sleep and then it'll be like oh sorry didn't mean to say that you didn't actually buy anything but if you want to no piss off that's so naughty so i completely agree with you and in the piece when she says something like that i have beef with like a hundred brands

totally agree i was thinking about though what you're saying about with nobody wants this because sometimes i feel like this product placement in stuff and then i just wonder if we just are so product filled in our lives a thing that's so random that i keep seeing on x is people sharing their children that have, is it called hypesthesia, is where they have an incredible memory to recall things after like the first time I'm seeing them. So it'll be like children writing fonts or something in chalk on a pavement, synesthesia, maybe. And one of the things that a lot the children do is they're able to recall like what logos her brands look like. So they'll write like Coca-Cola, Fanta, Microsoft, they do it perfectly. And there's quite a few children

doing this. And then lots of people commenting, isn't it mad how much these children just see these brands so much day-to-day that they're the things that they're kind of recalling? And I do think that products, just like displays of capital things that you own have become so much more of a thing than they were when we were younger, so much so that when they exist in a TV show, I don't even know if it is product placement or if it's just actually representative of the fact that we're kind of more obsessed with stuff and having stuff on display and labels than we ever really were before. And because of social media, there was a trend away from branded items of clothing and things that said things. But there was a really good piece. It was a wheel that I watched. It was about Rode, Haley Beaver's makeup line. And it was saying, one, this is a makeup line.

But actually what it is, it's something to exist in your mirror self. Everything has its name on it. The lipstick goes in the back of your phone because she knows you're going to take a selfie with the lipstick on it. The eye patches say Rode. The brand is a beauty brand, but it's also. designed to be shared and everything now is kind of designed to be shared because in case it gets caught in a picture so more and more things do have visible labeling visible branding on them because it suits the brand because we're constantly taking pictures of ourselves and constantly

taking pictures of our environment and pictures of ourselves in the mirror so branding has become really present from a really clever cynical point of view of brands just knowing that we are taking pictures of what we're wearing of our homes so they have become more present present because of social media as well. So it does feel inescapable. Then I saw this real, which I don't know if you've seen it, but it's a girl who soaks all of her products in the water so she can like peel the labels off because she finds her house less overstimulating, if not everything is branded.

This has become a new thing where people are actually trying to like de-brand their home. So her whole makeup bag basically is just like items. She looks so much nicer. And that's quite an interesting trend as well. I don't know if you've seen that. I haven't seen that. That's so interesting. Part of me wonders if that is something that we should all do or whether that it's far too late because even if I saw Charlotte Tilbury packaging just the gold, I would know it off by heart regardless of the name. Like we are so brand-pilled. We are so ruined by the aesthetics of everything. Also, I think the piece that you mentioned, I read that too. I think it's in dazed and it was a brilliant piece. And it's so true. I always think this about phone cases because, I keep one who scare a new phone case for my phone because the one I have at the moment is gross

and so many of them have the names written on them and it's so blatant that the reason why it's because we've become the advertisers exactly like you said if I take a selfie, a mirror selfie if I take a picture, whatever I'm just the advert for these brands and that is another part to all of this

it's not only that we're being sold to it's exactly like she said in the piece because all of us are self-branding online We have all become the advertisers and the advertising platforms for free. And that just absolutely kills me. It just feels so annoying. I feel like I want to pluck myself out of this whole game, but I don't know how to. It's kind of what the substack that Beth really kindly and Sweetlin had no idea,

just going to do that at the top mention that I wrote, is this is kind of how I feel about it, which is it's actually inescapable now. There was a point where kind of interesting content was sponsored and that was fine because it was just like a means of supporting people to do their creation but now the sponsorship is the thing it is the essence of being online it is everything is about products and even and none of us really realize it whether you're a content creator or not it's like I said this before I think I was saying it when we're talking about the boyfriends are embarrassing piece but when influencers do something they're potentially doing it to get sponsorship but consumers don't necessarily

even recognize that that's why that's happening and they just want to do it as well and all of us basically now exist on these platforms just to advertise for big corporations the only way to get away from that is what we spoke about in our bonus last week which is to start your own brand that's the only way to kind of avoid having to be sponsored by other brands is to then create your own brand the only viable means of survival in this economic situation is to have a product to sell and that is so depressing but I can't actually see a way out and that's why I think think so many of us are probably feeling this right now, but it's also become such a fabric of who we are that I almost can't really remember. I was trying to write in the piece and

think what it was like before and I actually didn't have the language for it. I just know it's so different now that it physically kind of repulses me. The thing that I'm going to read next, which I've heard is brilliant on this, is no logo by Naomi Klein. Apparently it's an amazing synopsis on how we got to with branding because I can't remember when, but historically, you would go to a shop and you would take containers and they would give you butter, milk, whatever the kind of products you need. There would be no sense of, oh, I want Kleenex or I want this named product. And to effectively capitalise to us, brands became ubiquitous. The branding became ubiquitous and that became a dominant culture in and of itself. And I think you're right.

I think somebody could easily write the new iteration of that book because it's just excelled because of internet culture in a way that I think is its own thing now. This is slightly on the topic is there's a rumour that chat GPT are about to roll out like embedded ads. I think someone on X had like looked at the Android version and like looked at the code of it and it seems like they are going to in their responses have adverts for things, which is so dystopian but also just really makes me laugh. Like if you're going to chat GPT to write your essay and copy and paste it in the middle, it's like rice Krispies, the snap, crackle pop or whatever. But it just all feels absolutely disgusting. And it does make you want to pick up a work. As you say, Anoni, that is the one safe place.

I was about to say, and this podcast. But unfortunately, like, we also run on ads. It's like the balance, we don't have it. But God knows we're trying. Thank you so much for listening this week. Before we go, just checking that you've listened to our latest Everything in Conversation episode, where we talk about the controversy of influencer brands. If you enjoy listening, then please do leave us a rating and a review on your podcast

player app. Please also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Everything is Content Pod. See you next week. Bye. Bye.