Panic World - BONUS: The right-wing pivot of Perfume TikTok

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

Ryan and our producer Grant talk about the recent brush with politics sweeping across an unexpected community—or is it?—PerfumeTok. Full episode can be found at: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's your favorite scent, Ryan Broderick? You know, it's so funny you asked this. I was actually, I was trying on various colognes the other day with somebody, and I didn't like any of their colognes because they were too spicy. Huh. And then I was forced to, for the first time ever articulate what I would like in a scent, and I've sort of come around to this idea that I like soft smells, vanilla's perhaps.

Wow. I also love, not okay wait i need to divide that if it's for my body i prefer a softer smell my favorite smell in the entire world is a wood burning stove yeah in october in massachusetts specifically or new england i guess you could expand that but that is no one can see my face there but uh i'm just saying a wood burning stove on a cold evening yeah my favorite scent of all time wow this episode is going to to appeal to you way more than I thought it was, which is both disappointing and exciting.

Great. I should probably reiterate for the listeners that after the success of our last bonus episode, we're now doing a thing where you are not preparing me in any way for what's about to happen. Zero. Zero. But before we move on to it, I will say about the wood smelling stove thing, there was apparently a fire in some park in New York last week. And I...

Prospect Park. What are you talking about? It's the biggest park of Brooklyn. You live in Brooklyn. I live in the other, yeah, fuck off. But it was really disturbing to be like, to be like, to be. You almost dox yourself. That's what just happened there.

To be like, ooh, like the, the lovely smells of, of, of, of, of campfire. And then realize that like, it's bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's bad. Back to nice smells that are not about the world burning, kind of. Today, we are talking about the world of perfume influencers and why influencers more broadly decide that saying racist things is more important than their bottom line. We're going to get to all that right after some ads. Today, a little bonus.

I'm calling Smells Like Red Spirit. Ryan, do you get the joke? Smells like Red Spirit. You're talking about my girl Dasha? Is that who we're talking about? Almost. I'm Grant Irving, producer of Panic Road, and joining me today, the best-smelling podcast host Smells Like Soft Stuff, Ryan Broderick.

I do like smelling stuff. I don't smell good, usually. but when I do smell nice, it's usually, I smell soft. Hi. Hello. Hi. Do you have any idea where this is going? No, actually.

Hell yeah. Have you ever heard of Scout Dixon West? I have not. Okay. So I know very, very little about perfume talk, but a very good smelling friend of mine told me about this recently, and I think it raises some interesting questions that I want to get your opinion on. So I should say I have met Jeremy Fragrance.

Wow. What was that like? I met him and I smelled him. And I told him what I thought he smelled it like and he said I was wrong. What did you say he smelled like? I said that he smelled a smell. I said that he smelled sort of minty with like a woodsy undertone and kind of spicy. And he was like, hmm, not really correct, is it?

And then he like walked off. Wow. But I was at a conference with him in Germany, and I can't confirm that he is absolutely a right-wing maniac. And so I have a vague idea of where we're... Yeah, yeah, we are. Yes, your deduction skills are great. You just kind of forecasted this. But where I want this conversation to go is about our expectation and standards of influencers

and the moving target of acceptable behavior. So this will feed into your wheelhouse. But to get there first, I'm going to tell you about an influencer. You know nothing about Scout Dixon West. Okay. That's a dog's name, by the way. Those are three dogs names. Hint, it might not be her real name.

It might not be her birth name. That might come into play. But I'm just saying, like, Scott Dixon and West are like three beagles. That's what that sounds like. Okay. So I'm going to send you lots of videos today. Okay. But before I send you any of them, do you want to guess what her birth name is?

Oh, it's probably like trailing or like, like, crazy, like some sort of like Midwestern. All right. So we're going to revisit this. This is a fun game we're going to play because after I send you a video, I want you to say this. Okay. So Scout, a big perfume reviewer. She's over a million TikTok views. I'm not sure when she first started making videos.

but the one that is first on her page is from August of 2023, and I've just put it in the chat. I will say, while I'm booting this up, that I find smell influencers so fascinating because there is no effective way to digitize scent. You can't see it. You can't experience it in any way online. You can look at a food video and be like,

that looks tasty. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there is no ability to judge. sent in any way online. And I've found... Disagrees and... Oh, is this going to be like an ASMR thing? Is that how she did?

Here we go. So you're sad and you don't want to feel better. You don't want platitudes. You don't want to be cheered up. That's great. I'm here to help you feel worse. Oh, this girl's name is Jess. Here's some perthumes to bring a sort of morose vibe.

This is the most just-looking woman I have ever seen. It means orphan. Sort of a foggy, sooty, incensing musk. You get the idea. Yeah. Interesting. Have you ever wanted to smell like an orphan?

I mean, I've never considered it. I'm just very, I'm just, I'm fascinated by her whole deal. Yeah, how would you describe her vibe? Like a millennial pretending to be Gen Z. Does that make sense? Like, it seems very affected

the whole thing feels very faux edgy. Would it surprise you that the video that follows this one was about smelling like a sense that remind you of your deadbeat dad? You know, it's that brand. Yeah, it all feels very like Katie Perry rebrand in a way. And yeah, I mean, like if I'm going to pick, like I would prefer Jeremy fragrance like in his underwear doing pushups and asking to breed women in Miami.

honestly. I feel like if you're going to go perfume, actually, there are normal perfume guys that I've seen on TikTok that seem like fine and normal perfume ladies as well. But like, this just seems very like insufferable, honestly. Yeah. So do you know anything about like this corner where like describing perfumes as like a ballerina tights that have been tossed into the corner? Are you familiar with this world? I get it. It's very thought. I understand, you know, trends are cyclical. And it feels very, do you remember that micro trend a few years ago where like TikTok girlies were making music that had like nursery rhymes inside of it?

Vigely. A, B, C, D, E, F, you know, like that stuff, like edgy nursery rhymes. Sure. You know, one, I trucker on a date, two, a solo, like three, like all that shit. It feels like that, but for perfume descriptions. But hold on, let me look at her actual account here. So she's got... Well, I'm going to, yeah, look at that,

and I'm going to send you a much more recent video and tell me if you think that, like, get a better sense of the brand vibe and if you notice any distinct... Well, I mean, she describes herself as perfume-pilled. So, like, I understand immediately what kind of universe we're in now. She has 147,000 followers. She looks extremely angular.

You know, I can't say if she's had Bougal fat removal, but she's got that kind of look. She looks like a Red Scare girlie. She looks like Anna, I think. Spell 125. I just love this. This is a reference to the negative confession in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. It's a sappy pine with salty, humid, breathy, ambergrie, and sort of hypnotizing frankincense. It's a little bit dank, very enchanted.

It smells like the morning after the big ritual in some dark, damp chambers. It's not for the faint of heart, best suited for necromancers. So the whole thing I think is very funny based on these two videos they've seen because obviously, like, she has gone through some sort of transformation in the last year because the first one was from 2023. And like the most obvious thing that's happening is that like she's trying to degrade her production values and like her snark level to like fit obviously this like, like veer to the right that a lot of influencers are doing right now.

Mm. But she's also still advertising perfume. So like you can't really be like authentic fashy downtown scene cool while also being like here's a perfume. You can buy in a duty free store. So it doesn't. I mean, and I've seen a lot of influencers in different niches starting to do this. Like they're all trying to break down.

Uh, what they're doing to its like most absurd level to like. like look cool and aloof, but she's also the kind of person that still has her management in her email and her bio. So like it doesn't, it's a lot of clashing aesthetics. I think what struck me, so these videos are a year apart. And while there are differences, it just seems exhausting to me to make such a consistent brand of things. You know what I mean?

To have to think of yourself so much as a product that you are selling. I don't think it's an internet thing, though. Like, I think, you know, there's a moment with every cable news guest where they, like, figure out their look. And they become, like, the bow tie guy or, like, the glasses guy. And then, you know. And then you ditch, then you become the open button guy. Yeah, it's a thing that I think if you do enough visual entertainment, a visual content, you realize that you can't change your look all the time because people associate your look with you. I even went through this like years ago when I was doing media training to like be put on talk shows.

And they wanted me to dress like smart Sheldon Cooper. And we had like meetings about like how to pair skinny jeans with a blazer and vans. Because I'd be going on TV like the Today Show on Good Morning America to talk about memes in the early 2010s. So there was like a whole conversation about like finding my look. What's different now is that any person who uses the internet might end up having to go through that. process where before it was like reserved for media professionals. Do you feel like that was right look for you? At the time?

Oh, yeah. Sure. I didn't mind looking like Shelton Cooper. Not a problem. My job was to explain viral dogs to like women watching Good Morning America. And I was fine with that job. But you do have to sort of think about your look. And if I had become very serious about it, I would have probably been more aggressive.

about finding a look, settling on it, and, like, freezing my visual self in time so, like, I was a brand. And this is what everyone on TikTok who wants to take it seriously kind of has to do. It seems exhausting. And I guess at the core of this is, like, the dissonance between the brand you make yourself out to be and what people project onto it. And then the person you are and what happens when those worlds crash. Yeah. What they, like, inevitably do when you are. Like, I'm a guy who always, I'm Guy Ferreri and my hair is always stuck in smashmouth mode.

Right. Guy Fierre is a perfect example of this. He is constantly coming out of a Rockabilly concert to go eat chicken wings. And like everyone knows what it looks like. It's a whole thing. You know, I find that life very boring in a way. I'm somebody who likes, like, drastic haircuts. I enjoy, like, shaving all my beard off every once in a while.

I enjoy that about being alive. But to be a celebrity, like even the coolest celebrities kind of have a look that is in your head of what they look like. And now people on TikTok who are advertising perfumes or whatever from their living room have to have these thoughts, which is very bizarre. The ICP guys really figured it out because all they have to do is take off. If the ICP guys just wore like regular fitting jeans and weren't wearing the makeup, they like they're big. biggest fans couldn't identify them. It's like it's a really brilliant way to divorce the two. That said, I have heard them say that they take off, they take off the human mask to reveal

the true clown paint underneath, which I think is correct. No, I had a friend who toured with him, and apparently they had two separate tour buses, and they didn't party at all, and they just sat in their separate tour buses or read books, and were, like, completely normal dudes. Well, they're very old, and they're very Christian, so I understand how that could have. happen. A lot of people on TikTok just make themselves the brand that they are. But if you're just like making daily videos on TikTok, like that's horror. Like imagine, I don't know, man. Imagine how clean your house would have to stay all the time. What about the piles? All of the various piles

of modern life. You'd have to deal with those every day before you make content. That's why I don't shoot videos in my house. I tried to, I had a bunch of ideas about how we should film the NyQuil chicken. And Ryan told me, I am not allowed over to see how he lives. So I clean my apartment. I'm so it's fine. I'm very proud of you. But yeah, I don't want to like, I don't want to live in a studio.

So on September 13th of 2024, so recently, Scout announced she's launching her own perfume line, which I assume is like the best outcome of somebody in this world. She launched with three cents, each priced at $175. She kind of terrifies me, but I love listening to her describe these things in a way that I don't really understand why, and then I'm going to put in a waterfall of what her scent smelled like. Imagine a smell that perfectly captures the bittersweet nostalgia of youth. Your first sweaty kiss on top of a ferris wheel, smoggy sunsets, taking it all for granted and aching to grow older. It's called Coney Island Baby by Scoutix and West.

Some of my most treasured scent memories involve the trees of my hometown, a historic gold rush town in northern California. I knew I wanted to make a fragrance that smelled just like those memories, and that's what I did with El Dorado. The amount of comments I get from people wanting to smell like, quote-unquote, Catholic church incense is out of control, frankly. And surprising, considering how deviant most of you are, to put it nicely. But lucky for you, I have made a decadent, sensual incense. And it's called Incarnate by Scout Dixon West. What's happened? Is she right wing?

Where are we going with this? So after the election, perfume talk starts looking into who are Trump supporters. I believe the account Lila Anocentis is one. of the first that flagged that scout is MAGA and made a very long video. She pointed out that scout follows Tucker Carlson, other right wing sites, and a lot of pro-Israel stuff, and then the deluge happens. People find out her name is not Sarah, but... Yes. Taylor. Nice. Close. Close. Very close. Yeah, she had liked a video of an Israeli soldiers celebrating Trump's win

while firing rockets. Sure. Cool. Yeah. Of course. They find her Twitter, which isn't a burner, but isn't directly associated with her TikTok, right? And she said a bunch of things like this. And Ryan, I want you to give them a read.

Yeah, because I have thoughts about this, and I want to make sure I have the full picture before I think I want to set. Perfect. That is the way that an outline should work. Let's see here. Yeah. So this is a collection of her tweets.

So she said, Ask my Boomer boyfriend what he wanted to watch last night. And he said Netflix, Hitler. I love him so much. That, to me, though, like there's a lot of Hitler stuff on Netflix.

And boyfriends love Hitler. This is why I think she's such, read multiple of them. Because I think all this is a really interesting division. This was right after the assassination attempt. I have to assume. She wrote, Women shouldn't be in the Secret Service,

and that's a no-brainer. Okay. I'm sort of getting a vibe here. Can everyone who's going to die from COVID just die already so I can go to the movie theater? Let's get this show on the road. That was in February, 2021. And then someone responded to that.

I'll let my parents know to speed it up in the hospital, you asshole. And then she wrote, pull the plug. That's Brad. Just saw a man in a truck ripping a sig with his kids in the backseat. America is healing. She said, I miss toxic masculinity so bad.

Witness greatness today is too much-brained girls asked the bookstore employee if Arkram was like a bad guy or racist or something. Well, that's a long conversation, actually. We've talked about historical contacts. He probably alerted them that the store was not a safe space and that there would be no policing of ideas encouraged my spirit sword. Imagine knowing who Arkrum is, but not knowing who Arkrum is, though.

That's actually kind of wild to me. Oh, and here's, okay, here's some. I do assume that those girls are like 15, though. Sure. Yeah, a lot of 15 girls are like wanting to hear all about Arkrum. I used to have depression and then one day I decided to stop being a little F-sler and she obviously doesn't say F-sler but what it is. Got stuff about fat people in here. I mean, she's just popping off.

This is just someone who, real towny shit, real, real co-worker Twitter vibes coming out off of this account as far as I'm concerned. This is the way like every guy I ever worked with in retail talked. Right. Hold on. I have a question for Google. It's just so not clever. She is from a small town in Northern California. So yes.

This is, I mean, okay, I'm not surprised that someone has created a new name for themselves and is now trying to be like glamorous on TikTok hawking perfume while also talking like a gas station attendant on Twitter. Like I'm just not surprised that that's happening. I am surprised that she has not tried to like more directly link the two personas actually. Like at this point, she looks like a Red Ska girlie. She's using like, you know, not like avatar font in her videos, but she's using serifs, which are like very right wing coded right now as far as I'm concerned.

She has like angular features and long black hair and she could like very easily post like ugly videos of her smoking and saying slurs on TikTok and probably go more viral than she's going right now. So with all that in mind, so so they discover. Did I do the thing that I do the thing that all the guests on our show do that I set us up for the next section here? I'm real and you win. So they find out the shit. She gets dropped from stores. Okay. How do you, what do you, I'm about to send you her response video.

What, what tactic do you think she takes? I think there's like a 40% chance she's vaping in it. I think she's going to be very unapologetic. I don't think she's going to be outwardly right wing, like no MAGA hat probably because like that's gauche. But I do think, I do think there's going to be some sort of like appeal to. to authenticity that this is all tied to. Like, this is, this seems the vibe that she's going for. She's going for like the cerebral fashy girlie,

rather than like wearing a diaper at a Trump rally girl. You are so good at the internet. How is your week going? Not as good as mine. So some people have made assumptions about who I am or my political leanings merely because they like me. where they like my videos or there's at least some small part of me that they resonate with. And that must mean that I automatically fall in line with everything they feel and think and believe.

Not possible. And now the same people have found out that perhaps I don't share their politics. And they found some unhinged jokes that I made. And so they're crafting a whole new set of assumptions and narratives. and they are crafting fictions about my life and who I am. And I'm being called a bigot and a fascist and evil. I am being called a homophobe and a white nationalist, which is breaking news to my Jewish business partner

and all the women that I've had sex with. If you don't know me, you don't know me. I am here to make and share beautiful things. That's all. Okay? Take care. So she named dropped her quote. unquote,

Jewish business partner and referenced all the women that she has sex with. Interesting. And says that she's not a white nationalist. Yes. Okay. When I do it about this show,

apparently it's not okay. We've edited out Ryan mentioning that he's had sex so many times. Yeah. Keep telling you. Every guest, I'm like, what's my body count?

That's my body count. So, I mean, this is definitely interesting. It's exactly kind of what I thought would happen, but she's still not really playing. She's still not really playing the part convincingly, which I think is funny. She calls like those posts edgy jokes. Like, I mean, they are, but they're like bad.

This is always really fascinating to me actually where like there'll be moments, you know, when culture shifts and the center of culture shifts to like a new nucleus. And so I think right now there are a lot. lot of people post-Trump election looking at the downtown scene people and going like oh did like did they actually shift the vibe like are the red scare girls and that band that isn't lcdcd like kids pop LCD sound system the dare the dare like are these people cool now because i have it on good authority that the dare is uh not an insal and is a is a very sweet man i'm sure i just want to put in that caveat i i i will also be i also

I will say he's not dumb and he knows how he got popular. Yeah. And like, the way he got popular was by going to events bankrolled by Peter Thiel and all those other guys allegedly. And so I think I think that there is an impulse when a moment like that happens and the center of culture shifts to want to try it on. Does that make sense? Yes. And so I don't find it super shocking that a scumbag who was doing co-worker tweets in the 2020s, like the early 2020s, was also moonlighting as like a glamour girlie on TikTok and is now realizing maybe she doesn't have to have the, like, Scout Dixon. West is the alter ego that has been like popped.

And so now it seems like she's trying to like reconcile this. And it must be very frustrating to realize that you could have just always been a scumbag. Huh. What I was struck by was like, if I was able to make a good amount of money talking about perfume and also that leads to me being able to sell that perfume. and I had shitty little thoughts that I knew would impact my bottom line, I would just not feel very motivated to put my shitty little thoughts on the internet because I like money more than that. Yeah, but I mean, a lot of these are from before she got big.

So, like, I mean, the majority of these are from, that you showed me in this, in the screenshot are from 2021. The texts are, but there was, there was the like it, you know, she's she since unfollowed many of the accounts, but she was liking, uh, Trump winning stuff and, and IDF stuff, uh, written recently. So this, this actually does tie into like, kind of a bug, boo of mine that I've, I've sort of had kicking around my head for a while, which is, like, does it matter? That's a great question. Uh, Scott's, Taylor's slash Taylor's story is so not unique.

It is actually remarkable how often this happens. And I will love your insights on why the fuck that is. On the other side. Going to the Patreon now. Bye bye. The rest of the conversation is over at patreon.com slash panic road. For $5, you can hear it along with a whole bunch of other stuff we got there. For instance, ad-free episodes, a conversation with a researcher writer Julia Serrano, who documented the rise of the anti-trans moms and equally educational offerings like Ryan cooking to equal chicken.

And if you're a Patreon subscriber, I'm going to see you in the spot a little bit more. Here's what I want you to do. Google Jeepers, Creeper smelling. Our patrons can smell Ryan like the creeper from Jeepers' creepers. But seriously, thank you all for listening. Thank you all for listening. I mean it. I'm going to double emphasize it.

But if you want to smell Ryan in a really invasive way, Patreon.com slash panic world, $5.