The Chaser Report - Gatekeep, Girlboss, Poutine

Episode Date: March 9, 2022

Gabbi, Dom, and Aleksa are all united in the studio together to bring you the morning report on all the latest Russian boycotts. Gabbi presents fantastic report exposing the truth behind companies presenting feminist messages on International Women's Day. Plus Rebecca De Unamuno brings you all the latest Chaser headlines. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to The Chaser Report. It is Thursday, 10th of March. I'm Dom Knight. Hello, Gabby Bot, returning from Adelaide. Hey, I made it back alive. And Alex Savulovich was here the whole time. Still right here, unfortunately. So, Gabby, for our South Australian listeners, what did you make of SA? I loved it. I really, really loved it. I've been banned from e-scooters, though.

What did you do? I fell really hard. I was doing so good for, like, the first five days. I was scooting to my gig, scooting back from my gig. I was really crushing it. And I was like, I'm becoming a bit of a speed demon. So hang on, has that like got some sort of nifty, like, short-term rental scooter thing going. Yeah, they are not fans of just finding ways to revenue raise by any means possible.

So they've actually allowed people to have an easier life in some regards. Yeah, they've got these, like, you know how, like, in New South Wales there's like lime bikes and you can pay you to use the bikes and you just leave them. They've got that, but e- scooters. Aren't e-scooters completely illegal in New South Wales? Yeah. Everywhere? Yeah, I just wanted to feel like a criminal for a little bit.

But now that you've fallen over and felt the wrath of the scooter, now you understand why it's illegal here, right? Yeah, yeah. It was really funny, too, because I was really, really good at it. And the problem was I'd realize that I haven't factored it in hills. Oh. Because Adelaide's so flat, and my distance was pretty much just a straight line, a straight flat line for every gig.

And then this one day I was like, I'm going to try taking the other entrance to the venue. And it goes down this hill, and there's all these cars parked on the right. side. And I went down the hill and forgot that natural momentum means that if you're accelerating down a hill and you're on a scooter, there's two forces of acceleration at play. You found the one hill in the whole of Adelaide. Yeah, I found the one hill. And then I forgot where the break, I got the brake and the accelerator mixed up. So then when I was going a bit too fast, I was like, oh, I'm going a bit fast. I went to put the brake on, put the accelerator on. And

then I just went ass over tit in the gutter. Like really bad. There are 13 bruises on my legs, but we're fine. But because of all this, I got health insurance. So now I'm, I am, I am covered if I stack it again. Surely announcing that here on the podcast will mean that your premium will go up. Oh, I've jinxed it. Oh, shit. No, I don't have health insurance.

I'm free. I'm just fascinated by the notion that a CBD that is so small that it's easily walkable. Just like, yeah, what we need is e-scooters. Hey, hey, it was a lot of fun, but now I'm banned. I've been told I can't ride them anymore.

Buy your health insurer or by the city of Adelaide? By my producer. All right. On today's show, Gabby, you're taking a look at International Women's Day. Yes, Gatekeep, Gaslight, Girl Boss. It's going to be great. Then Alexa, how do you top that? I'm going to be talking about potato fries, cheese, curds and gravy today.

It's the same as Get Kit Gaslight Girl Boss. Just slightly different words. Potato fries, cheese curds, gravy. That's what I'm talking about. I love it. Gravy boss. Coming up after our news, Boss, Rebecca Dana Minow. Australians around the country dealing with the third straight year of major natural disasters,

have begun to suspect that scientists may be onto something with this whole climate change thing. While most Aussies now believe that we should probably try to stop a future apocalypse, those in the major political parties have suggested that Aussies simply should go back to ignoring scientists and just learn to live with disasters. Sydney Siders have breathed a sigh of relief today

as the Liberal Party has announced upcoming upgrades to public transport, with a fleet of nuclear submarines due to arrive by 2050. New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrote told voters that the move was done as part of a team-up with the federal government, calling the move a realistic plan for the future of this nation and the needs of the future underwater city. Sky News host Andrew Bolt has slammed the Greens,

accusing the powerless party of being responsible for all the problems the world is currently facing. As floods, international war and a plague virus devastates the entire planet, Bolt has pondered whether the secret Greens Party leader, dictator Dan, intentionally triggered the events using Bond villain technology in order to implement an agenda against discrimination. From the Chaser Newsdesk, I'm Rebecca Dayunamuno. And speaking of Bolt's, thank fuck your back, Gabby.

The boys were getting way too comfortable without an announcement. girl around. They even started using links as an air freshener. I don't know what to do when you get too famous for us. So, okay, International Women's Day happened. It did. Woo. What a day. Yeah, look, I don't know, I don't know really where I sit on this day because, like, on the one hand, obviously I am a woman, so, you know, I'm supposed to enjoy it. On the other hand, I feel like over the years, we've lost our way. There's like no real thing to celebrate. I feel like many people are celebrating with cupcakes in the office and not enough people are actually talking about the systemic issues that a lot of these big corporations at times actually

contribute towards the lack of feminist progress in this country and in the world. So I've sort of found a few announcements from corporations and notable people towards International Women's Day that I find rather interesting. And I thought I'd just share them with you. The first one I found was Pretty Little Thing. I don't know if you're familiar with Pretty Little Thing. It's a fashion brand. They launched a hashtag, My Dress Doesn't Mean Yes, campaign.

They're an online retailer. They're using International Women's Day to launch the hashtag MyDest doesn't mean yes campaign in partnership with anti-rape charities, the Survivor's Trust in the UK. It's on us and end rape on campus in the US and enervant to it. I can't say that right in France. So it's quite an interesting campaign. They're going to donate 100% of the profits from any sale of their Middardust campaign tote bags and selected dresses to support sexual assault victims. And that is all well and good. However, here's the thing about pretty little thing.

they're a fast fashion brand oh yeah so i've looked it up on good good on you if you're not familiar actually this is a good resource anyway i don't mean to do any actual journalism on this podcast but if you're looking into what ethical fashion can mean for you good on you is a really good resource to tell you what fashion sites how they stand in in how they make their clothes how they manufacture clothing and so i got curious and i looked it up uh the labor conditions for pretty little thing um they have received the lowest possible labor rating of very poor in the world. So there's a pretty little thing

actually refer to the children who make the clothes. Pretty much. So there's nothing quite like making clothes to sell for a campaign called My Dress Doesn't mean yes and making them

with the sweatshop labour of underpaid women. Yeah, they also don't provide a quote, this quote good on you. It publishes zero or minimal information about its supplier policies and audits and it doesn't disclose any information about its forced labor, gender equality

or freedom of association. While PLT ambassadors seem happy, the same can't be said for workers in the supply chain. There's also no evidence that ensures payment of a living wage or any policies or safeguards to protect supplies and workers from the impacts of COVID-19. But there were cupcakes. They were cupcakes and boy, can you buy a tote bag with a slogan. So one of the slogans that I saw on International Women's Day is break the bias. Ah, yes, I'm glad you brought this up. And so are they clear that the only bias that they want to break is like the one specific to like the Western world?

I mean, on pretty little things standing, I might actually, I might even put a little funky footnote in Break the Bias. I'll come back to that in just a second. Right before I tell you some more companies that got involved. But yes, that's all I can assume with pretty little thing. Amazon, Amazon.com got involved. From women-owned brands to inspiring movies, books, and music, explore how we're celebrating women this International Women's Day

and through Women's History Month. I really don't have any research on this except to say that obviously Amazon. aren't good at respecting women. Yeah, when you say Amazon, it's kind of all built into the word, right? I mean, you could talk about the labor policies again. You could talk about the way that they manufacture products and deliver products and the way they treat their workers. But I would also like to talk about just Jeff Bezos in general.

Surely that man doesn't respect women. There's no way. He put a penis in space, right? Yeah, true. Cockrocket. Anyway. You know, I saw a headline the other day, which said Amazon to shrink. I was like, thank fuck.

That is such good news. And then I realized it was the rainforest. Like my first thought was the shitty company. They've ruined the rainforest for me. Anyway. Yeah, fuck. So some notable people. I got a bit depressed with the companies, honestly.

And so I thought, you know, who's saying stuff? Right here at home locally, Josh Frydenberg addressed the future women's summit on International Women's Day. Now, one might ask, why did Josh Frydenberg get invited to speak on International Women's Day at all? But I'm glad he did. Maybe it's like a future women's, like he is planning to transition. Oh, I mean, in that case, I'd be completely supportive. He'd still be a trash treasurer, but like, I'm good for them.

But anyway, I'm glad he did address the women's summit because we wouldn't have gotten this quote. This is a quote that I saw on Twitter from one Kate McGrath. She says that he said, quote, if I stood down and gave my job to a woman, I'd probably get a standing ovation. The crowd then cheered. it says ellipsies dot dot dot it will happen but not tomorrow right yeah i don't even know why that needed to be said josh joshy what's going on you know you'd all love a female treasurer in for the first time in australian history wouldn't you can you imagine if he had actually followed through and been like so i am resigning and there a woman will be replacing me a more competent

woman i actually probably would have given him some merit for that but instead it was just tease, tease, tease, tease, tease, but not for you. You know what he's thinking is behind that? My theory, this is just a theory. My theory is that he's like, when I'm PM, as in when another man takes the top job, I'm going to have a female treasure and that's going to make history. Hell yeah. But damn it, if a woman's getting the top job!

Yeah, I do love it. Like, happy international women's day, I will decide when women get at work. It's great. That's right. It's lovely. Hashto back the bias. Yeah. And then, you know, some might argue the ultimate feminist.

in Russia. Oh, God. Yeah, I've got a little clip for you. This old guy had something to say. Sending special respect to those women who are holding their duty, carrying service in the Russian armed forces. Thank you for your faith to the fatherland. I want to address mothers, wives, sisters, brides, and girlfriends

of our soldiers and officers who defend Russia. during the special military operation. That's Putin. Putin gave an international women's day address. There's so much to unpack fatherland, for starters. I know. Well, you've got to love the use of the word fatherland in a women's day address, but also just aside from imagery,

just like the fact that it's like, I want to thank daughters, wives, sisters, brides and girlfriends of our soldiers in our quote special military operation. To kill women. Yeah. To shell residential dwellings where women and children. children live in Ukraine.

I guess get fucked if you're not a woman in a relationship to a man in some way. Specifically to a soldier. Like, it's just, there's so much wrong with it. And I feel really divisive on International Women's Day. I think back when I was in high school, my feminism was very, you know, gatekeep, gasoline, almost embarrassingly. So as in I used to say, girl boss, completely non-ironically. And, like, as times gone on, I've just found that this day,

particularly in mainstream media and in politics and in corporate speak, has become about a palatable version of feminism and not what feminism actually should be, which is intersectional. It shouldn't be, you know, pictures of beautiful white women, all, you know, I'm CEO, like all of this bullshit terminology. Like, I hate it. I hate that that's what this has become for so many women

and for so many people, it's not promoting the right thing. What we should be promoting is like, how do we fix the systemic issues in place in companies and in businesses to help all women of all backgrounds, and all sexuality and all identification, step up and be a part of the conversation as well. How do we lift those voices? But, Gabby, that's just my two cents.

But Gabby, I saw Break the Bias as it going viral as a hashtag and many beloved companies published that they were trying to break the bias. Yes. Yeah, not the theme. Not at all the theme. I found a very interesting Twitter thread by Ivan R. Sam on Twitter. And it says, today I learned that the world's most visited International Women's Day website

is operated by a shadowy before-profit London-based marketing agency called Aurora, run by an Australian woman accused of serious workplace bullying. I know, Ivan. He's a wonderful man. Well, done, Ivan. He's an old friend of mine. Oh, really? Well, Ivan, Ivan opened my eyes. Each year, Aurora suggests a banal but catchy hashtag or theme. This year, they suggested Break the Bias.

Adopted by corporate breakfasts everywhere, overshadowing the UN proposed theme, which was to do with women and climate change. The actual theme of International Women's Day, if you're going to whack a label on it, was gender equality for a more sustainable future, meant to discuss important women globally in fighting climate change. Gabby, break your bias in favour of discussing climate changes.

No, we don't need it. There are cupcakes. How did it become possible for a corporation to literally gatekeep gas-like girl boss International Women's Day? Why are we allowing this to happen? We just need to let corporations get the fuck away from it, in my opinion. Should just stop letting them be involved. Well, the thing that I read about this, Gabby, is that the origins of International Women's Day

came from socialism. Yes. And so, well, we don't like that. You can't have that. That would threaten corporations. That would mean no corporation. That would mean the public collectively owning things like, I don't know, mines and banks and we don't want that.

No, capitalism has to win. Has to win. It's a great time for capitalism at the moment. You can't have girl bosses without big companies, Gabby. You know what? It's actually a big time for capitalism at the moment because there's also rainbow capitalism, which is like the whole Mardi Gras.

thing. Corporations jumping on Mardi Gras all of a sudden. You know, Commonwealth Bank being like gay. We're gay now. Yeah, for like a day and then they fuck off. We're officially a gay bank. And then a week later they're like, we're all women. And then the next day they're like, no, back to being all men in businesses of power.

I just, I just, that's my fucking two cents. And my two cents don't actually matter in this conversation. I guess the question will be if you're a, you know, a single mother who's doing it tough and can't find work because you're mining your kids because some dickhead man ran off. Is the CBA going to foreclose on your mortgage on or, you know what? I suspect they still will. Maybe not on International Women's Day. Save it to the next day.

The best day of the year. The Chaser Report. News you know you can't trust. So I guess we already mentioned Vladimir Putin in our top story. Feminist King. Yep. Boss of girl bosses in Russia. He sure is.

Alex, you've got a bit more on the worst man in the world. Yeah. So people have been pretty upset at Putin for a while. protesting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But there's an unlikely casualty in this conflict. This is a French-Canadian delicacy of potato fries, cheese, curds and gravy. No. Yep.

No. Putin is kidding. So there's this company called Mazon de la Putin. It's got restaurants in Paris and in Toulouse, and it started receiving all these insults and threats following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Do they think that the people who make fries with cheese? and gravy on them and like, we're on board. We hate Ukraine.

Yeah, of course. And then you've got, you've got Leroy Juseppe. I don't know how to speak French, but that's what it looks like. Jamabelle. And they claimed with a birthplace of Poutine in the 1950s. Right. And they wrote this on their social media. They wrote, Dear Clients,

tonight the Juseppe team decided to temporarily retire the word Putin from its trademark in order to express, in its own way, its profound dismay over the situation in Ukraine. You should note that Poutine is written with asterisks over the OU. So it's like a swear word. Stop it, like censored. Not to trigger anyone meaning Poutine. Okay.

And now they call it fries, cheese, grape is the name of the dish. Oh, listen. Look, you know what? If they have to change the name, they have to change the name. But you can come up with something better. They have to change the name. You know, I mean, here's the thing, look, here, you might see a loss. I see an opportunity.

Oh, yeah. That could have been such a better name. Why would you call it? Like, instead of Poutine, which obviously I would prefer, why would you then call it fries, cheese gravy? That's a shit name. You could have come up with something better than that. Like, fries a paloosa.

Well, they could also do what, you know, do you remember in the 90s? You might not have been alive, but I can't remember. But there was this whole thing when France was opposing the Iraq War, right? And there's this whole thing in America where instead of French fries, they're like, no, they're freedom fries. They're freedom fries. We're not going to say the word French because they're traitors.

And the French are like, damn it. Yeah. This is now a French speaking country. They could bring it back. Freedom fries. With gravy. Oh, beautiful. Freedom.

What was it? Fries gravy cheese. Yeah. Freedom fries, gravy cheese. But, you know, given this course of events that Putin's been cancelled, I think we can go into the game of prediction and work out what else is going to be off the menu in the future. There are lots of things out there that remind us of Putin.

And I think a lot of people find that very triggering. I mean, for instance, the song Putting on the Ritz, I can't. I can't. There's no, we're not having any Ritz where, what will we say, adopting the Ritz, doing the Ritz, but not putting on the Ritz. No, absolutely not. It's not appropriate when he's killing people to talk about dancing at the Ritz. No, absolutely not.

And I think there's a big surge in number of celiacs in the world in solidarity with Ukraine. Restaurants have stopped using gluten in their meals. Oh, gluten sounds like Putin. Yeah, it's an implication. Well, that's happening anyway, right? Yeah. Honestly, that'd be great for me. I was meant to go on a FodMap diet like five years ago.

Yeah, I'm gluten intolerant. I fucking hate gluten. That's because I love freedom and I hate dictators. Yeah, I'm all about fructose now. And a good sign for green energy. Nuclear is in trouble. Really? Yeah.

We can't use plutonium anymore. What about, so the one I'm torn on is, is poo, right? Because in my house, we've got a three row. We talk a lot about poo. As we always are on this podcast. So either you go, well, well, clearly Poo is morally superior to Vladimir Putin. Yeah. But then he is shit.

So how do we go with that? That's kind of the tricky thing when like you're trying to cancel all this stuff. Sometimes it's like a cell phone. Like KFC, Coca-Cola McDonald's, Pepsi Burger King, all put it out of Russia. Yeah. And so it's like punishing them by making them healthier, you know? Yeah, it can't be good. Making them stronger.

But thinking about poo, I mean, I think we still need to use the word for shit. But what about A.A. Milne's beloved character, Winnie the Pooh. Oh. We've got to change that name. Unfortunately, there's an... Winnie the shit. There's an ideal alternative. Because you know how Shijing Ping is Winnie the Pooh?

Yeah. We should just name that bear, either Winnie the Shit, as you suggest, or Shijin Ping. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's a bit safer. Winnie the shit's certainly more edgy. Well, I mean, well, as a kid, I thought poo was incredibly edgy, so I think it's just bringing it into a new generation. We all did.

Oh, bring back Winnie the shit. Our gears from road microphones are part of the ACASC crater network, and we'll catch you tomorrow all this afternoon. Who knows what the fuck's going on with our schedule this week? Anyway, we'll have more podcast at some point in the future. Guaranteed.