31: The Queen, Corporate Marketing, Dutch Politicians in Love and more!
Celebrating 1 year of Night School!
Wow! Hello! Welcome back!
Night School turned 1 year old recently! It feels exciting.
When I started this newsletter, I didn’t have any expectations and hadn’t created anything for fun on the Internet in several years. It has been an eventful year though, with some exciting opportunities including a podcast interview request, getting featured on the Substack Discover page, joining an international TikTok research community and participating in live-streamed academic chats. It hasn’t been without challenges though with busy schedules, hiccups uploading content, and of course many moments of fear & imposter syndrome.
Big thank you to David Wahl for encouraging me to start a newsletter about TikTok last October while working at the Archie McPhee HQ. Conversations about TikTok led to me coming up with the idea for Night School while driving home from work and creating it within a day or two.
Aaaaand thank you to everyone who has subscribed and been supportive of this project.
Quick update: Keep an eye out for the CrimeTok Deep Dive, It will be out by the end of November. All other relevant updates are posted on Twitter.
Onto the content. This issue goes into theories about The Queen’s health, fans that ship two Dutch politicians together and brand marketing on TikTok from Duolingo to a Tarot Card paid promotion.
Can You Girls Settle Down?
I think she wants them to settle down…
Green Room
I do not understand but I would like to. Also there is a person is tied up with tape or cling wrap in the background?
Teach The Cat How to Dougie!
I screeched when I first saw this. If you know you know
Context for anyone who may need it: the audio is from Cali Swag District’s Teach Me How to Dougie. More info here.
The Queen & October 18th
There was a viral video in early October joking about Queen Elizabeth II passing away on October 18. This was the video:
The video below is the one I first saw within this conversation, it is a follow up by the same creator after having blown up on TikTok:
They have some other videos on this topic, which has inspired content using “spooky audio” theorizing about The Queen’s health, like this:
@matta_of_fact has been covering the queen’s health as well:
With similar energy as the first video in this section, the next one was posted back in 2020, but it references January 18:
Candy Crush
This is just a good example of a slightly absurd video, with perfectly timed non sequitur background audio:
Corporate Marketing
I’ve survived my first month of marketing agency life. This video showed up on my FYP recently and it felt relatable. Corporate lingo felt insane to me at first.
Duolingo
The next video is for anyone who has had to explain memes and basic social media best practices to an employer:
I see Duolingo going off in the comment of random videos all the time, it’s honestly very impressive. They have really run with same threatening energy as their app’s push notifications.
Their TikTok presence is a really good example of a brand adapting to new media and trusting their social media manager to create content and interact on the platform. In order to successfully use TikTok for marketing, a brand has to be willing to adapt as rapidly as the platform moves.
TikTok users appear to be amused by Duolingo’s presence. There has also been an influx of support for it after Duolingo’s response to a comment from Chick Fil A on a video asking other brand accounts what snack they would bring to a meeting. Here is a screenshot of the comment exchange:
While I won’t share Duolingo’s videos directly here, I will share some reaction videos I have seen.
Here is one referencing the “beef” with Chick Fil A:
Reading Duolingo comments:
Wondering what goes on at Duolingo HQ:
If You’re Seeing This Right Now It’s Meant For You…
Or it’s just sponsored. This one is the first time I’ve seen Tarot marketing…. or should I say Terror Marketing, because I hate it:
So whoever pitched the idea for the above video, was onto something for a couple of reasons:
1) It is on-brand for the creator and is almost unrecognizable to any other popular Tarot video.
2) Anything vaguely annoying on the FYP is bound to generate comments which is quite good for pushing the video through the algorithm, though it would have already been pushed via the paid promotion. I am unsure if this was the intention.
You can see it is very blatantly a paid promotion with the yellow call to action button at the bottom and visible “sponsored” tags. Promotions like this, even if made by a real TikTok creator, are often extremely scripted and often take a couple weeks+ to pass through corporate approval. It all feels extremely spineless especially when referencing financial gain using Tarot cards.
Y’all will know by now that I have studied tarot cards for over a decade (no I won’t give you a reading), so this specific paid promo was extra annoying to me. I took a screenshot of some of the comments because I am petty and deeply despise this kind of manipulative marketing.
I would LOVE to see the ad’s analytics as I’m sure the promotion would have had decent engagement because of the comments but whether or not this actually led to people clicking the link is debatable.
The Feeling of Goth
Is how I feel about using Tarot for Ads:
Is this romance in 2021?
The audio is just slightly too loud to understand, adding to the level of chaos radiated by the interaction in this video:
2000s/2010s Hipster Culture is on the Rise Again?
I have seen people start to romanticize fashion trends from the late 2000s and early 2010s. Do I think it is coming back? Yes and no, trend cycles are extremely rapid right now, but I’d give it at a couple more years.
This video felt relevant only because but it captures a vibe that feels very specific to that era:
Dutch Politicians in Love?!
TikTok user @ressepeasants posts videos shipping Dutch MPs Rob Jetten and Jesse Klaver together, referring to them as “Resse.”
“Resse” has been compared to One Direction fans shipping Harry Styles and Louis Tomilson, also known as “Larry.”
Cats in Cars in Cemeteries
One of my favorite things to do while hanging out and having fun alone in my apartment is tracking down niche YouTube videos and playing them on my projector with music. I recommend pairing the following video with Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield:
Thanks for reading! See you next time!
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