What started out as a funny and catchy video filmed by Australian office workers has turned into what some social media users have described as “the most hated clip of 2024.”
Last week, Gen Z boss Rachael Wilde, founder of Australian brand Tbh Skincare, and her group of young employees jumped on a TikTok trend in the hopes of making it go viral.
It went viral – perhaps too viral – and ended up on what the company describes as “the wrong side of the internet”, with the women involved receiving vile abuse from mainly American men and even a critique from controversial influencer Andrew Tate.
The playful clip shows six women standing in a circle in the office, each pointing out aspects of themselves and their accessories.
One sings that he’s “a Gen Z boss and a mini,” another notes that he has “fake tan hands and a hoop earring” in the 20-second video, which spread like wildfire across various social media platforms over the weekend.
Since then, the team has been inundated with thousands of tweets, comments and messages from “creepy” Americans. The reaction left Rachael and the rest of the office stunned as to how a funny video could cause so much controversy.
“It’s been a weird 48 hours. The interest is definitely scary. It’s mind-blowing that a dumb little TikTok has turned into this… nothing should warrant this amount of online hate,” Rachael wrote.
Speaking to FEMAIL, Rachael said that over 2.8 million people have started following Tbh’s TikTok to watch the drama unfold.
Gen Z boss Rachael Wilde, founder of Australian brand Tbh Skincare (left) and her entourage of young employees (right) jumped on a TikTok trend in hopes of going viral, but quickly came under fire for all the wrong reasons.
“We’ve received a lot of nasty comments and even threats to our safety. And now I opened my Twitter and saw this,” she added.
Rachael was talking about how dozens of people jokingly claimed that the “Gen Z boss and a mini” have the “same vibes” as the rally shooter over the weekend.
Tate also commented, saying the video proves that men need to “get rich quick” to avoid having a Gen Z woman as their boss.
“If you don’t escape the Matrix, women like this will be your bosses,” he tweeted.
‘Zog Corp loves to emasculate men by forcing them to listen to semi-conscious women. If that doesn’t motivate you to get rich, nothing will.’
Shocked by the comment, Rachael took a screenshot and shared it on her Instagram Story.
“It’s fascinating to see how angry men on Twitter get over a funny little video. Honestly, it’s not that big of a deal,” she wrote.
It also struck a chord with controversial speaker Andrew Tate, who encouraged men to “get rich quick” to avoid having a Gen Z woman as their boss. “If you don’t escape the Matrix, women like this will be your boss,” Tate tweeted.
Shocked by the comment, Rachael took a screenshot and shared it on her Instagram story. “It’s fascinating to see how upset men on Twitter have gotten over a funny little video. Honestly, it’s not that deep,” she wrote.
The video was continually ridiculed by Americans on X – formerly known as Twitter – who lashed out at the video.
“Some women never make it past the seventh grade,” wrote one American.
“Zoom women are on their way to pretending Millennials are more cowardly than them (they’re exactly the same),” wrote another.
“The reason this video is so upsetting to people is that many men in office jobs have to suffer through horrible, stressful corporate jobs to make a living, which in turn subsidizes non-productive roles like what these women do,” wrote a third.
However, others joined in to support the brand, saying they can’t get the song out of their heads.
The video was continuously ridiculed by Americans on X, formally known as Twitter, who criticized the video.
Rachael told FEMAIL: ‘We basically ended up meeting on the wrong side of the internet’
“Men are so sensitive, omg how many of you are hurt by a ‘Gen Z boss and a mini’?” one wrote.
“The men in these comments are very sad individuals,” wrote another.
A third said: “You know you’re doing it right when your comments section is flooded with incels. Great job ladies, keep it up.”
Despite the hate, Rachael revealed that she and her team don’t let the negative comments affect them.
“We don’t pay much attention, we just have a lot of fun as a team doing this kind of stuff,” he said.
‘At the core of what we do, we are marketers. We jumped on a trend, something that took just a few minutes of fun. It started going viral on TikTok and Instagram… but then quickly became a global meme after another account posted it on X (Twitter).
“We’ve never gone so viral before, I don’t know if any brand has! We’re known for our viral marketing but I’ve never seen anything on this scale. The original video was created by @maisieisobel_.
‘We decided to jump on the trend and it quickly went viral… TThere was a mixed bag of feedback, as is always the case with these types of videos when they go viral, but it really changed when we were reposted on X (Twitter).
“Basically, we ended up on the wrong side of the Internet.”