November 14, 2023 • 38 mins
Is it just me or are ads everywhere on TikTok right now? Welcome to TikTok Shop. Is this the new normal? TikTok creator PrettyCritical joins Bridget to discuss.
Follow Pretty Critical: https://www.tiktok.com/@prettycritical?lang=en
Teens are trying to cash in on the TikTok Shop gold rush between classes: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/tiktok-shop-teens-high-school-open-how-to-make-money-long-deliver-us-rcna102788
The Junk Is Winning TikTok’s experiment in shopping has quickly become another place to hawk products: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/10/tiktok-shop-cheap-products/675761/
TikTok cashing in on sale of counterfeit cosmetics and prescription skin creams: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/apr/23/tiktok-cashing-in-counterfeit-beauty-products-skin-gels
TikTok Forced to Close Shopping Feature in Its Second-Largest Market: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/05/business/tiktok-shop-indonesia-ecommerce-ban.html
HERE’S HOW TO BLOCK TIK TOK SHOP: https://www.tiktok.com/@thomasgermain/video/7270529252703898922?lang=en
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you feel like you were in control of your
life or do you feel like shopping is running?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
There are No Girls on the Internet. As a production
of iHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative, I'm Bridget and this is
there are No Girls on the Internet. So I love TikTok,
but lately it kind of feels like the vibes are off.
What I've always liked about TikTok was that it feels
(00:31):
like watching kind of user generated Netflix, regular people telling
interesting stories. We're doing interesting things and ways that feel
genuinely captivating, as opposed to Instagram, where eventually, for me
it kind of came to feel like, you know, good
looking people, pretty polished people selling me something like those
are the people that I felt like were taking up
(00:52):
the most space on Instagram. Comparatively, on TikTok, it didn't
feel like I had to wade through a ton of
intrusive ads to use the platform. When you did encounter
an ad, it just said sponsored at the bottom, you
swiped up and that was that. But lately I feel
that that has changed. Now you scroll alongside regular ads,
(01:12):
but near those you also get these tiktoks that look
kind of like normal tiktoks, but they say eligible her
commission on the bottom. They're not exactly ads ads, But
the person in them, who was talking to you like
a friend, does just happen to be telling you about
a product that they maybe get a cut on if
you pull the trigger on buying TikToker. Grace Brissell recently
(01:35):
called out how dystopian this all feels, saying TikTok feels
like Chian and Ali Express had a baby. There's links everywhere,
there's one hundred ads. Why is there a seventeen year
old girl trying to sell me thirty five cent ring lights? Now,
none of this is entirely new. There was always stuff
to be bought and sold after folks hyped it up
on TikTok. You know, there was that expression TikTok made
(01:57):
me buy it. But now to me, it feels different.
So what's going on? Welcome to TikTok Shop, TikTok's affiliate
creator program that was officially rolled out in September after
months of testing. TikTok describes it in their September twelfth,
twenty twenty three press release when it launched, quote, TikTok
Shop empowers brands and creators to connect with highly engaged
(02:17):
customers based on their interest, and it combines the power
of community, creativity, and commerce to deliver a seamless shopping experience.
So here's how it works. Creators with five thousand followers
or more can get a cut of stuff that they
sell on the platform. TikTok takes a five percent cut
as well. We've talked about fast fashion like she and
on the podcast before, but when you add in that
(02:39):
same powerful TikTok algorithm and the way that it can
quickly boost videos to millions of people on consumerism, while
that feels like fast fashion meeting fast selling. So what
does this all mean? How do we get here? Is
it here to stay? And how is it shaping the
platform ta get into all of this? We're joined by
the most successful TikTokers that I know, Tamika, also known
(03:01):
as pretty Critical on TikTok, who uses their platform to
have frank and funny discussions about wellness, beauty, consumerism, all
with a critical eye. Tamika, thank you so much for
being here. I cannot think of a person that I
would rather be getting into all of this with. Ven you.
Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So your platform is at once like a celebration of
one of my favorite hobbies, which is buying things, but
also doing so in this like critical lens with a
critical eye. How did you come to be making content
like this?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Well, I think it's a really natural reflection of my
favorite hobbies, which are yes, buying things, but also personal finance.
I've just been really into personal finance since I was
very young. It was something my mother really instilled in me,
and of course there's always been that tension between I
love to shop and I have all these future financial goals.
(03:56):
And before I ever started making TikTok content, I was
watching it so consuming this content. I really started to
see there's people making great content around beauty, around fashion,
around wellness, and at the same time there's also people,
sometimes the same people, that very clearly have some kind
of over consumption problem, and that social media itself just
(04:21):
kind of opens the door for over consumption and normalizes it.
You know, you think of like halls and all of
these different ways of showing like how much you bought,
not necessarily what you bought, was was it smart? Asking
those kinds of questions. It was just like here volume.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
You know, I am a creative and most of my
career has spent freelancing or being self employed, and so
I didn't do any kind of saving. I wasn't saving
for retirement or putting together a furrow one k or
any of that, nor did I really know anybody who did.
And it was your content that really got me thinking
(04:59):
more serious about it. I am embarrassed to admit that
it wasn't until I started seeing your tiktoks that I
started thinking more about, oh, my own personal finance journey,
Like you made a lot of content about for O
one case, and like, what are we doing for a retirement?
We're not all like it's maybe it seems funny or
(05:20):
cute to pretend like none of us are saving, but
honey saved. Like don't you want to go shopping when
you're when you're a little older, Like save your money.
So you definitely are someone who makes these conversations sort
of accessible but also critical because like, I don't know,
I do think that TikTok is the kind of place
where over consumption is perhaps not as questioned as it
(05:43):
should be, Like the halls where you have bought so
many things that you couldnot possibly use all of those,
you know, water tumblers in one lifetime, Like that's not
really questioned the way that maybe it should be on
platforms like TikTok.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, I think part of the issue is that it's entertainment, right.
No one wants to be the skuld that comes in
and is like why did you buy so many Stanley cups?
And because it's entertainment, it also kind of normalizes your
own shopping. You're like, well, she's doing it, I'm doing it.
The people on these platforms seem like regular, everyday people
(06:19):
just like you. It kind of obscures the fact that
they have a reason to be buying these items, right,
they are selling these items back to you, They're getting
commission off these items. So it's definitely a platform that
makes your shopping feel very normal, even when it's very
out of control.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
What has it been like? Kind of walking this balance
of somebody who you know likes to shop for quality
goods and make content about shopping and consumerism, but in
a way that has that critical eye like what has
that been like for you?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
It's definitely a tough type rope to walk because I
think that there's a certain point where you're like, am
I really being honest with myself? So I like to shop.
I don't want to say that shopping is part of
my identity because that sounds so sad, but it's something
I really like to do, I really enjoy doing, and
I would say that beauty and fashion are parts of
(07:15):
my identity. That being said, I have all of these
financial goals that I'd like to reach, and by participating
in my hobbies, I'm immediately taking away from my ability
to reach those And so making the content is hard
because I think of that for other people as well.
Like if I'm telling you this sweater from Ralph Lauren
(07:39):
is amazing quality, I think it'll last you. If the
design is amazing, at the end of the day, you
don't need this sweater. And if people go and buy
the sweater, nine times out of ten, I'm not getting
a kickback out of anything I'm selling quote unquote selling.
I'm just sharing what I like. And so if I'm
just sharing what I like, they're buying it when there
(07:59):
may be an I in a position to buy it.
I'm not making money. They're not making money, they're losing money.
It's like who really won at the end of the
day just Roth Lauren, and I love Roth Lauren. No,
no shame to rolp Lauren. But it's a tough, weird
space to be in because I do want people to
make smart choices. I want to make smart choices. I've
been very honest on the platform about my own struggles
(08:21):
with over consumption where I'm in a weird space where
being personal finance obsessed. I am not in any trouble
with money. I'm on track for retirement, I have my
emergency savings, like I'm right where I should be. But
at the same time, my shopping can feel out of control.
And so I've been very honest in talks on the
(08:43):
platform with my followers around the emotional aspect of shopping
and it being about more than just what you can afford.
It's like, do you feel like you are in control
of your life or do you feel like shopping is
running you?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, that's something I've had to really get honest with
myself about that when it comes to shopping. So the
mix of shopping with social media consumption, they're two things.
They're like, you know, two evils in my life that
have now been like merged. Where I feel like with
social media it really encourages me to compare my life
(09:20):
to others. And then shopping is like, oh, do you
feel insecure in this way? Here's the solution. By this thing,
this will make you feel better.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, you feel insecure, you feel sad, you feel lonely,
you know, like any of these negative feelings, like shopping
is there to fill the void. It's not any different
than binge eating, you know, any sort of thing that's
just tamping down your emotions. And at the same time,
shopping is essential in a very similar way to eating
(09:52):
is essential. Right, You're not going to stop shopping altogether.
You will need new clothes at a certain point, you
will need a lo bottle at a certain point. You
may not need forty Stanley tumblers. But like you are
going to have to make decisions about your shopping.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
So like me, have you seen these like TikTok shop
videos taking over your fyp?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Oh, it's been astronomical. There are so many every time
I swipe through, and I almost feel like I'm not
in a position to be able to critique them, even
though I'm so tired of them because I've made like
two or three. I made two I was supposed to
make three. Because how it works is that TikTok gives
you a certain amount of credit to spend in the
(10:36):
TikTok shop, so you can get free credit. I got
two lip glosses and a cream blush for free, and
I think I got sixty dollars worth of credit. And
then you have to make videos about whatever you bought
through TikTok shop. And so I made one video, didn't
do great, made another one did do great, and I
(10:58):
was like, I didn't even want to make the third one,
Like the loop glass I got is fine, it's not amazing.
This color. The first one I got was like a
nice color. This color doesn't look as good on me.
I was like, I don't want to make this content,
but you have to, and I didn't make it, so
I have like a mark against my account. So I
feel for I feel for the people who are making
(11:18):
their required videos, the people that are making like video
after video after video and they don't have the requirement.
They bug me, but I get them because I get them.
It's you have all these followers. You probably don't make
that much money at your job, because like who does
these days, you have a platform that you can monetize
(11:42):
it's easy to do. TikTok is boosting some of those
videos with the algorithm. Why wouldn't you do it?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
This is why I love you and I love your
content because I feel like I can trust you. You like,
keep it so fucking real, Like I didn't know any
of what you just said, but it makes so much sense.
Is being an influencer somebody who is trying to get
people to buy things at odds with being somebody who
is fundamentally honest and critical because I see you as both.
(12:11):
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I mean how it works is that I don't make
very much money.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
You're like, I have another job.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, I have a full time job, and I've gone
through some of the economics of being a TikTok influencer
before on my account, where there's essentially three different ways
you can make money. It's probably more income streams that
are available to certain people, but these are the three
(12:40):
ways that are available for me. One, you can do
an AD with an outside company, right, so you'll create
a TikTok they'll pay you for it. I've done one
ad before. You can also do affiliate links, so you
show something on TikTok. You have a platform like like
(13:01):
to Know It or like shot my I have a
shot my page personally, and so they go and they
click through on the page and they can click through
what you were talking about, and if they buy through
your link, then you'll get a kickback from that, you'll
get commissioned. Same with the Amazon storefront. It's the same
exact idea, except for the platform as Amazon. So through
(13:22):
my shot my page, I've made under one hundred dollars.
Through my Amazon storefront, I made a couple thousand because
I was I had made a video about a walking pad.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I the inclined walking pad. I'm possibly about to pull
the trigger because of you on that walking pad. By
the way, I.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Still recommend it, especially as the weather's getting colder and
you don't want to do your walks outside. But because
that's a more high dollar amount item, I was able
to get a bigger commission back, which is why I
made a couple thousand through Amazon, which is that was
just a short period of time that's definitely slowed. And
then the third way money is the Creativity program. So
there's the Creator's Fund and then there's a Creativity Program Beta,
(14:06):
and I think they're kind of trying to move people
to the beta. But if you make a video over
one minute long, then it's eligible for a kick maack
based on how many people view the video. So and
that is I mean, it depends. I guess how many
abews you're getting. People that are have like way way
(14:26):
way high views all the time are gonna make can
make so much money. But I mean I have like
forty thousand followers. I probably have like one or two
viral videos a month, and that comes out to a
couple hundred dollars. It is much harder to be honest
when there are a bunch of brands knocking down your door.
I did a Empties video for those who don't know.
(14:49):
An Empties video is your skincare and makeup Empties things
you finished, You go through and you talk about them,
what you liked, what you didn't like. This video was
all about ones that I've repurch so I like them
so much. I boughted again and I said, I tend
to stick with my same old skincare, same old makeup.
I try a couple of new things, but I buy
(15:09):
what I like. Realistically, if another brand comes knocking down
my door, I say, I've been using this retin All
to Hide serum for three years now, and you come
knocking down my door and you're like, I want you
to sell this retin all to Hide zerrum. For me,
that's a tough position to be in. Someone's offering you,
like a couple thousand dollars to try the retin all
(15:30):
to Hide serum. And here's the thing. It could be
a great serum. And it's not a lie. I'm not
saying you're going to be tempted to lie, but you
are kind of pretending that this item was so good
that it broke you out of your routine, that the
whole reason you tried a new item was just because.
And it's like, no, this company came to me and
said try this. And here's the thing. If a company
(15:52):
came to me and said try this, I would try it.
If I liked it, I would talk about it. But
more likely than that, you're going to see me come
back to my old prom. And that's the part about
being an influencer where it's so tricky and so murky.
It's like, Okay, you liked the product, but did you
like it like it? Did you love it? Love it?
Should I really buy it?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Let's take a quick break ed er back. So I
do feel like that tightrope of like I'm'm watching a
friend who is just genuinely giving me a tip, genuinely
(16:36):
just giving me advice about a product they loved, or
is this like it's they have a financial incentive or
a little bit of both. I think that's something that
makes TikTok a little bit unique because on Instagram it
is full of like pretty people who look polished and perfect,
who are obviously getting paid and they probably don't use
these products. I know that when I'm scrolling Instagram, So
(16:58):
if I get taken and I buy something, it's kind
of on me. I get that. On TikTok, it feels
a little bit different because the vibe, the nature of TikTok,
I don't know, it just makes it a little hard
to resist. I think like it's like there is a
vibe where it's just someone who seems like a friend
chatting with me about a product they found that they
(17:20):
really love, and it kind of mixes what I think
makes TikTok good in the first place, right, Like this
aspect of like an interesting person that I can sort
of see myself in telling me something on Instagram, It's
like very aspirational, right, the person that I suppire to
be on TikTok, It's like the person that I aspire
(17:41):
to be is like polished, effortlessly beautiful. On TikTok, it's
the person who I actually am, right, like lazy and
easily entertained by novelty. And that is what gets me.
There is something about TikTok that I think is uniquely
poised to make me want to buy shit that I
don't need more than other platforms. Do you ever find that?
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Oh? Absolutely. I think one thing that people will sometimes
say to me in my comment is it feels like
we're just friends chatting on FaceTime. And I think that's
kind of what you're getting at where it's so low fi.
People are just very casual. It's like you're talking to
a buddy, and of course they're going to trust your buddy.
(18:24):
Why was your buddy lie to you?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Right?
Speaker 1 (18:27):
And I think that that piece of it not being
polished is what makes it so dangerous, because everyone seems
just like you. But one thing that I feel like
nobody really thinks about when they're watching these creators is
that to be a creator in a lot of instances,
(18:51):
you have to come in with a certain amount of money, right,
Like you need money to buy the items that you
are then reviewing and recommending. You need money to buy
the clothes that you're showing off. And so you look
at this person and you're like, oh, you're just like me.
You're buying this. I could buy this, you can afford this,
I can afford this. But chances are they're not, Like,
(19:14):
even if they are not making a bunch of money
on TikTok, they are probably in a cushier financial situation
than you, and that's why they're able to make such
varied content.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, they're not necessarily showing their like rich partner, and
I'm thinking like, oh, we're in the same income bracket,
and it's like, no, you're actually not, Like you are
actually making a bad financial decision right now. So from
my own unscientific anecdotal experiences, TikTok shop content is taking
over the platform and increasing the overall amount of ad
(19:48):
content on the platform. I'm not alone. Business Insider actually
looked into it. They had one of their reporters watch
five hundred videos on TikTok. One found that about seventy
two percent for regular TikTok videos, while thirty percent were adds.
Another found that sixty four percent of the content was
normal content and thirty six percent was product related. So
(20:09):
it does seem like there is more and more of
this kind of content on TikTok right now. The products
that I'm seeing, they range from like fitness products, which
always get me, electric bathroom scrubbers, which like in your
face TikTok algorithm, I would never buy a fucking like
bathroom cleaning products, so you're off on that one. Like
(20:30):
this chair that you can sit however you want, which
like speaks to me as a queer person, because the
Internet supposedly says that like queer people love to sit
in chairs in unusual ways, we won't sit in a
chair a normal way. Two products that I have to
say I did buy on TikTok shop. One was a
set of water color paints that I am perfectly happy with.
(20:52):
I saw it everywhere and I was like, I gotta
buy this. So another purchase from TikTok that I'm a
little more embarrassed about was this jar of perfumed body oil. Well,
keep in mind, I have never worn perfume in my life.
I am not a perfume person. So it's this TikTok
that shows a woman who bought this body oil. She
puts it on, and then she has a hidden camera
(21:12):
that I guess is meant to show her partner his
genuine reaction to her wearing this body oil. He comes,
he hugs her, and he kind of, upon smelling this
body oil, scoops her up in this warm, loving, seductive embrace.
I don't even wear perfumes. I am kind of bothered
by sense, but even I was like, I want to
be scooped up lovingly and seductively. I gotta buy this
(21:35):
body oil. So it just goes to show that TikTok's algorithm,
we know, is so good at getting a sense of
and projecting back to you your own triggers, your own weaknesses,
your own tension spots, the things that you maybe have
a little bit of a hang up about. And then
when you add in this consumerism aspect of TikTok shop,
(21:56):
it then adds in that knowledge about us all and
reflects back to you this product that purports to like
fill the need that that week spot opens. And when
that happens, well then you're like me, and you're pulling
the trigger on a jar of perfumed body oil when
you don't even like perfumes. I do want to say
that TikTok Shop is available for both small businesses and
(22:19):
also fast big retailers as well. So you could be
getting like a lovingly created small artists and piece that
or you could be getting like a piece of crap
that might not even be legit. In a piece called
the junk is Winning for the Atlantic, Amanda Mall argues,
the quality of items that are being hogked on TikTok
(22:41):
might be a little bit questionable, plastic junk that will
could immediately break or even counterfeit goods, and this might
actually be a feature of the program itself. Mall rights because,
like Amazon, TikTok Shop uses a marketplace model which aggregates
listings created by more than two hundred thousand third party
sellers into a single shopping with a single checkout system.
(23:02):
This system allows retailers to offer lots of products without
taking the financial risk of buying and managing inventory upfront. Amazon, Walmart, Target,
among both other major retailers and upstarts, use variations of
this marketplace model. For a significant chunk of inventory. Sellers
buy the inventory, create the listings, and in many cases
ship the orders themselves, assuming most of the risks and
(23:24):
doing most of the work. The platform takes a cut
of their sales in exchange for access to their audience
of potential buyers. This model has become popular because it
allows wanna be retailers to spin up the online equivalent
of a big box store relatively quickly and with less invement.
An obvious downside of this model is that the inventory
just has less hands on management, so that can be misleading, unreliable,
(23:46):
or even dangerous. Amandamal Atlantic Journalists spoke to a TikTok
spokesperson who said the algorithm plus human moderation is supposed
to weed out bad products that do not meet their standards. However,
this does not always account for problem listings, saying quote,
Sometimes problems go unnoticed until people start reporting issues, like
(24:08):
listings that will use stock images that do not depict
the product they are actually selling, or omit important details
on sizing or material composition, or offer counterfeit and potentially
unsafe products. Even legitimate listings from scrupulous sellers can make
for a confusing or scammy feeling shopping experience because sellers
create a lot of duplicate listings for save the same products.
(24:30):
That is especially common on TikTok, where sellers rush to
meet demand for a handful of products that have captivated
the platform at any particular moment. So if you've ever
thought that like shopping on TikTok, or just like being
on TikTok felt kind of scammy, this is probably partially why.
And I think that there's like just something about this
(24:50):
that feels a little bit scammy. This journalist Amanda Mola
describes being served an ad for a hair brush where
some places advertise it for five dollars, some people two dollars,
some people fifteen, some people ten, and it makes people
wonder like is this a counterfeit hair brush? Like is
this an add I can really trust? Then other people
go on and they're like, no, no, some people are
(25:11):
selling scammy counterfit hair brushes. I will give you the
like real hair brush at this price. And it just
creates this experience where it just doesn't feel good. Let
alone feel like a place where you want to like
add in your financial or credit card information. You know,
who wants to hang out in a digital place where
it feels like there's a scam behind every corner. More
(25:37):
after a quick break, let's get right back into it.
So also with how quickly TikTok has rolled this out,
it feels like moderation is kind of becoming an issue.
(26:00):
NBC News is Cat ten Barge found last month that
young people like miners, are cashing in on selling stuff
on this newly rolled out TikTok shop. In a statement
responding to questions about the present of teens on TikTok shop,
a TikTok representative said, as TikTok Shop rolls out in
the US, we continue to evolve our safeguards and are
(26:22):
taking steps to address this issue. TikTok asks users for
their age when they sign up for an account, but
there's an obvious, like easy to evade loophole, which is
like people can just lie about their age and pretend
to be older than they are. There's also this a
big issue of counterfeit products. Now, you and I both
know TikTok is big on doops that they love being like, oh,
(26:46):
you want this product that's really pricey. Here's a doop
where they show a similar product for less money. But
This could also include products that are illegal counterfeits. TikTok
says they ban quote the advertising and sale of all
counterfeit products. By ensuring the safety and authenticity of products
sold on our platform, we create a positive shopping experience
(27:09):
that users can have confidence in the policy ads. But
a report by The Guardian back in April suggests that
maybe the rules are not being super effectively enforced, with
illicit beauty products routinely being promoted to users via their
content feeds and search results. Since TikTok takes a cut,
they're kind of essentially profiting off of the sale of
(27:31):
counterfeit goods. The Guardian report reads, not out of the
first twelve results shown to people searching quote perfume in
the TikTok Shop section of the app appeared to be counterfeit.
The products included variations of do Your's Savage perfume I'm
probably mispronouncing that savage perfume with names such as swab
(27:52):
or Savage, and a copy of Victor and Rolf's flower
Bomb perfume, which looks the same at first glance but
was actually called mark In. So I don't think that
like buying counterfeit goods is great, but like I'm not
crying tears for do you or they have plenty of money.
But it's not just that these products can be fake
and scamy and maybe illegal, they can also be harmful.
(28:14):
TikTok bans the sale of prescription only medicines such as
acne skin creams and skin whitening creams that contain banned ingredients.
But when the skin cream trett None was taking off
on TikTok, for instance, which you need a prescription to buy,
you could also buy it on TikTok shop. So there's
a reason why this is prescription only. It contains products
(28:35):
that might interact with medications and cause fetal abnormalities if
you're pregnant, so it's generally recommended to use under like
medical or like doctors supervision. The Guardian spoke to doctor
Jane Ravencroft of the British Association of Dermatologists, who said
the illicit sale of skin creams was a major concern
and a major public health risk. She said, Unfortunately, people
(28:57):
selling these prescription products illegally are on people's insecurities and naivete.
Social media adds fuel to the fire. Now I should
say that TikTok eventually did add a block for searches
for this product and then removed listings from third party
vendors that you know referred to this ingredient in their
in their posts after this this report was published. So
(29:20):
it does seem like the rollout of this has maybe
been a little bit iffy. But the question that I
want to ask is like, is it here to stay
From the research that I have seen, the answer is
maybe question mark. This kind of shopping platform functionality. It's
much more common in places like China, where TikTok is based,
(29:41):
with brands like Timu, and I think that TikTok is
kind of betting that it's going to take off in
the United States too, So like imaginative Amazon and TikTok,
we're to merge into one super app where you consumed content,
made content, but also shopped every day. It's kind of
like an everything app, the kind of thing that I
think that Elon Musk is hoping to turn Twitter or
(30:01):
x into. But so far, I do think it might
be a bit of an abrupt cultural shift to bring
that kind of app to the United States. Facebook and
Instagram both tried out live shopping functionality, only to later
face them out. In Indonesia, one of the countries where
TikTok first rolled out, TikTok Shop, TikTok Shop has now
been banned and shut down after the country banned commerce
(30:22):
on social media platforms. According to The New York Times,
the rules essentially mandate the separation of e commerce and
social media, and they're meant to protect local merchants, prevent
algorithms from dominating the market, and stop the use of
personal data for business purposes. So to be clear here,
I am not trying to demonize people who make content
(30:43):
on TikTok shop to make money, because, on the one hand,
like I kind of respect it. You know, making money
from platforms like TikTok is difficult as a creator, especially
considering what you said that like TikTok is kind of
shying away from their creator platform. You know, this billion
dollar product money that was to be doled out to
people who make viral tiktoks and such like. I understand
(31:04):
that people need to make money. I've also heard reports
of small businesses saying that they really find success from
TikTok and like it will blow up their blow up
their businesses. And I think that's great, So I don't
want to demonize the people who are, you know, making
money get your check. I'm with you. However, I do
think that it's fair to be critical of the way
(31:25):
that TikTok shop is being rolled out and how it's
impacting the platform. You know, if we're seeing more and
more ads on TikTok and it's feeling like walking around
us scamming flea market, it is a problem. Maybe it's
one of those like don't hate the player, hate the
game kind of things where it's like, yeah, don't demonize
(31:45):
individual creators, but do ask questions about why and how
one of the biggest social media platforms in the world,
why their endgame is ultimately to become this like massive
e commerce app, you know. And I also just think
it's like tiresome that, like all we can expect from
our digital experiences is being told to buy more stuff.
(32:09):
I can understand why people feel this is like almost dystopian.
You know, A teenager taking breaks in between classes to
tell me a grown woman what kind of bathroom scrubber
to buy does feel fundamentally kind of bleak. And I think,
especially in this moment in time, that we're in right
now that feels like genuine, you know, social and political upheaval.
(32:35):
Having our largest communications platforms turning toward feeling more like
digital scammy flea markets rather than places to find information,
connection and community does feel weird. Like I feel like
I would rather open TikTok right now and find information
about what's going on in the world, not like, hey,
(32:55):
buy this whatever you know it might fall apart in
three days when you open it. I get why people
are expressing that it feels dystopian or weird. And I
also think it feels like a fundamental lack of imagination
that we can't have better because I do fundamentally think
(33:15):
that we can have I mean, I think that you
embody this that like we can have consumerism, we can
buy things that we like, we can say for things,
we can make smart financial decisions and make intentional choices
about where and how we spend our money and also
be critical about consumerism, be critical about how we spend
our money, where we put our money, where the platforms
(33:36):
that we that we make purchases on like the their practices.
I think it's possible that we can do both, like
have there be buying things that we like while also
being critical of the system in which we buy them.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Absolutely, I think that it's definitely difficult to hold both
of those, but it's definitely essential to as well. These
pms take up a ton of our time and our
attention and now a bunch of our money, and I
think it's important to be really reflective and really critical
(34:12):
of why you're shopping, where you're shopping, who you're shopping from,
and if you're shopping is putting you in a good
financial position.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Yeah, I mean the over consumerism part I think is
so important that you bring up on TikTok. Things move
so quickly, including trends, So one week the trend is
one thing, the next week the trend is something else.
No one could possibly keep up with how quickly these
trends come and go on TikTok. So one week the
trend might be everybody's buying this pastel mirror. The next
(34:46):
week it's going to be something else. It creates this
digital churn and burn where you're constantly buying. The algorithm
itself is inflaming that, keeping us all locked into this
never ending cycle of digital fueled consumerism, and at the
heart of it, is really this empty idea that if
you buy the exact right thing, buy the thing that's
gonna make your house look exactly a certain way, you
(35:07):
will be happy. This need inside of you will be fulfilled.
But it keeps you locked into this algorithmically generated cycle
of never ending consumerism, and that cycle just keeps you
away from the fact that maybe your house is fine
the way it is. Maybe you don't need to buy
a million things to make your house look a certain
way for you to feel fulfilled and happy. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
I think once you hit the point where you're emptying
out your spices into different spice stars so that they
all match, like you're too far gone, like you gotta
reel it in. And I've caught myself like why, I'm like, oh,
wouldn't that be nice? And it's like no, that's honest,
that's like psychotic, and like, yes, I'm pulling myself, pulling
(35:49):
myself back to reality. I think it's a reality check.
Is something we could all use when it comes to
social media.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Definitely, the spice thing is a good one. I saw
somebody's bridge on TikTok and I was like, guy, should
dump all my eggs into a clear plastic thing and
then write eggs and coursive. But I was like, wait, no,
I would never use them. This would be like, this
is a setup for me to have all my food
items go to waste. I would never use that. So,
(36:18):
if you really really are listening to this and you're like,
I hate TikTok shop, what can I do if you
never want to see it again? You actually can turn
it off. You can go to your profile, open the
menu in the top right, hit settings and privacy and
then content preferences, filter video keywords, and then add hashtag
TikTok shop, and you will never see it again. If
(36:39):
you really are like over it, you're welcome. Tamika. Thank
you so much for like explaining all of this to
us and just helping us understand that you can enjoy shopping,
enjoy being pretty, enjoy buying things while also being critical.
Tell us where folks can find your content and what
you're up to.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
You can find me on TikTok it is at pretty critical,
and then I am to a lesser extent but working
on it on Instagram, which is at pretty critical.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Underscore. You are one of my favorite social media follows.
If you want someone who will tell you what to buy,
but also like give you a sense behind a curtain
of like what's going on with how we spend, how
we decide what to buy. Definitely follow Tamika. You are
a real one. Thank you so much for being here.
This was so fun.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Thank you for having me, it really was.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Got a story about an interesting thing in tech, or
just want to say hi? You can be just said
Hello at tangody dot com. You can also find transcripts
for today's episode at tenggody dot com. There Are No
Girls on the Internet was created by me Bridget Todd.
It's a production of iHeartRadio, an unbossed creative. Jonathan Strickland
is our executive producer. Tarry Harrison is our producer and
sound engineer. Michael Amado is our contributing producer. I'm your host,
(38:04):
Bridget Todd. If you want to help us grow, rate
and review us on Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Do you feel like you were in control of your
life or do you feel like shopping is running?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
There are No Girls on the Internet. As a production
of iHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative, I'm Bridget and this is
there are No Girls on the Internet. So I love TikTok,
but lately it kind of feels like the vibes are off.
What I've always liked about TikTok was that it feels
(00:31):
like watching kind of user generated Netflix, regular people telling
interesting stories. We're doing interesting things and ways that feel
genuinely captivating, as opposed to Instagram, where eventually, for me
it kind of came to feel like, you know, good
looking people, pretty polished people selling me something like those
are the people that I felt like were taking up
(00:52):
the most space on Instagram. Comparatively, on TikTok, it didn't
feel like I had to wade through a ton of
intrusive ads to use the platform. When you did encounter
an ad, it just said sponsored at the bottom, you
swiped up and that was that. But lately I feel
that that has changed. Now you scroll alongside regular ads,
(01:12):
but near those you also get these tiktoks that look
kind of like normal tiktoks, but they say eligible her
commission on the bottom. They're not exactly ads ads, But
the person in them, who was talking to you like
a friend, does just happen to be telling you about
a product that they maybe get a cut on if
you pull the trigger on buying TikToker. Grace Brissell recently
(01:35):
called out how dystopian this all feels, saying TikTok feels
like Chian and Ali Express had a baby. There's links everywhere,
there's one hundred ads. Why is there a seventeen year
old girl trying to sell me thirty five cent ring lights? Now,
none of this is entirely new. There was always stuff
to be bought and sold after folks hyped it up
on TikTok. You know, there was that expression TikTok made
(01:57):
me buy it. But now to me, it feels different.
So what's going on? Welcome to TikTok Shop, TikTok's affiliate
creator program that was officially rolled out in September after
months of testing. TikTok describes it in their September twelfth,
twenty twenty three press release when it launched, quote, TikTok
Shop empowers brands and creators to connect with highly engaged
(02:17):
customers based on their interest, and it combines the power
of community, creativity, and commerce to deliver a seamless shopping experience.
So here's how it works. Creators with five thousand followers
or more can get a cut of stuff that they
sell on the platform. TikTok takes a five percent cut
as well. We've talked about fast fashion like she and
on the podcast before, but when you add in that
(02:39):
same powerful TikTok algorithm and the way that it can
quickly boost videos to millions of people on consumerism, while
that feels like fast fashion meeting fast selling. So what
does this all mean? How do we get here? Is
it here to stay? And how is it shaping the
platform ta get into all of this? We're joined by
the most successful TikTokers that I know, Tamika, also known
(03:01):
as pretty Critical on TikTok, who uses their platform to
have frank and funny discussions about wellness, beauty, consumerism, all
with a critical eye. Tamika, thank you so much for
being here. I cannot think of a person that I
would rather be getting into all of this with. Ven you.
Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So your platform is at once like a celebration of
one of my favorite hobbies, which is buying things, but
also doing so in this like critical lens with a
critical eye. How did you come to be making content
like this?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Well, I think it's a really natural reflection of my
favorite hobbies, which are yes, buying things, but also personal finance.
I've just been really into personal finance since I was
very young. It was something my mother really instilled in me,
and of course there's always been that tension between I
love to shop and I have all these future financial goals.
(03:56):
And before I ever started making TikTok content, I was
watching it so consuming this content. I really started to
see there's people making great content around beauty, around fashion,
around wellness, and at the same time there's also people,
sometimes the same people, that very clearly have some kind
of over consumption problem, and that social media itself just
(04:21):
kind of opens the door for over consumption and normalizes it.
You know, you think of like halls and all of
these different ways of showing like how much you bought,
not necessarily what you bought, was was it smart? Asking
those kinds of questions. It was just like here volume.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
You know, I am a creative and most of my
career has spent freelancing or being self employed, and so
I didn't do any kind of saving. I wasn't saving
for retirement or putting together a furrow one k or
any of that, nor did I really know anybody who did.
And it was your content that really got me thinking
(04:59):
more serious about it. I am embarrassed to admit that
it wasn't until I started seeing your tiktoks that I
started thinking more about, oh, my own personal finance journey,
Like you made a lot of content about for O
one case, and like, what are we doing for a retirement?
We're not all like it's maybe it seems funny or
(05:20):
cute to pretend like none of us are saving, but
honey saved. Like don't you want to go shopping when
you're when you're a little older, Like save your money.
So you definitely are someone who makes these conversations sort
of accessible but also critical because like, I don't know,
I do think that TikTok is the kind of place
where over consumption is perhaps not as questioned as it
(05:43):
should be, Like the halls where you have bought so
many things that you couldnot possibly use all of those,
you know, water tumblers in one lifetime, Like that's not
really questioned the way that maybe it should be on
platforms like TikTok.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, I think part of the issue is that it's entertainment, right.
No one wants to be the skuld that comes in
and is like why did you buy so many Stanley cups?
And because it's entertainment, it also kind of normalizes your
own shopping. You're like, well, she's doing it, I'm doing it.
The people on these platforms seem like regular, everyday people
(06:19):
just like you. It kind of obscures the fact that
they have a reason to be buying these items, right,
they are selling these items back to you, They're getting
commission off these items. So it's definitely a platform that
makes your shopping feel very normal, even when it's very
out of control.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
What has it been like? Kind of walking this balance
of somebody who you know likes to shop for quality
goods and make content about shopping and consumerism, but in
a way that has that critical eye like what has
that been like for you?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
It's definitely a tough type rope to walk because I
think that there's a certain point where you're like, am
I really being honest with myself? So I like to shop.
I don't want to say that shopping is part of
my identity because that sounds so sad, but it's something
I really like to do, I really enjoy doing, and
I would say that beauty and fashion are parts of
(07:15):
my identity. That being said, I have all of these
financial goals that I'd like to reach, and by participating
in my hobbies, I'm immediately taking away from my ability
to reach those And so making the content is hard
because I think of that for other people as well.
Like if I'm telling you this sweater from Ralph Lauren
(07:39):
is amazing quality, I think it'll last you. If the
design is amazing, at the end of the day, you
don't need this sweater. And if people go and buy
the sweater, nine times out of ten, I'm not getting
a kickback out of anything I'm selling quote unquote selling.
I'm just sharing what I like. And so if I'm
just sharing what I like, they're buying it when there
(07:59):
may be an I in a position to buy it.
I'm not making money. They're not making money, they're losing money.
It's like who really won at the end of the
day just Roth Lauren, and I love Roth Lauren. No,
no shame to rolp Lauren. But it's a tough, weird
space to be in because I do want people to
make smart choices. I want to make smart choices. I've
been very honest on the platform about my own struggles
(08:21):
with over consumption where I'm in a weird space where
being personal finance obsessed. I am not in any trouble
with money. I'm on track for retirement, I have my
emergency savings, like I'm right where I should be. But
at the same time, my shopping can feel out of control.
And so I've been very honest in talks on the
(08:43):
platform with my followers around the emotional aspect of shopping
and it being about more than just what you can afford.
It's like, do you feel like you are in control
of your life or do you feel like shopping is
running you?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, that's something I've had to really get honest with
myself about that when it comes to shopping. So the
mix of shopping with social media consumption, they're two things.
They're like, you know, two evils in my life that
have now been like merged. Where I feel like with
social media it really encourages me to compare my life
(09:20):
to others. And then shopping is like, oh, do you
feel insecure in this way? Here's the solution. By this thing,
this will make you feel better.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, you feel insecure, you feel sad, you feel lonely,
you know, like any of these negative feelings, like shopping
is there to fill the void. It's not any different
than binge eating, you know, any sort of thing that's
just tamping down your emotions. And at the same time,
shopping is essential in a very similar way to eating
(09:52):
is essential. Right, You're not going to stop shopping altogether.
You will need new clothes at a certain point, you
will need a lo bottle at a certain point. You
may not need forty Stanley tumblers. But like you are
going to have to make decisions about your shopping.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
So like me, have you seen these like TikTok shop
videos taking over your fyp?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Oh, it's been astronomical. There are so many every time
I swipe through, and I almost feel like I'm not
in a position to be able to critique them, even
though I'm so tired of them because I've made like
two or three. I made two I was supposed to
make three. Because how it works is that TikTok gives
you a certain amount of credit to spend in the
(10:36):
TikTok shop, so you can get free credit. I got
two lip glosses and a cream blush for free, and
I think I got sixty dollars worth of credit. And
then you have to make videos about whatever you bought
through TikTok shop. And so I made one video, didn't
do great, made another one did do great, and I
(10:58):
was like, I didn't even want to make the third one,
Like the loop glass I got is fine, it's not amazing.
This color. The first one I got was like a
nice color. This color doesn't look as good on me.
I was like, I don't want to make this content,
but you have to, and I didn't make it, so
I have like a mark against my account. So I
feel for I feel for the people who are making
(11:18):
their required videos, the people that are making like video
after video after video and they don't have the requirement.
They bug me, but I get them because I get them.
It's you have all these followers. You probably don't make
that much money at your job, because like who does
these days, you have a platform that you can monetize
(11:42):
it's easy to do. TikTok is boosting some of those
videos with the algorithm. Why wouldn't you do it?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
This is why I love you and I love your
content because I feel like I can trust you. You like,
keep it so fucking real, Like I didn't know any
of what you just said, but it makes so much sense.
Is being an influencer somebody who is trying to get
people to buy things at odds with being somebody who
is fundamentally honest and critical because I see you as both.
(12:11):
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I mean how it works is that I don't make
very much money.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
You're like, I have another job.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, I have a full time job, and I've gone
through some of the economics of being a TikTok influencer
before on my account, where there's essentially three different ways
you can make money. It's probably more income streams that
are available to certain people, but these are the three
(12:40):
ways that are available for me. One, you can do
an AD with an outside company, right, so you'll create
a TikTok they'll pay you for it. I've done one
ad before. You can also do affiliate links, so you
show something on TikTok. You have a platform like like
(13:01):
to Know It or like shot my I have a
shot my page personally, and so they go and they
click through on the page and they can click through
what you were talking about, and if they buy through
your link, then you'll get a kickback from that, you'll
get commissioned. Same with the Amazon storefront. It's the same
exact idea, except for the platform as Amazon. So through
(13:22):
my shot my page, I've made under one hundred dollars.
Through my Amazon storefront, I made a couple thousand because
I was I had made a video about a walking pad.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I the inclined walking pad. I'm possibly about to pull
the trigger because of you on that walking pad. By
the way, I.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Still recommend it, especially as the weather's getting colder and
you don't want to do your walks outside. But because
that's a more high dollar amount item, I was able
to get a bigger commission back, which is why I
made a couple thousand through Amazon, which is that was
just a short period of time that's definitely slowed. And
then the third way money is the Creativity program. So
there's the Creator's Fund and then there's a Creativity Program Beta,
(14:06):
and I think they're kind of trying to move people
to the beta. But if you make a video over
one minute long, then it's eligible for a kick maack
based on how many people view the video. So and
that is I mean, it depends. I guess how many
abews you're getting. People that are have like way way
(14:26):
way high views all the time are gonna make can
make so much money. But I mean I have like
forty thousand followers. I probably have like one or two
viral videos a month, and that comes out to a
couple hundred dollars. It is much harder to be honest
when there are a bunch of brands knocking down your door.
I did a Empties video for those who don't know.
(14:49):
An Empties video is your skincare and makeup Empties things
you finished, You go through and you talk about them,
what you liked, what you didn't like. This video was
all about ones that I've repurch so I like them
so much. I boughted again and I said, I tend
to stick with my same old skincare, same old makeup.
I try a couple of new things, but I buy
(15:09):
what I like. Realistically, if another brand comes knocking down
my door, I say, I've been using this retin All
to Hide serum for three years now, and you come
knocking down my door and you're like, I want you
to sell this retin all to Hide zerrum. For me,
that's a tough position to be in. Someone's offering you,
like a couple thousand dollars to try the retin all
(15:30):
to Hide serum. And here's the thing. It could be
a great serum. And it's not a lie. I'm not
saying you're going to be tempted to lie, but you
are kind of pretending that this item was so good
that it broke you out of your routine, that the
whole reason you tried a new item was just because.
And it's like, no, this company came to me and
said try this. And here's the thing. If a company
(15:52):
came to me and said try this, I would try it.
If I liked it, I would talk about it. But
more likely than that, you're going to see me come
back to my old prom. And that's the part about
being an influencer where it's so tricky and so murky.
It's like, Okay, you liked the product, but did you
like it like it? Did you love it? Love it?
Should I really buy it?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Let's take a quick break ed er back. So I
do feel like that tightrope of like I'm'm watching a
friend who is just genuinely giving me a tip, genuinely
(16:36):
just giving me advice about a product they loved, or
is this like it's they have a financial incentive or
a little bit of both. I think that's something that
makes TikTok a little bit unique because on Instagram it
is full of like pretty people who look polished and perfect,
who are obviously getting paid and they probably don't use
these products. I know that when I'm scrolling Instagram, So
(16:58):
if I get taken and I buy something, it's kind
of on me. I get that. On TikTok, it feels
a little bit different because the vibe, the nature of TikTok,
I don't know, it just makes it a little hard
to resist. I think like it's like there is a
vibe where it's just someone who seems like a friend
chatting with me about a product they found that they
(17:20):
really love, and it kind of mixes what I think
makes TikTok good in the first place, right, Like this
aspect of like an interesting person that I can sort
of see myself in telling me something on Instagram, It's
like very aspirational, right, the person that I suppire to
be on TikTok, It's like the person that I aspire
(17:41):
to be is like polished, effortlessly beautiful. On TikTok, it's
the person who I actually am, right, like lazy and
easily entertained by novelty. And that is what gets me.
There is something about TikTok that I think is uniquely
poised to make me want to buy shit that I
don't need more than other platforms. Do you ever find that?
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Oh? Absolutely. I think one thing that people will sometimes
say to me in my comment is it feels like
we're just friends chatting on FaceTime. And I think that's
kind of what you're getting at where it's so low fi.
People are just very casual. It's like you're talking to
a buddy, and of course they're going to trust your buddy.
(18:24):
Why was your buddy lie to you?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Right?
Speaker 1 (18:27):
And I think that that piece of it not being
polished is what makes it so dangerous, because everyone seems
just like you. But one thing that I feel like
nobody really thinks about when they're watching these creators is
that to be a creator in a lot of instances,
(18:51):
you have to come in with a certain amount of money, right,
Like you need money to buy the items that you
are then reviewing and recommending. You need money to buy
the clothes that you're showing off. And so you look
at this person and you're like, oh, you're just like me.
You're buying this. I could buy this, you can afford this,
I can afford this. But chances are they're not, Like,
(19:14):
even if they are not making a bunch of money
on TikTok, they are probably in a cushier financial situation
than you, and that's why they're able to make such
varied content.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, they're not necessarily showing their like rich partner, and
I'm thinking like, oh, we're in the same income bracket,
and it's like, no, you're actually not, Like you are
actually making a bad financial decision right now. So from
my own unscientific anecdotal experiences, TikTok shop content is taking
over the platform and increasing the overall amount of ad
(19:48):
content on the platform. I'm not alone. Business Insider actually
looked into it. They had one of their reporters watch
five hundred videos on TikTok. One found that about seventy
two percent for regular TikTok videos, while thirty percent were adds.
Another found that sixty four percent of the content was
normal content and thirty six percent was product related. So
(20:09):
it does seem like there is more and more of
this kind of content on TikTok right now. The products
that I'm seeing, they range from like fitness products, which
always get me, electric bathroom scrubbers, which like in your
face TikTok algorithm, I would never buy a fucking like
bathroom cleaning products, so you're off on that one. Like
(20:30):
this chair that you can sit however you want, which
like speaks to me as a queer person, because the
Internet supposedly says that like queer people love to sit
in chairs in unusual ways, we won't sit in a
chair a normal way. Two products that I have to
say I did buy on TikTok shop. One was a
set of water color paints that I am perfectly happy with.
(20:52):
I saw it everywhere and I was like, I gotta
buy this. So another purchase from TikTok that I'm a
little more embarrassed about was this jar of perfumed body oil. Well,
keep in mind, I have never worn perfume in my life.
I am not a perfume person. So it's this TikTok
that shows a woman who bought this body oil. She
puts it on, and then she has a hidden camera
(21:12):
that I guess is meant to show her partner his
genuine reaction to her wearing this body oil. He comes,
he hugs her, and he kind of, upon smelling this
body oil, scoops her up in this warm, loving, seductive embrace.
I don't even wear perfumes. I am kind of bothered
by sense, but even I was like, I want to
be scooped up lovingly and seductively. I gotta buy this
(21:35):
body oil. So it just goes to show that TikTok's algorithm,
we know, is so good at getting a sense of
and projecting back to you your own triggers, your own weaknesses,
your own tension spots, the things that you maybe have
a little bit of a hang up about. And then
when you add in this consumerism aspect of TikTok shop,
(21:56):
it then adds in that knowledge about us all and
reflects back to you this product that purports to like
fill the need that that week spot opens. And when
that happens, well then you're like me, and you're pulling
the trigger on a jar of perfumed body oil when
you don't even like perfumes. I do want to say
that TikTok Shop is available for both small businesses and
(22:19):
also fast big retailers as well. So you could be
getting like a lovingly created small artists and piece that
or you could be getting like a piece of crap
that might not even be legit. In a piece called
the junk is Winning for the Atlantic, Amanda Mall argues,
the quality of items that are being hogked on TikTok
(22:41):
might be a little bit questionable, plastic junk that will
could immediately break or even counterfeit goods, and this might
actually be a feature of the program itself. Mall rights because,
like Amazon, TikTok Shop uses a marketplace model which aggregates
listings created by more than two hundred thousand third party
sellers into a single shopping with a single checkout system.
(23:02):
This system allows retailers to offer lots of products without
taking the financial risk of buying and managing inventory upfront. Amazon, Walmart, Target,
among both other major retailers and upstarts, use variations of
this marketplace model. For a significant chunk of inventory. Sellers
buy the inventory, create the listings, and in many cases
ship the orders themselves, assuming most of the risks and
(23:24):
doing most of the work. The platform takes a cut
of their sales in exchange for access to their audience
of potential buyers. This model has become popular because it
allows wanna be retailers to spin up the online equivalent
of a big box store relatively quickly and with less invement.
An obvious downside of this model is that the inventory
just has less hands on management, so that can be misleading, unreliable,
(23:46):
or even dangerous. Amandamal Atlantic Journalists spoke to a TikTok
spokesperson who said the algorithm plus human moderation is supposed
to weed out bad products that do not meet their standards. However,
this does not always account for problem listings, saying quote,
Sometimes problems go unnoticed until people start reporting issues, like
(24:08):
listings that will use stock images that do not depict
the product they are actually selling, or omit important details
on sizing or material composition, or offer counterfeit and potentially
unsafe products. Even legitimate listings from scrupulous sellers can make
for a confusing or scammy feeling shopping experience because sellers
create a lot of duplicate listings for save the same products.
(24:30):
That is especially common on TikTok, where sellers rush to
meet demand for a handful of products that have captivated
the platform at any particular moment. So if you've ever
thought that like shopping on TikTok, or just like being
on TikTok felt kind of scammy, this is probably partially why.
And I think that there's like just something about this
(24:50):
that feels a little bit scammy. This journalist Amanda Mola
describes being served an ad for a hair brush where
some places advertise it for five dollars, some people two dollars,
some people fifteen, some people ten, and it makes people
wonder like is this a counterfeit hair brush? Like is
this an add I can really trust? Then other people
go on and they're like, no, no, some people are
(25:11):
selling scammy counterfit hair brushes. I will give you the
like real hair brush at this price. And it just
creates this experience where it just doesn't feel good. Let
alone feel like a place where you want to like
add in your financial or credit card information. You know,
who wants to hang out in a digital place where
it feels like there's a scam behind every corner. More
(25:37):
after a quick break, let's get right back into it.
So also with how quickly TikTok has rolled this out,
it feels like moderation is kind of becoming an issue.
(26:00):
NBC News is Cat ten Barge found last month that
young people like miners, are cashing in on selling stuff
on this newly rolled out TikTok shop. In a statement
responding to questions about the present of teens on TikTok shop,
a TikTok representative said, as TikTok Shop rolls out in
the US, we continue to evolve our safeguards and are
(26:22):
taking steps to address this issue. TikTok asks users for
their age when they sign up for an account, but
there's an obvious, like easy to evade loophole, which is
like people can just lie about their age and pretend
to be older than they are. There's also this a
big issue of counterfeit products. Now, you and I both
know TikTok is big on doops that they love being like, oh,
(26:46):
you want this product that's really pricey. Here's a doop
where they show a similar product for less money. But
This could also include products that are illegal counterfeits. TikTok
says they ban quote the advertising and sale of all
counterfeit products. By ensuring the safety and authenticity of products
sold on our platform, we create a positive shopping experience
(27:09):
that users can have confidence in the policy ads. But
a report by The Guardian back in April suggests that
maybe the rules are not being super effectively enforced, with
illicit beauty products routinely being promoted to users via their
content feeds and search results. Since TikTok takes a cut,
they're kind of essentially profiting off of the sale of
(27:31):
counterfeit goods. The Guardian report reads, not out of the
first twelve results shown to people searching quote perfume in
the TikTok Shop section of the app appeared to be counterfeit.
The products included variations of do Your's Savage perfume I'm
probably mispronouncing that savage perfume with names such as swab
(27:52):
or Savage, and a copy of Victor and Rolf's flower
Bomb perfume, which looks the same at first glance but
was actually called mark In. So I don't think that
like buying counterfeit goods is great, but like I'm not
crying tears for do you or they have plenty of money.
But it's not just that these products can be fake
and scamy and maybe illegal, they can also be harmful.
(28:14):
TikTok bans the sale of prescription only medicines such as
acne skin creams and skin whitening creams that contain banned ingredients.
But when the skin cream trett None was taking off
on TikTok, for instance, which you need a prescription to buy,
you could also buy it on TikTok shop. So there's
a reason why this is prescription only. It contains products
(28:35):
that might interact with medications and cause fetal abnormalities if
you're pregnant, so it's generally recommended to use under like
medical or like doctors supervision. The Guardian spoke to doctor
Jane Ravencroft of the British Association of Dermatologists, who said
the illicit sale of skin creams was a major concern
and a major public health risk. She said, Unfortunately, people
(28:57):
selling these prescription products illegally are on people's insecurities and naivete.
Social media adds fuel to the fire. Now I should
say that TikTok eventually did add a block for searches
for this product and then removed listings from third party
vendors that you know referred to this ingredient in their
in their posts after this this report was published. So
(29:20):
it does seem like the rollout of this has maybe
been a little bit iffy. But the question that I
want to ask is like, is it here to stay
From the research that I have seen, the answer is
maybe question mark. This kind of shopping platform functionality. It's
much more common in places like China, where TikTok is based,
(29:41):
with brands like Timu, and I think that TikTok is
kind of betting that it's going to take off in
the United States too, So like imaginative Amazon and TikTok,
we're to merge into one super app where you consumed content,
made content, but also shopped every day. It's kind of
like an everything app, the kind of thing that I
think that Elon Musk is hoping to turn Twitter or
(30:01):
x into. But so far, I do think it might
be a bit of an abrupt cultural shift to bring
that kind of app to the United States. Facebook and
Instagram both tried out live shopping functionality, only to later
face them out. In Indonesia, one of the countries where
TikTok first rolled out, TikTok Shop, TikTok Shop has now
been banned and shut down after the country banned commerce
(30:22):
on social media platforms. According to The New York Times,
the rules essentially mandate the separation of e commerce and
social media, and they're meant to protect local merchants, prevent
algorithms from dominating the market, and stop the use of
personal data for business purposes. So to be clear here,
I am not trying to demonize people who make content
(30:43):
on TikTok shop to make money, because, on the one hand,
like I kind of respect it. You know, making money
from platforms like TikTok is difficult as a creator, especially
considering what you said that like TikTok is kind of
shying away from their creator platform. You know, this billion
dollar product money that was to be doled out to
people who make viral tiktoks and such like. I understand
(31:04):
that people need to make money. I've also heard reports
of small businesses saying that they really find success from
TikTok and like it will blow up their blow up
their businesses. And I think that's great, So I don't
want to demonize the people who are, you know, making
money get your check. I'm with you. However, I do
think that it's fair to be critical of the way
(31:25):
that TikTok shop is being rolled out and how it's
impacting the platform. You know, if we're seeing more and
more ads on TikTok and it's feeling like walking around
us scamming flea market, it is a problem. Maybe it's
one of those like don't hate the player, hate the
game kind of things where it's like, yeah, don't demonize
(31:45):
individual creators, but do ask questions about why and how
one of the biggest social media platforms in the world,
why their endgame is ultimately to become this like massive
e commerce app, you know. And I also just think
it's like tiresome that, like all we can expect from
our digital experiences is being told to buy more stuff.
(32:09):
I can understand why people feel this is like almost dystopian.
You know, A teenager taking breaks in between classes to
tell me a grown woman what kind of bathroom scrubber
to buy does feel fundamentally kind of bleak. And I think,
especially in this moment in time, that we're in right
now that feels like genuine, you know, social and political upheaval.
(32:35):
Having our largest communications platforms turning toward feeling more like
digital scammy flea markets rather than places to find information,
connection and community does feel weird. Like I feel like
I would rather open TikTok right now and find information
about what's going on in the world, not like, hey,
(32:55):
buy this whatever you know it might fall apart in
three days when you open it. I get why people
are expressing that it feels dystopian or weird. And I
also think it feels like a fundamental lack of imagination
that we can't have better because I do fundamentally think
(33:15):
that we can have I mean, I think that you
embody this that like we can have consumerism, we can
buy things that we like, we can say for things,
we can make smart financial decisions and make intentional choices
about where and how we spend our money and also
be critical about consumerism, be critical about how we spend
our money, where we put our money, where the platforms
(33:36):
that we that we make purchases on like the their practices.
I think it's possible that we can do both, like
have there be buying things that we like while also
being critical of the system in which we buy them.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Absolutely, I think that it's definitely difficult to hold both
of those, but it's definitely essential to as well. These
pms take up a ton of our time and our
attention and now a bunch of our money, and I
think it's important to be really reflective and really critical
(34:12):
of why you're shopping, where you're shopping, who you're shopping from,
and if you're shopping is putting you in a good
financial position.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Yeah, I mean the over consumerism part I think is
so important that you bring up on TikTok. Things move
so quickly, including trends, So one week the trend is
one thing, the next week the trend is something else.
No one could possibly keep up with how quickly these
trends come and go on TikTok. So one week the
trend might be everybody's buying this pastel mirror. The next
(34:46):
week it's going to be something else. It creates this
digital churn and burn where you're constantly buying. The algorithm
itself is inflaming that, keeping us all locked into this
never ending cycle of digital fueled consumerism, and at the
heart of it, is really this empty idea that if
you buy the exact right thing, buy the thing that's
gonna make your house look exactly a certain way, you
(35:07):
will be happy. This need inside of you will be fulfilled.
But it keeps you locked into this algorithmically generated cycle
of never ending consumerism, and that cycle just keeps you
away from the fact that maybe your house is fine
the way it is. Maybe you don't need to buy
a million things to make your house look a certain
way for you to feel fulfilled and happy. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
I think once you hit the point where you're emptying
out your spices into different spice stars so that they
all match, like you're too far gone, like you gotta
reel it in. And I've caught myself like why, I'm like, oh,
wouldn't that be nice? And it's like no, that's honest,
that's like psychotic, and like, yes, I'm pulling myself, pulling
(35:49):
myself back to reality. I think it's a reality check.
Is something we could all use when it comes to
social media.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Definitely, the spice thing is a good one. I saw
somebody's bridge on TikTok and I was like, guy, should
dump all my eggs into a clear plastic thing and
then write eggs and coursive. But I was like, wait, no,
I would never use them. This would be like, this
is a setup for me to have all my food
items go to waste. I would never use that. So,
(36:18):
if you really really are listening to this and you're like,
I hate TikTok shop, what can I do if you
never want to see it again? You actually can turn
it off. You can go to your profile, open the
menu in the top right, hit settings and privacy and
then content preferences, filter video keywords, and then add hashtag
TikTok shop, and you will never see it again. If
(36:39):
you really are like over it, you're welcome. Tamika. Thank
you so much for like explaining all of this to
us and just helping us understand that you can enjoy shopping,
enjoy being pretty, enjoy buying things while also being critical.
Tell us where folks can find your content and what
you're up to.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
You can find me on TikTok it is at pretty critical,
and then I am to a lesser extent but working
on it on Instagram, which is at pretty critical.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Underscore. You are one of my favorite social media follows.
If you want someone who will tell you what to buy,
but also like give you a sense behind a curtain
of like what's going on with how we spend, how
we decide what to buy. Definitely follow Tamika. You are
a real one. Thank you so much for being here.
This was so fun.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Thank you for having me, it really was.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Got a story about an interesting thing in tech, or
just want to say hi? You can be just said
Hello at tangody dot com. You can also find transcripts
for today's episode at tenggody dot com. There Are No
Girls on the Internet was created by me Bridget Todd.
It's a production of iHeartRadio, an unbossed creative. Jonathan Strickland
is our executive producer. Tarry Harrison is our producer and
sound engineer. Michael Amado is our contributing producer. I'm your host,
(38:04):
Bridget Todd. If you want to help us grow, rate
and review us on Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
get your podcasts.
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