Madeleine Olivia

[vaticancameos]

I feel quite disheartened recently because I've liked Maddie for many years, but she really needs to come out and define her new "brand" now and own it, otherwise she's going to lose more and more people as she turns into a stereotypical "influencer". I think the majority of people I know are far more minimalist/sustainable without even trying just by living sensibly, or in my case being poor

 

[Seven of Nine]

The new post just made me think of those old houses you’d go to on school trips where everyone would be dressed up and you’d do a day in the life of a Victorian maid or cook

 

[slugella]

She's deleted the comment now, but not before replying 'get back under your bridge, troll'. Truth hurts, I guess

How on earth was that YT comment trolling?? At least the screenshot is here if she has deleted it. That is SO ridiculous. She could have used that as an opportunity to respond properly but she clearly has no defence other than she just wants to fill her new house with stuff and sell out from her beliefs for ad money, so instead it's easier for her to just falsely cry 'troll'.

If you're going to write a book about minimalism and build your brand around that message, and then go against everything you previously stood for, then act suprised when someone questions it..

 

[PineappleQueen19]

These tweets doing numbers today made me remember Madeleine declaring herself brave for moving into the holiday house on her parents’ grounds and start working for her mum part time

 

[hollyf*ckerby]

As a vegan I also eat in places that serve meat. The reason being that any options are good in my opinion! Its so hard to find vegan food sometimes so its nice to at least have the option of convenience /fast food that is affordable. Plus where does it end? Are you going to stop shopping in the supermarkets because they also sell meat?

I don't think she will veer away from being vegan. I think thats at her core, but the minimalism thing seems a bit sketchy.

 

[NowIsGood]

'Hey guyz... Like plastic is like really bad... It makes me so sad'

'Ohh look at my shiny new MDF kitchen units! And my lush new hot tub (don't worry, gonna get a bigger one soon!) And look at all these new clothes I got gifted (they promise to plant a tree if you use my affiliate code!)

 

[gcpz]

She’s so far removed from where she was when she started YouTube, all about minimalism and sustainability.

She’s just shared three new IKEA wardrobes full of clothes.

 

[NowIsGood]

I just started the latest YouTube video.
She lost me at the "so affordable" knife rack at only £136 to replace the one that just isn't pretty enough
Read the room Madeleine.

She seems very lost in her wealth at this point, buying things to chase some sort of mental peace (which admittedly we've all done at some point, the thrill of buying things wears off fast and never fills that void.)
The more money she has and the more things she buys seem to correlate with her unhappiness.

Her most popular videos were ones like doing the weekly shop for £20/ cooking dishes for under £1 ect. Things that were genuinely interesting and felt honest.
She now seems to yearn for validation for buying expensive things, but it doesn't seem to fill that emptiness she has. It's also majorly alienating her OG fan base.

I think the whole tedious upcoming wedding prep is also something else she can spend money on to escape reality ie, the idea of a fairytale wedding solving all your problems...

 

[Tom_Nook]

That being said, I am sure there is an annex or other space she just isn't showing.

I think that there's an annex which we've not seen yet

I was surprised at the lack of office space.
Maybe they had lots of leftover money to rent a separate office space again?

Also, they are not creating an office space which I find very surprising considering they are both working from home.

Yes, she said to wait for the garden tour and a 'surprise outside' so I think we can assume they have their office space in an annexe. Not sure why they think that's some kind of fun surprise for their viewers

 

[andreaoid]

The terrible sunglasses are £125. I have nothing else to add, really.

 

[snarkvark]

I used to really enjoy Maddie's videos. She was very relatable as she decluttered her life and got into minimalism. I know people change but she changed for the worst. It was when she went travelling that she started to rub me the wrong way. she did a video about how "anyone can achieve anything if they just try hard enough" and I remember she got called out in the comments but just couldn't see (or refused to acknowledge) how privileged that attitude is.

As her channel grew, she got more subscribers and more money from ADs the minimalism and sustainability fell to the side and she became a shill for whoever wanted to give her free stuff. There's always an excuse as to why she works with brands who produce plastic products or whatevr. I don't thinks she actively learns about sustainability or simple living anymore. She's not a minimalism or someone who considers sustainbility in her decisions. she's become someone who doesn't care about personal waste because "the big companies are to blame" and while that's true, it's bizarre to see someone use that as an excuse to buy plastic wrapped food all the time. it's like she's given up. She also wears wool clothing now! that's not vegan even if it's "recycled".

I dont have a problem with her selling her house and buying a new one. it's completely unrelatable but what's she suppsoed to do? The thing is, maddie's renovation vlogs are BORING. Everything she does reeks of privilege. the amount of renovating and decorating they're doing must cost so much money and their house was already 500k!!! She's gone from being very relatable to not at all. She should stop positioning herself as a slow living sustainability vlogger because she's far from it now.

 

[Agelsfa]

I used to like her sustainable/minimalism content and she was pretty relatable back when she was living at home/when they first rented the apartment in Brighton.

I feel like it has all gone a bit downhill though and this move to a big house has just kind of sealed it for me. She acts like being on social media is a chore and I run my own business, I get it, it can be a chore but you don't tell everyone that. I don't know, it's a bit awkward or something when you know she doesn't want to be posting.

I like her, she seems nice enough, the same with Alex but her content just doesn't interest me as much anymore.

 

[Tom_Nook]

I'd never ever comment or contact someone just to tell them that I don't like their content, because I'm aware that they probably don't care. But it isn't normal to expect to live in a bubble where no-one can disagree with you about anything. It's OK to have different opinions, Maddie thinks she's sustainable and creates quality content but some of us disagree and that's fine. I don't want to 'bring anyone down' and I have taken myself elsewhere. Here!

I do wonder when content creating/ influencing will be considered as a job in Marketing. As others have said, it's a new job and it's already changed a lot over the last few years in terms of ASA etc.

 

[justbecasual]

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My main issue with this instagram post was that it felt like we'd regressed 70 years. Where is her feminism? Of course we all do the laundry, its a part of everyday life, but as an influencer I'm not sure how helpful it is to show girls and women this sun-dappled, idyllic image of woman in dress, apron with woven basket in tow. It's all a bit Handmaid's Tale for my liking.

 

[PineappleQueen19]

Chasing fame has always been the #1 goal.

She’s jumped from niche group to niche group for years now, slowly building her influencer status. First she was in Durianrider’s weird cult and even went to the busted Thai Fruit Festival in Chiangmai *after* durianriders crimes against young women had been revealed. I remember her defending the decision at the time, saying he’d never actually been convicted of anything

Then she cleverly caught the attention of Mr & Mrs Vegan, they were an under the radar but highly influential vegan power couple in Los Angeles, their diet was called HSLF (High Starch Low Fat). They gave her multiple shoutouts. At that time she was doing a lot of weight loss vlogs where she would strip to crop top and shorts and examine her body in front of the camera. Then minimalism/sustainability. Now she’s a mainstream basic cottagecore influencer…. She was just chasing fame/£££ all along.

eta: mr & mrs vegans diet was WSLF (whole starch low fat) sorry, it’s been a while…

 

[PineappleQueen19]

Oh wow she’s so needy. She’s obviously been raging behind the scenes - something has gotten under her skin.

If it’s something that’s been said here, well.. the truth hurts eh? It’s not a malicious thread, the majority of the posts here are people who have articulated how they used to support Maddie (even bought her book, ebooks & various merch) but slowly and disappointingly the scales fell from their eyes and have given clear reasons why.

You need a certain temperament to be an influencer, even more so if you’re going to be so money hungry.

 

[Missy sissy]

I just watched her last video today. She mentions that they are going to redo the bathroom to fix the leaks and that the old bathroom will go to her sister, because there is nothing wrong with it and the bath is great. But she wants a new bathroom and the sister is very happy to get the old one… so basically the sister is the sustainable one not Madeleine

 

[Lizzie Mintdrop]

I can't stand the 'I provide free content' line. No TV production company uses that line when their shows are on ITV, Channel 4 or Channel 5, because they aren't providing free content, they are providing content in a bid to raise revenue from advertising.

 

[Tom_Nook]

I had a quick scan through the video and there's a dialogue about 36 minutes in about there being more to life than work and how we're all realising work shouldn't be a priority...... she even throws in something about how we're all working at home now... hasn't she always worked at home?!

It was well intentioned and I agree that we shouldn't live to work. I'm all for having a shorter working week and longer weekends. However most of us have our work hours dictated by our employer and we need to work those hours to put a roof over our heads, so yes it kind of is a priority for me! If you're priveleged enough to pick and choose your work hours then you go Glen Coco, but sadly I can't clock off early because I want to do some gardening.

She just seems so out of touch now.

 

[slugella]

Things you'll never hear an influencer say:

'We're moving house because we feel that we've outgrown our current place. Because of everyone watching these videos and buying my books we can afford to buy somewhere much bigger. So thank you for all your support.'

Instead we get:

'We've been keeping a secret! Surprise sneak peaks! Buying our second property before the age of 30 with no stamp duty while people are literally dying in a pandemic is SO stressful. We only wanted to move somewhere with two living rooms but we've settled for just the one'

I've unsubscribed

Spot on. I'm quite sad about it actually as she was one of the few influencers I still liked, supported and was happy for, and I enjoyed watching her videos.