My thoughts on the outspoken podcast episode.
Overall I think they did an ok job at relaying Sarah’s lack of insight, her continued disordered behaviours, and her silence, snippy remarks, and censoring/delisting comments, all as indicators of guilt. Could’ve gone deeper, but that’s not really their style. As was said above they tend to report over discuss.
-I liked that it started with a trigger warning (essentially anything involving Sarah should come with various trigger warnings, tbh).
-I like that they mentioned Mia’s qualifications (and her association with The Butterfly Foundation and ED advocacy). This, when juxtaposed against Sarah’s following introduction as a ‘self-proclaimed holistic health princess’ made Sarah’s lack of any qualifications all the more stark. It positioned her accurately, as someone with lots of followers but zero credibility, even though they didn’t explicitly say she has no qualifications.
-I liked that they agreed that Sarah is still very much is ‘that girl’ who frets over extreme exercising and food intake, despite her claiming to have overcome her issues.
-I really like that they talked about this campaign and Sarah’s approach in general, as being symptomatic of her very insular and closed life and bubble, particularly regarding her lack out outside influence in her work team. They mentioned she primarily works with family, friends or those in the ‘Cronulla bubble’, but emphasised that she should really get an objective and balanced professional onboard who is not a friend/family, who could have flagged this (and many other) issues. (We all know Scummy would never, she needs ‘yes men’ only to feed her narcissism; but good to hear her insularity called out).
-I like that they addressed the one comment she replied to, and pushed that the onus is not on the viewers to interpret her message how she intended. That’s not the issue, the issue is that her program is indeed coming across a certain way to the viewing public - as marketing to vulnerable people, and encouraging disordered behaviours, to profit her. And the onus is and will always remain on her to remedy this.
-I do wish they talked more about the disconnect between the reel caption vs reel video more, or rather, Sarah’s voiceover about finding balance, acceptance etc., combined with videos of her smashing herself in the gym, and the caption about ‘no excuses’ and ‘results’ and ‘after photos’. Or just more talk about the nonsensical mindfuck of the marketing and the clearly hypocritical message about balance, vs what the plan is actually selling.
-I wish they’d included more than just 1-2 comments from the reel. Mia’s video was great, but it’s the comments from actual viewers and subscribers (that many have uploaded here) that really opened my eyes to how deeply wrong this campaign is, and just how many are affected.
-I like that they outright called her out for manipulation. In that part they said something along the lines of: “it’s still problematic, but as least if she had done a ‘wedshread’ program you kind of know what you’re getting…but this, this is manipulative, it’s manipulating vulnerable people.”
-I loved that they included the closing lines of Mia’s video. This imo was the best part of Mia’s video where she spoke directly to Sarah. I posted them as a seperate comment in this thread, but here it is again. I don’t have socials (outside of tattle, if that counts!), but if someone wants to circulate this online, or make other versions thereof, these words deserve more attention:
Leave this demographic alone.
Leave eating disorder sufferers alone.
Leave people fighting for their lives, alone.
They do not need 8 week exercise programs.
They do not need bodychecking, from you, in your promo.
They do not need to give your their $70.00.
They need appropriate care and treatment, and to be pointed in the direction of qualified individuals, who are able to help them address these issues, that you are using to line your own pocket.
da 
