The Pinay Teen Mocked for Her Luxury Bag on TikTok: A Short History
The Singapore-based teen was showered with support.
(SPOT.ph) Brands and how they're perceived can be fickle. To borrow a concept from Emily in Paris, you can be a luxury brand but be ringarde—"tacky" in English. Throw in social media and you've got an even more fickle mix, one where the crowd gets to dictate, and at times when someone dares to go against majority thought, bully. Which is exactly what happened to one TikTok user who just wanted to share some good news. Meet 17-year-old Singapore-based Filipina Zoe, and yep, her luxury Charles & Keith bag.
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Filipino teen gets shamed online after calling high-street shop Charles & Keith a luxury brand.
In a TikTok post on January 8, Zoe, who is known as @zohtaco on the platform, posted a video of herself happily unwrapping a gift from her father. It happened to be a tote from Singapore brand Charles & Keith, which she referred to as her "first luxury bag".
The seemingly happy video, which has over 6.8 million views as of this writing, then got a whole slew of comments and reactions, mainly fueled by the thoughts of one poster who has since deleted theirs. A sly and mean-spirited "Who's gonna tell her?" followed by the laughing emoji was the message that had viewers rushing to send in positive comments to Zoe.
@zohtaco thank you dad
@zohtaco BEST BELIEVE IM STILL BEJEWELED!!
♬ bejeweled - ¡!
"It’s true.. not all people can afford charles & keith.. so you go girl! Be proud of it! [sic]", "every sporean girl's first lux bag [sic]", and "congratulations my daughter got the same bag 2 weeks back her first luxury bag too [sic]" were just some of the comments left for Zoe. While some pointed to the fact that Charles and Keith is part of the LVMH—the umbrella group that holds Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior among others—portfolio, it was clear that for others, the brand was not "luxury" enough.
In a separate video addressing the since-deleted comment, Zoe tells her family's story. They had immigrated to Singapore in 2010 from the Philippines; growing up her family "did not have a lot" and that they couldn't even buy "bread from Breadtalk", a popular bakery chain that originated in Singapore. "Your comment spoke volumes about how ignorant you seem because of your wealth. To you an $80 bag may not be a luxury, (but) for me and my family, it is a lot. And I'm so grateful that my dad was able to get me one. He worked so hard for that money," was her direct reply to the commenter, adding that she "can't believe that she got hate over a bag" that she was excited to have.
And it seems the whole interaction has struck a chord. In the few days since the video was posted, a spokesperson from Charles and Keith has reached out to Zoe and her father inviting them to a meal with the brand's founders and a tour of their headquarters, reports Marketing Initiative. Zoe and a few members of her family were also treated by Singapore resto Takagi Ramen to a meal at their restaurant. Several brands have also expressed interest and support for Zoe via the comments section of her videos, apart from all the other users showering good vibes.
So while social media and all the nasty commenters out there can hold sway over how brands are perceived now—dictating what's in and what's out—Zoe's recent experience shows that hey, "luxury" isn't just a price tag.