News 15th November 2017 by Grace McGettigan
“It Makes Me So Sad”: Zoella Finally Responds To The Backlash Over Her Advent Calendars
YouTuber, Zoella, has been facing a *lot* of aggressive backlash for releasing a 12-day Advent Calendar for €65, or £50. People have been saying it’s overpriced considering it contains cheap products such as stickers and confetti.
The 27-year-old took to her video channel to explain her position, and began by saying, “I didn’t want to not address it, because I want you guys to know that I do care, and the lasting I want to do is anger, upset or disappoint anyone.
“The calendar is something I’ve worked on for a year. I love the product – I am all about the creativity. I’m all about getting it from a design to a product.
“Where my input ends, is there. Once that product is done and I’m happy with it, the retailer can decide how much they sell that for. That’s completely out of my decision making.
“I don’t have the right to make those decisions. It makes me so sad that I product like I loved and worked hard on… has left so many people so upset. I feel just as let down by this also. The price of any product is up to a retailer. I wanted to come on and explain that to you.
“I don’t want people to think that I’m, like, sat at home, like, counting £50 every time someone buys this calendar thinking that was a conscious decision that I made to rip people off.
“Because, if you know me, you know that there is not a bone in my body that would think that way… that is 100 per cent not my intention. My intention was to make a product that I thought you guys would love.
“I still think it is a product you would love, it’s just been completely ruined by a decision I didn’t make and it’s so frustrating.
“My input in this, is creative. It’s coming up with new ideas, it’s new, cool packaging concepts, it’s new scents, it’s new things we can do. I’m very heavily involved in that and I love it. Like right now I have eight products on my desk that I’m testing and making sure they are right for you guys.
“These things take years to get right and that’s all I can do. Past that point, it’s handed over. It’s like a baby that is handed over to somebody else and then they get to choose what they do with that.
“And I think, after seeing some people’s feedback on this, it’s quite obvious that the decision made by the retailer was the wrong decision. And I’m sure they will take that information on board.
“So I’m really sorry that so many of you felt so let down by this product. I really hope that this kind of clears that up for you, because there’s a lot of people that think I chose that price and that I don’t care and that I’m doing it for the money. And that makes me so sad, because that’s not who I am, that’s not why I do this.”
Watch her chat about it below:
What do you make of her comments?