Alyssa & John: Life With Three Daughters

[SassyPants]

8 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

Not everyone can pull off selling stuff on social media. Jill doesn't seem to have the social media personality. I know I don't have it in me to do that. I don't photograph well, I can't stage photos at all and I'm not good at making my average life look interesting.  Alyssa can do it. She can make her hair and make up look perfect, force her kids to pose perfectly and network so companies will pay her to advertise for them. 

The whole Bates family is brand conscious in a way that the Duggars never really have been. The Bates are experts at using their family lives to make money. Alyssa puts up some pictures of her cute kids to help bring in followers and then profits off that. 

Necessity is the mother of all inventions. The Bates children learned that if they wanted things or experiences they needed to shill and hustle. The Duggars, OTOH, had JB who shilled and hustled early on and the kids did not have as big of a need. Now the Seewalds have a need and they are pretty good at the shilling. Jill and Derick are lacking in the "people skills/social skills" departments. They are never going to be successful at shilling as they are both too awkward. Derick also lacks tenacity. He presents as a wanderer.

[formergothardite]

4 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

The Bates children learned that if they wanted things or experiences they needed to shill and hustle.

They also had Kelly who seemed to learn very early on in their reality television journey that the family needed to hide the weirdness if they were going to be successful. Kelly quickly took her family from looking more insane than the Duggars to looking almost mainstream. 

And yeah, Jill and Derick are socially awkward with no people skills and no indication that they want to hide their crazy side, so they aren't going to make it in social media. Companies want to hook up with the shiny folks who make people want to have their lives, not the ones like Jill who barely seems to have it together. 

[HarleyQuinn]

For me it depends on who's shilling. There's a few youtube channels I follow (mostly for curly hair products) that I believe when they say they like a product because they're also pretty vocal about when they don't.  But Fundies...nah, I'd never believe any of them. They don't have the life experience to compare anything to. Like Jill Duggar trying to promote Fab, Fit, Fun was hysterical because she is none of those things. I doubt she's ever owned a Glam Glow product in her life. 

[LawsonBatesEgo]

4 hours ago, formergothardite said:

Not everyone can pull off selling stuff on social media. Jill doesn't seem to have the social media personality. I know I don't have it in me to do that. I don't photograph well, I can't stage photos at all and I'm not good at making my average life look interesting.  Alyssa can do it. She can make her hair and make up look perfect, force her kids to pose perfectly and network so companies will pay her to advertise for them. 

The whole Bates family is brand conscious in a way that the Duggars never really have been. The Bates are experts at using their family lives to make money. Alyssa puts up some pictures of her cute kids to help bring in followers and then profits off that. 

I think Jill really wants to be a successfully Christian Mommy Blogger, but she just doesn't have the personality to pull it off, or the smarts to learn how to do it. You don't have to have a perfect life and have it all together, you just have to know how to make it look like you do, and if you don't, know how to address it with humour. I think Jessa has the personality for it, if it is something she wants to pursue - and with 2 million followers, it would take off very quickly with the right content.

[LillyP]

Ehhhh...I just think Alyssa got a taste of what it's like to actually "have" nice things after she got married and didn't have to consult her parents anymore - and being in influencer on social media is her way to get them without spending a lot of money. Plenty of people do it, fundie or not. 

[VBOY9977]

Alyssa recovered her account!! Looks like she lost all of her old pictures though....

[miss_batson]

Alyssa is back on instagram.

 

[SassyPants]

On 10/13/2018 at 3:51 PM, LawsonBatesEgo said:

I think Jill really wants to be a successfully Christian Mommy Blogger, but she just doesn't have the personality to pull it off, or the smarts to learn how to do it. You don't have to have a perfect life and have it all together, you just have to know how to make it look like you do, and if you don't, know how to address it with humour. I think Jessa has the personality for it, if it is something she wants to pursue - and with 2 million followers, it would take off very quickly with the right content.

Jill is awkward. Derick makes her MORE awkward. She needs to move off social media. Her skill sets do not translate well. Too bad she can't get educated and become a real midwife. She might be ok in that profession.

[16strong]

On the first post of Alyssa's new instagram account, she responded to only one fan out of the 150+ comments: a request for a discount code on a product Alyssa shills. Now I ain't sayin' she a golddigger, but...

[JordynDarby5]

1 hour ago, 16strong said:

On the first post of Alyssa's new instagram account, she responded to only one fan out of the 150+ comments: a request for a discount code on a product Alyssa shills. Now I ain't sayin' she a golddigger, but...

You've watched the Honest Trailer for Cinderella? 

[llg1234]

8 hours ago, 16strong said:

On the first post of Alyssa's new instagram account, she responded to only one fan out of the 150+ comments: a request for a discount code on a product Alyssa shills. Now I ain't sayin' she a golddigger, but...

A gold digger is someone (usually a woman) who peruses a relationship based on that person’s finances. 

[miss_batson]

Zoey started crawling at 6 months. ? And Alyssa already misses her little baby. I guess she wont miss haveing a baby for too long. ?

 

[HereticHick]

29 minutes ago, llg1234 said:

A gold digger is someone (usually a woman) who peruses a relationship based on that person’s finances. 

thank you. Alyssa is an entrepreneur, not a gold digger.

Alyssa has hustle. Many people here don't like that she earns money on Instagram. But then, we also spend a lot of time bitching on FJ about fundy women not working...

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[nausicaa]

2 hours ago, llg1234 said:

A gold digger is someone (usually a woman) who peruses a relationship based on that person’s finances. 

She's quoting a line from a Kanye West song. It's about the same as saying "If it quacks like a duck..." I don't think that poster was actually saying Alyssa is a gold digger.

[nausicaa]

1 hour ago, HereticHick said:

thank you. Alyssa is an entrepreneur, not a gold digger.

Not to completely contradict my earlier point, but it is strange to me that the generally accepted rationalization for Alyssa's super young marriage is that John was her ticket out and he had a steady job and came from Fundie royalty.

It doesn't really make sense that we're cool with admitting Alyssa played her hand to get into an advantageous marriage, but we're also going to pretend she is a self-made entrepreneur who didn't get a financial leg up by being attractive to a man? Cause like...she did. And I'm genuinely not trying to trash her with that-- I understand that's just how the dynamics of most Fundamentalist marriages work.

[HereticHick]

4 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

Not to completely contradict my earlier point, but it is strange to me that the generally accepted rationalization for Alyssa's super young marriage is that John was her ticket out and he had a steady job and came from Fundie royalty.

I'm not denying that John was Alyssa's ticket out. But I think Alyssa does have a lot of spunk, and I think she'd be trying to make $$ on Instagram no matter who she had married. I get that a lot of folks here hate people using their Instagram to earn income. But, playing devil's advocate here--Alyssa has 3 little kids--how else do we expect her to make money? Yes, I know the accepted FJ answer would be for her to get her tubes tied, dump the girls in daycare & get a job. 

If Alyssa wasn't earning $$/free stuff via social media, and if she wasn't working with John on their office cleaning business--she might have wear old clothes & have less cute makeup & fewer photo shoots--and I guarantee we'd have some FJers bitching about her cheapness, lack of style, washed out looks, tired countenance, poor selfie skills, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

[Bazinga]

My feelings on Alyssa shilling products on Instagram is that she does it poorly (and I know some will disagree with me), but what I notice with a lot of popular Instagramers is they try to interact with their followers in genuine ways. They will respond to comments (though not everyone) and try to add in other content that helps their brand. I don't see that with Alyssa. I see posed Sunday family pics and then shilling products. Someone above mentioned Alyssa only responded to one comment about a product code. With Alyssa I notice she only typically responds to people she actually knows or when answering questions about something she is shilling. I think if your going to use your "celebrity" to make money, you have to try to be a little bit genuine with the fans you expect to buy the stuff. And I think that is why she comes off as a "gold digger" to some people, because she is coming off as being solely in it for the money. She really needs to learn how to be a bit more smooth and natural about it (in my opinion).

[JordynDarby5]

2 hours ago, nausicaa said:

She's quoting a line from a Kanye West song. It's about the same as saying "If it quacks like a duck..." I don't think that poster was actually saying Alyssa is a gold digger.

There's also a bunch of Youtube videos called Honest Trailers the one for Cinderella also uses that line in referring to Cinderella "Ain't saying she's a gold digger." 

The Pearl Harbor and Taken ones are also hilarious.

[19tacos&counting]

I’ll be interested to see how Alyssa dresses her girls as they get older. I’m sure they will be in pants. But I wonder as far as shorter shorts, tank tops, two piece bathing suits? 

[llg1234]

8 hours ago, nausicaa said:

She's quoting a line from a Kanye West song. It's about the same as saying "If it quacks like a duck..." I don't think that poster was actually saying Alyssa is a gold digger.

I know and it still doesn’t make sense. Words matter. There’s plenty of reasons to criticize Alyssa and her half assed attempts to make money off of social media (especially since she isn’t up front about something being an ad). Calling her a gold digger makes no sense, especially since John isn’t rich. Upper middle class maybe, but even that’s a stretch. If you’re going to insult someone, at least use a word correctly. 

[just_ordinary]

10 hours ago, Bazinga said:

My feelings on Alyssa shilling products on Instagram is that she does it poorly (and I know some will disagree with me), but what I notice with a lot of popular Instagramers is they try to interact with their followers in genuine ways. They will respond to comments (though not everyone) and try to add in other content that helps their brand. I don't see that with Alyssa. I see posed Sunday family pics and then shilling products. Someone above mentioned Alyssa only responded to one comment about a product code. With Alyssa I notice she only typically responds to people she actually knows or when answering questions about something she is shilling. I think if your going to use your "celebrity" to make money, you have to try to be a little bit genuine with the fans you expect to buy the stuff. And I think that is why she comes off as a "gold digger" to some people, because she is coming off as being solely in it for the money. She really needs to learn how to be a bit more smooth and natural about it (in my opinion).

Playing the devils advocate- what is wrong about „being solely in it for the money“?

She is not actively working on her profile, doesn’t interact with her followers and doesn’t seem to try to grow her profile. She just takes the opportunities that come up without making a huge effort. It might seem unfair that „laziness“ gets rewarded but honestly that is not her fault. If companies can overlook her believes and want to work with her that is on them. I wouldn’t say no to money or freebies coming with that little effort, that’s for sure.

[16strong]

15 hours ago, HereticHick said:

thank you. Alyssa is an entrepreneur, not a gold digger.

Alyssa has hustle. Many people here don't like that she earns money on Instagram. But then, we also spend a lot of time bitching on FJ about fundy women not working...

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

My own personal opinion ahead, okay to disagree: I have zero problem with Alyssa accepting sponsorships and some freebies for quick advertising. I have every problem with the way that she treats her followers like cash cows, and clearly reads all the comments, but isn't interested answering the occasional simple question, or throwing out a random thank you every once in awhile for a compliment. I know she's a busy mom, but if she can find time to take a photo, upload it, and read all the comments, she can occasionally act like she cares about the people licking her boots (that are the reason she has these sponsorships in the first place).

[Melissa1977]

10 hours ago, llg1234 said:

I know and it still doesn’t make sense. Words matter. There’s plenty of reasons to criticize Alyssa and her half assed attempts to make money off of social media (especially since she isn’t up front about something being an ad). Calling her a gold digger makes no sense, especially since John isn’t rich. Upper middle class maybe, but even that’s a stretch. If you’re going to insult someone, at least use a word correctly. 

I don't think Alyssa is a gold digger. But despite John is clearly a worker, he comes from a well-off family that at Alyssa's teenager eyes could have look as millionaries. Bates were really poor when Alyssa started *knowing* John and Websters were obviously not.

I' m sure Alyssa falled in love with John. But at the same time, I think she wasn't open to *know each other* with a poor young man.

[VelociRapture]

I took the golf digger* comment as a joke about how she appears to use her followers for money, not as a statement about her relationship with John. I could be wrong about that though. 

*ETA: My phone autocorrected to this by mistake. I find it funny, so it’s staying. 

[Pecansforeveryone]

I fully expect their daughters will be more fashionable. As long as Alyssa can make money and receive praise and adoration for being fundie I dont expect her to deeply question her core beliefs. The same goes for her sister's.