Charli and Dixie D’Amelio Are Facing Backlash For Walmart TikTok Video

Social media stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio are facing backlash after posting a TikTok promotional video where the sisters are dressed up as Walmart
WMT
cashiers for their family’s new product launch.

The video comes as the D’Amelios (daughters Charli and Dixie and parents Marc and Heidi D’Amelio) launch Be Happy Snacks Popcorn, a brand of popcorn that will be sold exclusively at Walmart and on Walmart.com beginning this week, according to People.

In the TikTok, Charli and Dixie are seen donning Walmart uniforms and picking out the Be Happy Snacks Popcorn bags. They’re also seen ringing up the products at the register. Additionally, the X account Pop Crave posted this behind-the-scenes video of Charli “pretending” to work at the store.

In the comments of the TikTok video, fans criticized the sisters for “cosplaying” the working class. “i wish i had enough money to cosplay as a retail worker, so fun being in the working class,” one user commented. “seeing this after working 12hr shifts 4 days a week to barely afford to live,” another wrote.

“Glorifying a job that is absolutely miserable if you can’t just walk away from it the next day and in turn, promoting it as something enjoyable which fuels the fire of people telling minimum wage workers that their jobs are easy and there’s nothing to complain about,” an X user penned in response to the video.

For some, this can be seen as a viral “PR moment,” while others believe it downplays the millions of people who work “regular jobs” to make ends meet.

We’ve reached out to The D’Amelio’s reps for comment.

Charli and Dixie D’Amelio aren’t the first celebrities to dress up like minimum-wage workers. In July 2023, Lana Del Rey was spotted working at a Waffle House in Alabama. The singer explained to The Hollywood Reporter that a casual morning visit to the diner chain turned into “an hours-long hangout.”

“We were on our third hour, and the servers asked, ‘Do you guys want shirts?’” Del Rey said. “Hell yeah! We were thrilled.” She added that the Waffle House manager asked the star to fulfill a simple request. “This guy, a regular, comes in every day and orders two things, so they were like, ‘Just go get it for him!’ I brought him a Coke. No ice. And an empty cup,” Del Rey said.

In August, Ed Sheeran served hot dogs at The Wieners Circle in August during his Mathematics Tour, while Lady Gaga worked a shift at Starbucks for charity back in 2017.

Season three of the family’s Hulu show, The D’Amelio Show, premiered in September.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/monicamercuri/2023/10/30/should-celebs-cosplay-average-workers-the-damelios-face-backlash/