Season two of the Meghan Markle – sorry, «Meghan Sussex» – Netflix series of With Love, Meghan is out.
Forget missing out on the Top 10 most-watched shows. The real verdict is in – and it’s on social media.
As with all its new shows, the official Netflix Instagram account has been sharing short videos to promote the Duchess of Sussex‘s latest lifestyle offering.
The first clip, released on August 26, saw the royal espousing her love of ‘flower sprinkles’.
The next, posted the following day, showed Meghan struggling to stomach watching a lobster being prepped to cook. The next day brought a highlight reel of ‘pun-ny’ Meghan moments from the series.
The clips were lighthearted, fun and a touch whimsical – exactly what anyone who’s seen even a few minutes of this show would expect.
Each of these promo videos racked up an average of 1.4 million views.
However, the fourth teaser saw a significant bump in viewer numbers. It was a curious spike – but that wasn’t the only reason it stood out.
Netflix has been promoting season two of With Love, Meghan with short clips on social media
Released on August 30, this video was different in composition and style to the three previous teasers.
The clip, just shy of 30 seconds long, has now been watched 2.3 million times. It is also entirely absent of Meghan’s face and voice.
Instead, it is perhaps best described as ASMR content – videos with stimulating sounds said to give the brain ‘tingles’.
This particular With Love, Meghan trailer is loaded with the kinds of sensory noises -touching, dripping and kneading – that are hallmarks of ASMR.
Though we never see her face or hear her voice, Meghan lingers behind each sensory motion. Her hands press into clay spinning around a pottery wheel. Honey is artfully drizzled from a beehive-shaped wooden dipper. Melty chocolate is delicately zig-zagged from a fork onto a coconut macaron.
There’s bread tossed in a French toast egg mixture, and bows being artfully tied onto a stack of round gift boxes.
Moulds are poured, apples are cored, salad is salted and ice cubes are satisfyingly plonked into glasses of As Ever rosé.
There is even a glimpse of that engagement ring, dangling from a finger that sprinkles cinnamon over a foamy latte.
An ASMR-themed trailer has raised eyebrows due to suspected bot activity in the comments
I could go on – but you get the picture.
However, the surprising pivot to ASMR isn’t what’s caught the attention of fans. Rather, it was the comments section of this particular Netflix post.
Both Meghan’s personal Instagram (@meghan) and her lifestyle business (@AsEver) have always had comments disabled – but this isn’t the policy over at Netflix.
And so this has given supporters and critics alike the opportunity to share their two cents on With Love, Meghan. Love her or loathe her – it’s open slather.
What made this post stand out was the wording of some of the comments – which was… odd, to say the least.
It wasn’t long before people voiced their suspicions that bots had entered the chat.
‘Love that every positive comment here comes from accounts with 0 posts and 10 followers. The negative comments come from real people,’ read one reply.
‘So many fake positive comments from bots I just can’t,’ another follower proclaimed.
It wasn’t long before people voiced their suspicions that bots had entered the chat
‘How many comments are from bots?’ questioned a third.
I’m no expert social media sleuth – but even I was able to discern some suspicious, bot-like comments – and I didn’t even reach the end of the thread.
As several followers noted, many glowing reviews came from accounts with zero posts, following few people, and with even fewer followers.
Take this, for instance: ‘Beautiful Meghan I love your series.’
Or this lengthy tribute: ‘Finally, a lovely Lifestyle Showcase with floral designs, craft projects, culinary treats…I so enjoyed this series. It inspired me to continue trying with my herb garden. What’s not to like about this? It’s actually the best Lifestyle Show on TV. We need more of this wonderful young lady Netflix. 10 out of 10.’
The wording of some of the comments was odd, to say the least. Several accounts which left comments also looked suspicious for having no followers at all
One account – with no posts, no followers and no profile picture – drew 50 likes with this incisive review: ‘S1 was good but S2 just took it to a whole new level.’
Another zero-post account even responded in Portuguese: ‘Meghan é maravilhosa! Amo o programa.’ (‘Meghan is wonderful! I love the show.’)
There was a common refrain among the responses from the accounts with no posts: we want a third season of With Love, Meghan.
‘Incredible show. Please let there be a Season 3.’
‘Season 3 please @netflix @meghan.’
‘Love love loved this new series, bring on Series 3.’
‘I don’t believe any of these over-the-top gushing, glowing comments are real,’ wrote a fan
Now, I’m not stating that these comments are bots as a fact.
Behind the accounts, there could well be human beings who have organised to flood the comments section with praise. Fandoms often do this.
But if someone has paid a few hundred dollars to a shady company to set up hundreds of fake accounts and spam the post with flattery, who did it?
Perhaps we’ll never know – and we don’t suggest Netflix or anyone associated with the show is behind it. But regardless, the puffery in the comments has certainly amused many fans of With Love, Meghan.
So I guess you could call it a win?
Netflix and Archewell were contacted for comment.
