Am I being influenced by Mormon propaganda?
It all started with a cooking video...
It’s 9.45pm and do you want to know how I’ve spent my evening? Watching videos of a mum with two toddlers make everything from cereal, marshmallows, bagels, mozzarella and even ice cream, from scratch.
I ended down this rabbit hole, after someone left a comment on one of my TikTok videos about the rise of the ‘Trad wife’.
Bit of background here. It was on a video I made explaining how makeup brand Beauty Bakerie were closing down.
Explaining her reasoning, the founder posted a vague statement saying her “Tastes had changed” and that essentially, she wanted to serve God.
A lot of people then commented how it had similar tones to Kat Von D’s Christian conversion and that it felt ‘culty’.
I hadn’t heard the ‘Trad wife’ term before, so figuring it was an American thing, I asked the commentator to expand:
“Thing traditional wife - god-fearing, sub-servant to her husband, a homemaker first and foremost and a woman second.”
This reminded me of a video I’d seen earlier in the week. A Tiktoker who is a former Mormon herself, posted a video about the rise of Mormon influencers. Citing two of the apps biggest rising stars, whose content I had come across, but didn’t realise were Mormon.
For those unaware, she was referring to Nara Smith and her husband Lucky Blue.
Nara has almost 5 million followers on TikTok and if you haven’t seen one of her videos, it’s likely you’ve at least seen a parody of one.
Whether it’s cooking cereal for her toddlers from scratch, showing how she makes fresh butter every week or making ice cream and brownies for when her husband gets home, Nara is most definitely the housewife of a modern era.
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Every video has the same calming voice and music and shows Nara as a modern day Betty Draper, whipping up the most incredible meals from scratch - all while being heavily pregnant.
As I said, I had seen Nara’s videos before, but didn’t think anything of them beyond, a woman who really likes cooking. It didn’t even cross my mind that it could be Mormon propaganda.
While Lucky Blue (he’s a model if you wonder why you recognise him) was raised and is openly Mormon, Nara isn’t and despite showing snippets of her reading the Book of Mormon, in her own words, she is still on a journey with her faith.
However, Lucky is very clear in his beliefs. In this Instagram post from September 2013, he shared that he was reading the book cover to cover. In closing, he wrote,
“I want to encourage you all to learn more about Jesus Christ and to follow the commandments that have been given to you. I truly believe we are in the last days, please reach out to him and humble your hearts.”
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Like I said, this whole Trad wife thing is a totally new phenomena to me. When I wrote that post about Kat Von D and looked through her following list, I did notice there was a lot of proud housewife types, but I didn’t think it was a realm of the Internet I would ever find myself suckered into.
Honestly, I’ve never felt lazier and in the same breath more motivated, then watching one of Nara’s videos.
I know I won’t, but right now, I think I might make bread. Fuck it, I might even start making my own butter. We know that ultra processed foods aren’t good for us, so why aren’t I making my own cheese?
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The problem is though, I hate cooking. I hate washing up even more and I’m never actually going to do any of those things.
Nevertheless, I was influenced.
Ultimately, however, I’m still not entirely sure if Nara is playing her role in the Mormon propaganda machine or the influencer one.
This is no one’s real life. Not even Nara’s. It’s snippets of hers, but it’s still staged and I don’t say that with malice. I say that knowing her job is being a content creator.
She gets paid to make these videos.
I have no doubt that she has a genuine passion for cooking, but would she always look so put together if she wasn’t filming the process? Would she make everything from scratch if the pressure wasn’t on to constantly top your last video that got millions of views, thanks to those parody accounts?
Realistically, I’m never going to make Cinnamon Grahams from scratch, but rather than beating myself up for my failings, I could try just starting small and eating breakfast everyday.
Social media is the worst enabler if you are an all or nothing person like me. So, take this as a reminder to be aware of the propaganda… be it influencer or mormon.
Love your posts, Laura. My teenagers & I are fascinated by the Amish. My feed seems to be Amish and puppies. Incidentally I have made my own butter. I was whipping cream in the KitchenAid & went too far.
Off to follow the Mormons now. (If they're good enough for The Osmond's...)
A great reminder to question the purpose of the content we consume. Influencers are doing their job when creating content; promoting something. I’m all for talking about and sharing your beliefs but the culture of Mormonism and the missions used to ‘spread the word of god’ is uncomfortable.