What does the "Smell the roses! SPICY!" video mean?

October 15, 2024 12:25 AM

There is a very weird Instagram video making the rounds. I can't figure it out, and this bothers me.

Here is the clip. It's shot by a man driving down a suburban street in a car, and as the clip begins he comments that it's a lovely day. He sees a young, Barbie-ish blond woman who is wearing a pink mini dress and standing on a corner, mindlessly saying the phrase "Smell the roses!" in a loop like she's a fembot or something. The man says, "What the heck?!" Then the woman suddenly looks alarmed and repeatedly says, "SPICY!" in a distraught way. She's acting like some sort of alarm system, as if she's detected spiciness in the vicinity and it's setting her off. The man drives away in a bad mood, muttering about how he's got to move out of the town.

The clip seems to be referencing a meme, presumably something from a video game or anime, but I haven't found any explanation from doing a Google search. The key part seems to be the "Smell the roses... SPICY!" thing. Please, somebody tell me what this damn thing means.

posted by Ursula Hitler to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

As far as I can tell she's supposed to be someone doing an NPC stream (note the phone on the pole), where people pay tiny amounts of money to send you tik tok gifts (in this case a rose and a chilli) and you perform an animation/soundbite for each one like an animated NPC.

This future is stupid.
posted by samj at 1:01 AM on October 15 [16 favorites]

Best answer: The BBC is there: NPC Livestream TikTok Trend
posted by zippy at 1:11 AM on October 15 [2 favorites]

(I want to add in case it's not clear, that Instagram belongs to the woman in the pink dress, this is a staged skit.)
posted by muddgirl at 6:08 AM on October 15 [1 favorite]

This future is stupid.

Men have been paying for the time and attention of pretty women since the dawn of history. It's only the medium that's changed.

One could even argue things are better today, since she can get that bag without having to be physical with or even see them.
posted by phunniemee at 6:34 AM on October 15 [6 favorites]

Yeah, it's pretty obvious from her other clips that she's a sex worker, this is probably the safest and easiest thing she can do.
posted by praemunire at 8:14 AM on October 15 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I knew it was staged but I hadn't noticed the phone on the pole. It does look like it's part of this NPC thing.

Yeah, it's pretty obvious from her other clips that she's a sex worker, this is probably the safest and easiest thing she can do.

I don't know if we can assume she's a sex worker. Admittedly I didn't watch all of her clips, but the ones I did see just seemed like standard cosplayer TikTok-y stuff, and at the top of her Instagram page she describes herself as "Content Creator and Techie Pilot, EMT, Hyperpolyglot."
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:11 PM on October 15

Her website with links stripped:

"TAP BELOW FOR THE ONLY PLACE TO TALK TO ME AND GET EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ⬇️💌

Exclusive Content
ACTIVE NOW!"

I'm not clicking on it but I assume it's to her OnlyFans or other similar private paid site. I'm old so I would probably call her a cam girl but yes this is a form of sex work.
posted by muddgirl at 2:42 PM on October 15

(I should add, sex workers can be techies, EMTs, hyperpolyglots, and cosplayers.)
posted by muddgirl at 3:03 PM on October 15