TikTok’s tradwife trend—how brands are partnering with the controversial creators

Whether or not you recognize the name Nara Smith, you’ve likely felt her influence on your TikTok For You page in the past few weeks. Brands have, as a slew of them—from Calvin Klein to probiotic manufacturer Seed—are scrambling to partner with her. The 22-year-old model and content creator was thrust into the internet spotlight earlier this year when TikTok users started poking fun at the impractical made-from-scratch meals she prepares for her husband and two kids, such as homemade cereal or freshly-churned butter, and her hushed, serene narration. @naraazizasmith 🫶🏽 #easyrecipes #baking #oreo #icecream #softserve #fypシ #homecooking #coupletok #marriage #dessert ♬ Chill Vibes - Tollan Kim While some continue to mock or parody Smith’s content, others genuinely enjoy her family’s lifestyle. But Smith has also found herself at the center of a heated debate over whether she’s promoting controversial “tradwife” values through her content. According to Dictionary.com, a “tradwife” (short for traditional wife) is “a married woman who chooses to be a homemaker as a primary occupation and adheres to or embodies traditional femininity and female gender roles.” Related: A glossary for Gen Z In just the past week, #tradwife has garnered more than 565 million views globally, and nearly 130,000 videos from the same period included the hashtag, according to TikTok data. The hashtag has amassed more than 1.1 billion views over the past month, per the data. But people aren’t necessarily consuming this content because they agree with tradwife values. Rather, the appeal of Smith—and other tradwife-adjacent creators such as Lydia Millen and Hannah Neeleman, better known by her social handle @BallerinaFarm—lies in the aesthetically pleasing and seemingly blissful lifestyle they depict in their content, said Alice Bull, founder of influencer marketing and talent agency Gratified. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lydia (@lydiamillen) “[Millen] is almost like a caricature of a person, and I think that’s what tradwives are as well,“ Bull said. “She has this ridiculously curated lifestyle. She is … very countryside. Like, she skips around in her garden with a basket, that kind of stuff.” Though the “tradwife” label is now being applied to creators such as Smith, Millen and Neeleman as the movement has entered the social media zeitgeist, those creators don’t always actively identify as tradwives—and their followers may not consider them to be, either, Bull said. “I think this is just a new life of aspiration they're leading, rather than it being a political stance or a stance on or against feminism,” she said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hannah @Ballerina Farm (@ballerinafarm) The growing class of influencers who self-identify as so-called tradwives—including Estee Williams, Gwen Swinarton (aka “Gwen the Milkmaid”) and Jasmine Darke—regularly face backlash for their content promoting a return to the 1950s ideal of housewifery, donning feminine, floral dresses and serving flawless homemade meals to their breadwinning husband and broods of children. For example, one of Darke’s videos telling viewers she’s “teaching [her] daughter that it’s perfectly acceptable to depend on a man,” received widespread criticism on TikTok and beyond. @jasminedinis2 In a world full of women teaching their children that their only goal is to go to university, get a good job and make money, I’m teaching my little girl to live a slow life, to be a biblical women that wants a husband & a beautiful family that she can serve daily. That joy comes from God & family, not from a career 🕊️🤍 #homesteading #tradwife #motherhood #foryoupage #stayathomemom #conservative ♬ original sound - Jasmine Dinis While the term “tradwife” is certainly one that’s dividing the internet, garnering both supporters of the movement as well as plenty of criticism, brands are still finding moments to engage with the viral trend. Fashion retailer Aritzia partnered with Smith on two of her recent TikTok videos, and Calvin Klein sponsored a video featuring both Smith and her husband. Revolve, another clothing retailer, has also worked with Smith on TikTok, and prebiotic soda brand Poppi reached out to Smith just as she was beginning to go viral and sponsored both a TikTok video and an Instagram Reel. Most recently, probiotic supplement producer Seed collaborated with Smith. While Smith may not actively promote the more extreme tradwife values in her content, many TikTokers have labeled her as such “tradwife” due to her Mormon faith, the fact that she has two children and is pregnant with her third at age 22, and because her content is predominantly focused on cooking and parenting. Smith did not respond to a request for comment. @naraazizasmith your go to comfy outfit? @Aritzia #spottedinsweatfleece #aritziapartner ♬ original sound - Nara Smith Revolve, Poppi and Aritzia declined to comment on their partnership with Smith, and Calvin Klein and Seed didn’t respond to requests for comment. Also read: What brands can learn from GetDirty’s influencer experiment Part of the allure for brands is the aesthetic tradwives promote, said Amy Cotteleer, chief experience officer and partner at independent agency Duncan Channon. When it comes to influencers like Smith, brands tend to focus on how they can feature their products into the picture-perfect and aspirational lifestyles displayed in their content, rather than dwell on any deeper ideology their content may be pushing, Cotteleer said. “They don't care about, potentially, [the influencer’s] belief that they should be subservient to a man,” she said. “They truly love the woman's lipstick, and her hair, and the lighting, and the outfits. They aspire to the aesthetics of that lifestyle, if not the choices of that lifestyle. “They’ve done the calculus on what the blowback is going to be to partner with somebody who, to some feminist circles, their lifestyle is problematic or reductive,” Cotteleer added. “And they’ve said, ‘That’s not the influencer’s audience, and it’s not our audience. So, although we appreciate that it might ruffle some feathers, it's no big deal for our brand or for what we're ultimately trying to accomplish, which is to sell more dresses. And they look fantastic on her.’” View this post on Instagram A post shared by nara (@naraaziza) But that isn’t to say brands are rushing to partner with influencers who do explicitly promote the tradwife ideology. Estee Williams, one of the more extreme tradwives on social media, hasn’t shared any sponsored Instagram or TikTok posts in the past two years. She does often list or tag the fashion and beauty brands included in her content, though—including accessory brand Fable England, which commented three heart emojis on one of Williams’ recent Reels. The brand didn’t respond to an email asking whether they had gifted Williams the purse and earrings featured in that video or were otherwise working with her. Gwen Swinarton, too, includes brands in her content, but not through direct sponsorships. She has links to her Amazon storefront and LTK shop in her Instagram and TikTok bios and earns commissions through any sales she drives on either platform. She has also included affiliate codes to brands such as dress brand Ivy City Co in the captions of a number of her social posts. View this post on Instagram A post shared by GWEN 🌷🐣 (@gwenthemilkmaid) Emily Marcus, CEO and founder of public relations firm Emily Blair Media, noted that different “wife” aesthetics have been a running theme across the first few months of 2024. She pointed to the “mob wife aesthetic,” and its gaudy mix of animal prints, furs and leather, which swept across TikTok in January, and the surging interest in “WAGs” (wives and girlfriends of pro athletes) driven in part by the media frenzy around Taylor Swift’s romance with Travis Kelce. To Marcus, the admiration many have for Smith and her aesthetically pleasing lifestyle, tradwife or not, is just part of that overarching trend. “Because of the insane visibility that she has right now it makes a lot of sense for brands to partner with her and tap into that audience,” she said. “A young, edgy, cool girl mom that’s doing something a little different. And she's kind of an It girl in her own right—maybe a ‘traditional’ It girl, but she's definitely something to look at.”

TikTok’s tradwife trend—how brands are partnering with the controversial creators

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