Fans Have a Major Issue With Meghan Markle's Latest Video — And It's Not About Her Brand
Meghan Markle recently posted a new video on her lifestyle brand, As Ever's Instagram page and fans are not happy about one aspect that has nothing to do with the products.
Meghan Markle’s love-hate relationship with social media is perhaps more complicated than the Sussexes’ ongoing rift with the royal family. The former Suits star has spoken out against the negative aspects of social media, but she cannot escape it entirely. It’s a classic catch-22 situation, and it all boils down to her lifestyle brand, As Ever.
On Tuesday, Markle posted a video on her brand’s Instagram page discussing Prince Harry and their kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, and their jam preferences. However, complaints started flooding in, and they had nothing to do with the products. The complaints were about the audio quality of the video. “First, Meghan Markle’s audio quality is horrifically bad and not even amateur; it’s worse than that. The part about Lili is barely understandable,” one user on X claimed. “I could not understand what she said at the end, I had to put two and two together,” another added.
Another user talking about her expressions noted down, "The mumbling, the hand clap, and her eyes. Who is she talking to. This is bad."
While complaints about audio quality may be a first, the criticism of Markle’s content, be it on Instagram or Netflix, is not new. Many royal fans have complained that the lifestyle reels and show were out of touch. So, something doesn't seem to be clicking. And in times of ‘Instagram or it didn’t happen’, the former The Tig founder needs to get her old mojo back to top the social media game to actually benefit her lifestyle brand, As Ever. Former BBC correspondent Jennie Bond said via the Mirror, “Since being an influencer and entrepreneur through her social media now seems to be her chosen career path, Meghan needs to take it seriously and keep her followers engaged.”
But the real problem is that Markle is a much bigger entity than her brand right now. Her return to Instagram in 2025 for the launch of As Ever and a subsequent rebrand earlier this month are clear signs that the brand just cannot do without the social media buzz she brings. Without her 4.6 million followers, which are four times more than the brand page, As Ever might not be able to survive the crowded market. As Bond said, “Judging by the numbers, people are more interested in her than the As Ever brand: she has more than four times the followers on her personal page. So she needs to keep on putting out the content to attract more business.”
Interestingly, Markle and Harry both have been outspoken about the cons of social media. But unfortunately, the brand might not grow as much if Markle doesn’t keep creating content consistently, which may or may not count as overexposure. “I suppose it’s somewhat ironic that (Markle) now pretty much depends on the digital world for her commercial success. But it’s where we are all at, and you can’t put the genie back in the bottle,” Bond added.
When Joseph Heller coined the term ‘Catch-22’ all the way back in 1961, he possibly wouldn’t have imagined that the phrase would someday apply in such a situation. But these are the times we live in now. No one escapes the paradox, not even the Duchess of Sussex.
