- Zoella, YouTube’s precocious mega-star, will be removed from school supplies for teenagers in the UK because of its “adult” content.
- The UK exam committee, AQA, told teachers it “shared the concerns” of the parents who raised the issue.
- The letter, seen by Insider, does not specify what content, but Zoella has already posted about sex toys.
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Zoella, the 30-year-old YouTuber with millions of young fans, is being removed from the UK’s official educational materials for teenagers after parents and teachers raised concerns about the “adult” content she was posting.
In a letter to teachers this week, the UK’s largest examining board, AQA, said it would remove it from the material given to students aged 14 to 16 who earn their GCSE qualification in media studies.
Zoella, whose real name is Zoe Sugg, was one of the UK’s first and biggest social media stars, raising millions of pounds from advertisements and merchandise sales.
She also regularly posts on Instagram, where it is estimated that she could earn over £ 22,000 per sponsored post.
Although the letter does not specify what specific material Sugg published, his production has evolved over the years. Sugg was a teenager when she started making videos and started posting mainly about her favorite beauty products. Two weeks ago, she uploaded a blog on her website gathering the best vibrators to do the “lockdown 3.0 […] an unrestrained one. “
In the AQA letter, seen by Insider, creative arts curriculum director Sandra Allan told teachers that the board would examine Zoella for future study plans because “some of Zoella’s recent content is specifically aimed at an adult audience and is not suitable for GCSE students. “
A copy of the AQA letter sent to teachers about removing Zoella from her teaching materials
AQA
Allan said teachers and parents expressed concern, adding, “We share these concerns, so we are now taking the necessary steps to remove Zoella from our 2021 and 2022 assessment materials.”
Sugg is highlighted in the AQA Close Study Products booklet – which AQA calls “a starting point for analyzing media products as part of the course”. These references would be found immediately, wrote Allan.
“We recognize that students may have already studied Zoella by 2021 or 2022,” she continued. “As you know, there will be no exams this summer – and we will not penalize any students who reference her in their answers to the exams in 2022.”
In a statement, Allan told Insider: “GCSE media studies include online and social media analysis and we added Zoella in 2017.
“At the time, all of her content was appropriate for teaching, but some of Zoella’s recent content is specifically aimed at an adult audience and is not suitable for GCSE students.
“As a result, we removed the Zoella section from the course and contacted our schools and colleges to inform them.”
Zoella’s content has evolved as she ages
Sugg launched his fashion, beauty and lifestyle channel on YouTube at 19 in 2009. His vlog earned him the Teen Choice Award and the Nickelodeon Kids’ Award in 2014.
But Sugg started to focus on mature themes as she and her fan base grew. She became the digital ambassador for Mind, a mental health charity. She recently campaigned to raise awareness of revenge porn.
When asked about the comment, Maddie Chester, Gleam’s talent director who represents Sugg, said: “As a woman in her 30s who has been creating online content for over 10 years, Zoe matured and evolved naturally during that time, as did her audience. “
Chester added that the sex toy round “appeared on the lifestyle website that was originally founded by Zoe and is now curated by her and her team, covering topics on mental health, fertility, sex, recipes, books, beauty and fashion.
“The website is aimed primarily at the largest demographic of women aged 25 to 34.”
One professor, who teaches Media Studies at A Level, the successor qualification for the GCSE studied by 16 to 18-year-olds, said the removal of GCSE students was “understandable”.
But he hoped it would not be removed to levels A, adding: “Many of the young people are already familiar with Zoella and are likely to find this type of article anyway.
“While I can see how these topics can be treated badly, discussing them safely is part of a teacher’s job.”