UK version of Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle brand website gives readers a surprise
The feud among supporters of Princess Kate and Meghan Markle entered a new arena, sharing. The UK website for latter’s new brand got a redirect.
Meghan Markle recently launched a new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, by handing out jars of strawberry jam to her celebrity friends. Obligingly, they helped the Duchess of Sussex promote the new product by posting pictures of their decorative baskets containing flowers, lemons and the numbered jar of Montecito jam on Instagram.
However, on the other side of the pond, at least digital-wise, what would appear to be a fan of the Princess of Wales scooped up the UK domain name of the Duchess’ new brand and repurposed it for donations to Trussel Trust, a NGO working to stop hunger and poverty in the United Kingdom. Money began flowing in as well as outrage from those not amused but the cheeky joke.
UK version of Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle brand website gives readers a surprise
While the .com version of American Riviera Orchard takes you to an elegant homepage where you can sign up for a waitlist, the .uk version presents you with the statement “Forgiveness. Permission. Please donate to the Trussell Trust,” and a link to Just Giving, an online fundraising platform. There, visitors see a message “this is not meghan but hopefully meghan wouldn’t mind. thoughts with catherine, princess of wales and his majesty the king. x.”
“please note, the purchase of the americanrivieraorchard.uk domain name and this justgiving page are the full extent of this exclusively charitable mission. someone else is flogging the tea towels!” the message continues.
The jest didn’t go unnoticed by fans of the Duchess, with posts on social media attacking the charity for not acknowledging that funds were being raised in Meghan’s name. Likewise, counter attacks came from the other side and people pointing out that it was a bit of a misstep not to secure the UK domain name prior to the product launch.
Nevertheless, people have donated over $23,000 so far to the charity and nearly another $4,000 in gifts.
Trussel Trust for its part told the New York Post that “the charity is not connected with this website domain, and [we] have no knowledge of who set it up,” according to spokesperson Sophie Carre.
“In line with the Commission’s guidance, we are unable to reject donations unless they meet specific requirements,” she added. “As the website clearly states that the donations are in aid of the Trussell Trust, the money raised would not meet the requirements for rejection.”