“Dad, why does mom look at this man like that?“, says a lemon child, passing in front of a pineapple while jogging. “Because he has something I could never have, nice cars and lots of money“, replies his father, then left by his cherry wife, in leopard leggings.
“Welcome to a world where fruits tell stories that no one dares to tell“, summarizes a content creator on one of the accounts broadcasting these sketches generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Because behind a colorful aesthetic, reminiscent of advertisements for a famous brand of drinks, these one-minute cartoons multiply openly sexist clichés. And garner millions of views.
The scenario is simple, often opening with screams or scenes of humiliation and ending with the announcement of a sequel.bientôt available“.
Some creators decline the concept in the form of reality TV shows like “Love Island“, where stereotypes of superficial, seductive and rival women abound.
“Ultra-violent scans”
The dialogues, drawing on the adolescent lexicon, are also sometimes steeped in racist prejudices: “chocolate“are sometimes described as “bad undocumented immigrants“sometimes reduced to their muscular bodies, and they”doro“(have sex with, editor’s note) of”big tana“(denigrating insult aimed at women, Editor’s note).
Racist characters can themselves be mocked, like this paunchy pear man with a flocked t-shirt.Bardella“, who complains about “damn chocolato” Who “take all the work“, and ends up being left by his wife.
On TikTok, many users love these videos, the “like“, comment on them and ask for more, while others criticize: the perfect cocktail to bring them up in the algorithm.
“Generative AI has allowed this type of masculinist discourse, under the pretext of humor and fiction, to be propagated in spaces frequented by young people and to escape the moderation of these platforms“, explains to AFP Mathieu Colin, scientific director of the Unesco chair in prevention of radicalization and violent extremism.
“There are ultra-violent scenes“, underlines Mélanie Gourarier, anthropologist at the CNRS, specialist in gender and masculinity issues.
“But if we are touched by this kind of speech, it is because we are already committed to this cause, it is not these videos that will make people switch“, nuance the researcher.
One of these creators, contacted by AFP, rejects any ideological aim. “You just have to be funny and make people react, no matter the subject. These are caricatures on simple subjects (deception, racism, harassment, the city…)“, he told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
This student confides that he “rides the fruit trend“since the beginning of March to earn money, but assures that he does not seek “to harm the image of women” and parody indifferently”both genders and all social classes“.
“Masculinist currents”
In addition to the income they earn directly by monetizing the virality of this content, most of these creators also offer online training, ranging from 40 to 150 euros, to learn how to make these videos.
One of them claims on his site to have accumulated more than eight million views and earned more than 1,000 euros in four days.
A promise of entrepreneurial success”very fashionable in masculinist trends“, underlines Mathieu Colin.
The virality of these videos is such today that paid partnerships via product placement are even possible.
The doctor.einstein account, which has several million views, includes an influencer’s skincare cream, electronic cigarettes and even protein food supplements in its scenarios.
Asked by AFP, TikTok indicated that it does not authorize content that “promote hatred, discriminatory behavior or harmful ideologies” and that this rule also applied to humorous, fictional, animated or AI-generated formats.
