‘14 million views’: World loses it over Aussie acai video
The owner of a tiny NSW acai shop has been left stunned after unexpectedly shooting to viral fame with a “silly” video to promote her store’s upcoming birthday.
The owner of a tiny NSW acai shop has been left stunned after unexpectedly shooting to global fame with a “silly” video to promote her store’s upcoming birthday.
Amelia Beahan, 22, opened Acai Fix in Kiama on the NSW south coast 12 months ago and says the local support, particularly from young people, has been “crazy”.
To celebrate Acai Fix’s first birthday on November 30, the store is holding a “two hours free acai” event.
Earlier this month Ms Beahan shared a brief 14-second video pouring a stream of acai over her sister’s face from the nozzle.
“Oh sorry, did you think I was going to stop?” she says in the clip. ‘Well I won’t be stopped on the 30th of November. You guys did it. Two hours free acai.”
The video, posted on November 13, has since been viewed more than 14.2 million times on the platform.
Ms Beahan said the video was a spur-of-the-moment idea that she never expected to be seen by so many people.
“We were just thinking, how can we get this out to people that we’re doing free flow?” she said.
“I was chatting with my best friend, she’s a bit of a social media content creator. We did it in one shot and quickly posted it. I was rushing off to do other stuff.”
She added, “I just think that this video, because it was funny, silly and out of the ordinary, people weren’t expecting it. It got people talking, they were commenting, it was being shared and saved a lot. I can see the funny side in it.”
However the video also attracted a number of unsavoury comments, with Ms Beahan ultimately disabling them to protect her younger sister.
“She wasn’t expecting the amount of views, she was feeling a bit nervous,” she said.
The Kiama local studied psychology at university but “decided it wasn’t for me”, and later worked in the wedding industry before deciding to take the leap and open her own business.
“It’s a lot of work but it’s really fun,” she said.
“The local support from Kiama has been crazy. [Some] of the biggest supporters are all the young people in the area, a lot of the school kids they really love this space. It’s just such an easy snack they can grab with their friends.”
After the viral fame, Ms Beahan said she was hoping for a big turnout on Sunday.
“I’m fairly nervous but I’m excited for it,” she said.
“You don’t see [the free giveaway] happen often, usually there’s some sort of catch. But we really wanted to give back to the community.
“I don’t want to jinx it. We’re not expecting 14 million, but we expect a lot of Kiama to turn up for us.”
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Originally published as ‘14 million views’: World loses it over Aussie acai video
