A viral video from England has struck a chord with viewers worldwide. It’s proof that even children are not immune to the pain of inflation and price gouging. In the video, which has over 19 million views, 8-year-old Marnie passionately expresses her discontent with an ice cream man’s prices while her twin sister, Myrah, stands by in full support.
The video is going viral because of the girls’ honest frustration and Marnie’s adorable northern accent. The girls are from Burnley, a small city outside of Manchester.
“Girls, what’s just happened,” their aunt Karis Lambert asks innocently at the beginning of the TikTok video. “So, there’s an ice cream van there, selling just two ice creams with two chewing gums in it for bloody nine pounds ($11.50) for two of them!” Marnie says incredulously.
The girls wanted to buy 2 Screwballs, a classic English slushy with a gumball at the bottom. “Nine quid — he’s going to get nowhere with that, no he ain’t, he should know,” Marnie continued.
Cost of living really taking its toll on marnie🤣
@karislambert Cost of living really taking its toll on marnie🤣 #foryou #fyp
Marnie had 10 pounds in her pocket and was almost about to overspend on two Screwballs when the ice cream man added that he doesn’t accept cash, only cards. At that point, Marine and Myrah were done. “And he only does bloody cards—[I’m] stood there with my cash, bloody hell,” she said.
“Bloody well, bad,” she exclaimed.
Millions of people have watched Marine’s rant, and at the time, and she had no problem if the ice cream man heard her, too. “Bet he can hear me!” she said, rolling her eyes toward the van. She later admitted that she hadn’t expressed her displeasure to the ice cream man directly.
“Even the kids are affected by this cost of living,” @bby wrote in the comments on TikTok. “I’m with her on this I wouldn’t stand for £9 either,” Lily added. “Does she offer services by the hour? I’ve got a water bill I don’t agree with and I think she could handle the situation better than me,” Josh joked.
“Where do we acquire spicy British kids to adopt?” itllBuff wrote.
@jeremyvineon5 Meet the twins going viral for their ice cream protest #icecream #9quid #twins
Marine’s rage even caught Stephen Colbert’s attention. “I have never been so intimidated by a little girl,” he joked after playing the video on his show.
In an interview posted by Jeremy Vine and Storm on Channel 5’s TikTok account, the girls’ aunt admitted that she was happy the video went viral so other people could enjoy their fantastic sense of humor. “They’re so funny. I was so glad everyone saw that video because they’re both hilarious, and I’m just glad everyone else seems to say it,” she said. “They got so many comments on that video and everyone just thinks that they’re brilliant.”
On an appearance on ITV Live, Lambert admitted that the video had probably put the ice cream out of business and the girls said they were “proud” of how it had taken off.
After the video went viral, people began saying that their girls should go into politics, to which they gave a resounding yes. Their first job after becoming co-Prime Ministers? “Change the prices” on ice cream, Marnie exclaimed.