It all started at a wine bar in Philadelphia and now years later Campbell (“Pookie”) and Jett have blown up the internet.
Campbell Hunt Puckett, also known as “Pookie” on social media has grown to be a trending influencer this year. Campbell is a 32-year-old who started her journey to be an influencer in 2017 after being a flight attendant. When she started to be an influencer she started to share her fashion, travel vlogs, nail vlogs and more, but this was only the beginning.
Just like almost all other influencers, Campbell’s husband became her co-star, and they blew up. They did OOTD before college game days, date nights at their favorite restaurants or sometimes just what they wore around. In January of 2024, Campbell posted a video of a date night OOTD, and Jett called her “Pookie” when he was describing how beautiful she looked that night. “Pookie” soon took over their brand.
Most of us have heard of Kaylee and Taylor Dudley, Dani and Nico, Alix Earle, and all of the other famous influencers, and Campbell and Jett may seem different than all of these other influencers but in reality there not all that different.
This one word makes Campbell and Jett stick out compared to the rest.
“Pookie”.
And this is what makes them divisive.
Why did this trend take off so rapidly? What about him calling her “Pookie” is so appealing to other people? Is it because other people think this is how their love life and relationships should be? Or do they just think the trend is funny and enjoys Jett’s comments he makes?
I began following them after their most famous video came out when the pookie trend started. Campbell gives recommendations on food items, her famous fall Starbucks iced shaken espresso, nail ideas, hair ideas and even though she gets paid for this- her product recommendations. I’ve tried most of her recommendations and honestly I do love them all. I find myself watching her tik toks, Instagram posts and stories on my free time. I say I do it for the content, for the mindless distraction. But there’s possibly something else at play. After watching them for a little, I was not finding it as funny. It's sometimes hard to watch.
They will always start the video and open it up by saying where they are headed to and then Jett will praise her for how good she looks. In May she posted a video of them heading to a date night at Le Bilboquet for a nice dinner outside and to sip on some rose. This video Campbell is sponsored by the company Lulu’s which is quite affordable compared to most of her outfits. She is wearing a gingham patterned yellow two piece set that includes a long skirt with pockets, and a sinched shirt to match. Her accessories include a clutch from Lulus which she quotes “Its giving designer”. Jett then goes on to describe his outfit which is a green striped summer cotton button up shirt, Hermes belt, Vuori pants, and Loro Piana blue suede shoes. In between them describing their outfits, Jett says things like “The Pookster is looking like a ray of spring sunshine”, “Babe this outfit is so hot, I think you may bring summer in early”, “uh I absolutely love this outfit, it's so sexy but also classy.”
For me, its just sometimes hard to watch. I feel like its very over the top and it feels unnatural. Maybe I don’t see what other people see but it just makes me a little uncomfortable.
Before they were influencers, Jett and Campbell met in Philadelphia at a wine bar where she was a flight attendant at the time, and he was getting his law degree at UPenn and his business degree at Wharton. And here was when their love story began. Jett quotes in an article by people.com “I walked up to the prettiest girl at a wine bar in Philadelphia [and] just started talking to her.”
Now, even large companies are even inspired by their love story. Company's such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Taco Bell, Dunkin Donuts, Chick Fil A, Bio Oil, St. Tropez tanning lotion will all send her their products for free if she posts for them. They will get flown out to colleges and company seminars to be keynote speakers. These companies will post on their own social media accounts and make the caption about how good “Pookie” looks (their new menu item). These big companies just love this internet couple together.
Fans of Pookie and Jett go crazy over their videos and their relationship. They have plenty of fans and supporters, but they also have some people making negative comments and questioning their relationship on their posts and videos. Some comments under her posts are “This is ridiculous”, “This crap can't be real”, “This is Comedy right.” But their fans on the other side- started to make these outfit of the day videos with their significant other calling them Pookie.
While I might have been sitting uncomfortable on the fence about it, I came to the realization that I do think it’s cringy, and I don’t think it’s real. Jett is always saying that everything he says is true and adores his wife. I doubt Jett is doing this when the camera is not on. But is there anything wrong with doing it for all of your fans while making money? And this is where I don't see the problem. I think it was and still is a great business decision for the two of them.
Campbell and Jett are using this to their advantage to visit companies and colleges that want them to sponsor their programs. They even started a brand that is just as cringy as you could imagine. When Campbell and Jett post their videos, you will see Campbell softly giggling when Jett says something about her outfit and how she looks. But they can't stop this trend now. There stuck and everyone is just kind of in on their joke.
They announced this brand on a recent business trip to the University of Mississippi.
“Quintessential love”.
Jett started to describe what she is wearing, and Jett said “And Pookie’s hat is looking absolutely fire, in fact it’s as adorable as Princess Pookie. He goes on to describe their new brand saying, “We’ve chosen the name Quintessential Love because everything Campbell and I do on social media is about putting love into the world and putting positivity in the world and we want our brand to be a continuation of that.”
The reason why they came up with the name of this brand just doesn't feel natural either. It was just another clever business decision that they made. Of course, they first released two hats which included the word “Pookie” because that's what they are known to say. They are using their popularity to their advantage like they should. This now almost feels like this is so connected to them they can’t get out of it.
I keep going back on social media to keep up with Campbell and Jett. I watch every instagram story she posts, I rewatch all of her highlights she has on instagram, I watch all of her Tik Toks and follow her on every social media platform. If I don’t like watching their videos where he calls her pookie. What do I like about them?
Ive thought a lot about this and why I may like them so much even though I think when he calls her Pookie its cringy.
But, the truth is……..
I still haven’t found out why.
If I don’t like when he calls her Pookie, why do I keep coming back to all of their social media platforms and continue to watch their videos?
I’m just not sure.
Maybe I have something that I want to fulfill through watching her videos, or that she inspires me to do certain things, or maybe again, just the mindless distraction it brings to me.
I find myself all caught up scrolling through her social media platforms and finding videos that I’ve never seen before. Everytime I start to scroll I find something different.
But I still cannot find out why Campbell is my favorite influencer on social media.
