Meghan Markle faced fresh criticism online after a promotional video for her lifestyle brand As Ever triggered widespread complaints about poor audio quality, with some royal commentators questioning how a duchess frequently credited as a producer could release what critics described as an "unprofessional" advertisement.
The controversy erupted after As Ever posted a 30-second Instagram clip promoting the brand's fruit spreads, including raspberry jam, strawberry jam and orange marmalade. The video featured Meghan in a kitchen setting spooning jam into a bowl while narrating the flavor preferences inside her household.
"My husband loves the raspberry, Lil loves the strawberry, and Arch likes both. And I like the marmalade," Meghan said in the voiceover.
The post was intended to reinforce the carefully curated domestic image surrounding As Ever, a brand that has leaned heavily into handmade aesthetics, small-batch products and Meghan's personal lifestyle branding since its launch earlier this year. Instead, much of the online reaction focused not on the jam itself, but on the sound quality of the video.
Royal-focused social media accounts and critics quickly seized on what they described as muffled speech, inconsistent audio mixing and unclear delivery.
One of the most widely circulated reactions came from Royal News Network on X, which posted: "Meghan Markle's audio quality is horrifically bad and not even amateur, it's worse than that."
The account continued: "This woman is supposed to be a producer and can't even get the audio right for a short Instagram video, which is both overproduced and somehow underproduced at the same time. It boggles the mind."
Other users framed the issue as especially damaging because Meghan and Prince Harry have spent years building media and production ventures through podcasting, documentaries and streaming deals.
"Sound quality is everything on social media," one commenter wrote. "People are actually more likely to watch a video with bad image quality than they are to watch something with bad sound quality."
Another viewer posted: "I could not understand what she said at the end, I had to put two and two together."
Several users also questioned whether the issue stemmed from the recording itself or Meghan's delivery style.
"She's mumbling really bad on this. Hard to understand her," one user wrote. Another added: "I don't even understand what she's saying, she's mumbling."
Neither Meghan Markle nor As Ever has publicly responded to the criticism. The Instagram advertisement remained online as of the weekend, and the company has not clarified whether the clip was produced internally or by an outside creative team.
