On the surface, being an Instagram influencer seems like the ideal way to make money. Take a couple cute photos, link to a product, and get paid. Sounds great! Until the death threats start rolling in.
London-based blogger and "influencer" Scarlett London posted a photo on Friday of her "morning routine." In the photo, the 24-year-old poses with excessive amounts of heart-shaped Mylar balloons behind her, a cup of tea in hand, and stack of pancakes sitting on the bed. At least, that's what it looked like at first glance.
"The best of days start with a smile and positive thoughts. And pancakes. And strawberries. And bottomless tea," Scarlett captioned the photo, which is a paid ad for Listerine.
But as Instagram users soon pointed out, the "pancakes" actually appear to be a stack of folded tortillas masquerading as the breakfast staple. Moreover, her cup of "bottomless" tea appears to be empty. Also, the bottle of Listerine is placed on the nightstand, where literally nobody has ever stored mouthwash, on account of most people not having sinks next to their beds. And last but not least, perhaps most damning of all, the blanket on Scarlett's bed seems to be screen-printed with a photo of herself.
As people on the internet are wont to do, social media users quickly began criticizing the staged photo. But they didn't stop at merely calling out the evidence of how she'd staged the photo. Over the next few days, thousands of hateful comments appeared on Scarlett's page. Some included death threats. We can all agree that is not OK.
Scarlett, who has almost 50,000 followers on Instagram, told the Daily Mail that the criticism has turned into bullying. She says she's received death threats and vicious verbal abuse.
"Many to the effect of that I'm a danger to young women and should suffer, I should be stopped, I should suffocate on the balloons, I should kill myself because of how pathetic I am," Scarlett said.
"But if I'm totally honest, those were the more tame of the bunch."
The London blogger's photo first went viral after a Twitter user shared a screenshot of her post.
"'F*** off this is anybody's normal morning. Instagram is a ridiculous lie factory made to make us all feel inadequate," the user said.
The post has been liked 111,000 times, leading to a huge backlash against Scarlett — some of it humorous, but some of it pretty dark.
Indeed, people are saying that her staged photo is promoting an idealistic version of life that no one can actually live up to.
And they're mocking her for the whole tortillas-as-pancakes thing, calling the plate "strawberry fajitas."
Others are confused that this is a paid ad for Listerine, of all things.
In response to the backlash, Scarlett attempted to defend herself.
"In the last 48 hours, grown men & women, MPs, women’s equality representatives, journalists, actresses and broadcasters have discovered my Instagram feed and decided to pick it apart online, in front of thousands," she wrote in a follow-up post.
While she admitted in a comment that she does, indeed, have a blanket with her own photo on it as a joke, she denies the idea that her photos could be harmful.
"Sometimes my photos are whimsical and OTT and a little too pink, but I’m not presenting this as an ‘idealistic’ version of life that young girls should aspire to. Those who follow me will know my reality."
"I personally don’t think my content is harmful to young girls but I do agree Instagram can present a false expectation for people to live up to. And I am wholeheartedly sorry if I’ve ever made anyone feel inadequate through my content. My life mission is quite the opposite."
Scarlett says she uses her platform to open up about her health issues and inspire other young women to "be positive and have fun with life." She often gets paid to post ads, but she claims they are for products she would buy and use anyway.
We've got her back — nobody deserves to be on the receiving end of such abuse, no matter how ridiculous their photos might be.
But we do have on question: Why didn't she just use real pancakes? Pancakes are delicious.
