In this day and age of social media, influencers have now become a whole lot more of a powerful force. They have a lot of influence in shaping behavior and public opinion. These people hold the power of reaching millions of people with only just a single post.
In this article, I will be discussing “influencers gone wild” cases and all other related aspects to it. Keep reading till the end of the article to find out more information about the same!
Influencer Culture
A rise in influencer culture can actively be attributed to a lot of different factors – including the increasing popularity of social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. These particular platforms have now provided a space for several individuals to build a large number of followers by sharing their lives and experiences with the rest of the world.
For a lot of people, becoming an influencer is a “dream” that offers them the opportunity to influence, fame, and fortune.
However, as the industry of influencers has grown – so has the scrutiny of its related practices.
Influencers these days are being criticized for endorsing/promoting questionable products, preaching unrealistic beauty standards, and engaging in other forms of “bait” marketing tactics.
There is also a group of these people who make use of their dedicated fan following for personal gain.
Temptation Of Creating Controversy
As the landscape of ‘influencer’ becomes more and more saturated, the pursuit of engagement and attention actually intensifies. There are also quite a lot of influencers who have found themselves tempted to cross the boundaries to go viral. There’s also an allure of ‘stirring up controversy’ involved, that makes these influencers make questionable decisions. This temptation to create a controversy arises as they want to increase the visibility even more.
Consequences: Backlash And Eventual Downfall
In the quest for garnering more attention, influencers have been known to perform controversial stunts that push the boundaries of taste and ethics. These stunts range from posting offensive content to inappropriate pranks and much more.
When the influencers go wild, their online community frequently responds very quickly and decisively as well. There are a lot of social media platforms that straight up suspend and penalize accounts.
There’s also the cancel culture that has gained a lot of traction as well! This is when fans of popular people mass unfollow them due to the latter engaging in questionable acts and controversies.
Examples Of Influencers Going Wild
There are numerous examples to date regarding influencers going wild and engaging in unethical and irresponsible behavior. Here is a list of some notable cases:
1. Meg Turney
Let’s discuss the Meg Turney influencers gone wild case first! In this case, there was an unauthorized release of intimate and private images of Meg Turney which occurred as a result of an armed intruder breaking into Meg’s home.
This incident not only threatened Meg’s safety but also invaded her privacy in the most intimate way possible.
2. Vicky Stark
The Vicky Stark influencers gone wild case was also quite similar to Meg’s (discussed earlier). In the early months of 2020, a collection of Vicky’s explicit photos were allegedly leaked online. All of these were shared without her consent and quickly spread like wildfire.
This leak had a huge impact on both her professional and personal life and tarnished her reputation. As a result, she also lost a lot of brand deals and sponsorships.
Blurring Of Lines
There are a whole lot of other cases other than the two I discussed in the section above, that have taken place. There was the Amouranth influencers gone wild case, the Christina khalil influencers gone wild case, and more that have taken place over the years.
The influencers share so much of their lives on social media and other online platforms that their fans automatically feel entitled to know everything about them. This is why you see so much news about influencers’ accounts getting hacked, home invasions, and photo leaks.
Impact Of Influencer Going Wild
The behavior of influencers going wild is actually having a major impact on society. This greatly erodes the trust of people in influencers and makes it so much more difficult for consumers to indulge in informed decisions. Moreover, the actions of influencers also have negative consequences for the brands that they get sponsored by/partnered with.
The Solution: Being A Responsible Influencer
It is now more important than ever for influencers to be ethical and responsible in the use of social media. Here are a few pointers to being a more responsible influencer:
1. Be Transparent In Your Practices
To practice this, you always need to be open about your relationships with brands and also be upfront about opinions.
2. Promote Only Positive Values
Make use of your platform to promote positive messages and also encourage followers to be responsible, respectful, and kind.
3. Be Mindful Of The Audience
You need to be aware of the impact that your actions and words have on your followers – especially on young people.
4. Use Influence For Doing Good
Use your space/platform to bring about a positive difference in this world.
To Wrap It Up!
There’s a lot of Influencers gone wild phenomenon going around in the present time. A lot of stigma around them – but you also cannot overlook the fact that there are a lot of good influencers out there as well! They have a lot of power in their hands, which they can use to bring about some positivity in this world.
Thank you for reading up till the end of the article. I hope you found the information regarding “influencers gone wild” to be useful.
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