Recently Cardi B had to cancel a bunch of her shows due to her recent liposuction and breast augmentation. Her doctor’s concerns over her performances messing up her recent surgery led her to announce to fans that her upcoming shows are canceled. While some fans were upset over her canceling her shows, a new angle of this story has emerged. Previously, Cardi B promoted detox teas like Teami, which has also been promoted by Kylie Jenner. The problem isn’t that Cardi got liposuction, it’s that she promoted weight loss products. She’s selling her fans the idea that drinking this tea will help them lose weight and it helped her, however, she actually uses other methods to lose weight. She’s inherently tricking fans into buying a product that she most likely doesn’t use.
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I think it’s important for celebrities to be transparent if they don’t use the product, a lot of the time they do the promotions for the money. Recently Kendall Jenner was criticized for promoting Proactive, claiming it helped clear up her skin. However, it was not Proactive, but her expensive dermatologist who actually cleared up her skin. In turn, people go out and buy these products, thinking they helped and are used by their favorite celebrities when they most likely don’t. It’s tricking people into buying products and wasting money on things that most likely won’t work on them. However, not all brand deals are bad or deceiving, musicians often use product placement in their videos to showcase products like Beats. This type of advertisement is a little more subtle, but there’s not the facade that buying these products will help you. It should also be noted that the products promoted by Cardi B and Kendall Jenner are supposed to improve your health and appearance, which can be a dangerous claim.
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As a young girl, I would jump at the opportunity to buy weight loss products like the one Cardi promoted, however now that I’m older I realize that celebrities have tons of money to spend on products and treatments that actually “work.” But these brand deals can influence the youth of today and trick them into buying these products. It would be way more helpful if these celebrities showed their fans what products they actually use, regardless of the amount of money that could have been made on a brand deal. People are starting to want transparency in the media, or with celebrities. Products should be promoted if the people promoting them have actually used them and believe that they work.