When the COVID-19 crisis began in North America (and more specifically in the USA), the world listened as influencers spanning platforms such as Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube spoke up about the deadly and devastating virus, reminding their followers to stay safe.
Needless to say, based on evidence from YouTube and Instagram right now, that didn’t last long.
Initially, I was going to call out multiple influencers in this article. However, I will only be talking in detail about one since I have been following their content in order to write an article about this. Over the course of a month, I kept up with this influencer’s content and found myself shocked at the selfishness of the content they posted.
I am not going to use their name, however, as I describe the situation, you may be able to decipher who they are if you watch influencers who are more up and coming as opposed to an already established personality.
First of all, the influencer in question has been having multiple parties over the summer. They posted one vlog in the spring showing that they were isolating with their friends and choosing to talk and party over Zoom instead of in person. This did not last long.
Since then, they have posted multiple vlogs featuring them and their friend group partying and going to places such as Chicago and Vegas in order to celebrate birthdays amongst other things. Recently, they even moved across the country into a house with a few of their friends.
Blatant, you might think. How can they get away with posting these vlogs without a lot of negative feedback?
Well, they do explain it, but in a way that makes no sense and does not justify partying during a global pandemic.
To party with their friends, they use the excuse that both them and their friends get regular 15 minute ‘COVID rapid tests’ to confirm that they are negative. They ensure their audience that they get ‘tested regularly’.
This is not appropriate or legitimate. First of all, this influencer has been seen at popular restaurants with Tik Tok stars and with people who have not been featured in their squad of friends. Second, these people are taking the opportunity for rapid tests away from people who need them for a legitimate purpose. This selfishness radiates throughout all their vlogs where they are often talking about the hotels that they have been kicked out of for partying.
While the COVID-19 crisis has brought the good out in some people, it has also brought out how selfish some people are; this example is not the only influencer who has blatantly been a risk to society during the COVID-19 crisis. Sadly, they legitimize to their fans that partying is still cool during a pandemic and that if you are young, it means that you are invincible.
If you see influencers like this, I encourage you to unfollow them and encourage others to as well. Unfortunately, this seems to be the only way to make them take notice of the current situation because their jobs rely heavily on the public’s perception of them. After all, we each have a commitment to hold others accountable to COVID restrictions to keep everyone as safe as possible. What makes our engagement with an influencer’s content any different?