I have been following this thread with interest as it actually just points out the decline of Zanna’s credibility rather than personally bashing her for her looks or lifestyle choices.
What has finally pushed me to comment is her latest story where she asks people for recommendations for staycations in the U.K. If she is a ‘content creater’ shouldn’t she be doing her own research off her own back rather than asking people to suggest places for her only to then approach the holiday companies to wrangle a free deal in return for their exposure? This is just pure laziness, trying to blag more freebies and then selling them to her followers whilst living her best life on someone’s else’s money and recommendations. Why doesn’t she just screenshot everyone’s recommendations to share them, take her mini-break, paying for it herself, and leave it at that? Her blog on Cornwall was disappointing - it was lacklustre, vague and didn’t provide any information that I could not have found out from the internet (I know this because I have been to those parts of Cornwall multiple times). She could have used that blog to build in her own USP of vegan eats in the area as a starter or taken some surfing lessons, commenting on the experience, or done some other (self-funded) activities, focusing on the attractions of out-of-season Cornwall.
I used to really love Zanna’s IG, I was drawn to her account for the fitness, outdoor lifestyle and sustainability content, so much so that I even suggested my teenage daughter follows her. But that has changed lately as she quickly digressed into becoming a walking billboard who seems to advertise for the sake of earning money not because it is in line with her beliefs and principles.
The final nail in the coffin for me was when she created her “Surrey Nest” account to allegedly enable us to “follow her journey in setting up a new home”. If this had involved renovating a period property, showing us sustainable/2nd hand items she had purchased or how she puts it all together, then it would have made sense although random clips on her own account, with it all saved as a highlight, would have been sufficient. But from early on that it was clear to see that is was just another way of begging for free items or earning money to advertise them. This is so far off from what she had initially set out to do and it just shows that she is someone who has lost her way and now is just in it for the money. What annoys me more than anything else though is that she will not allow us to say this in an open, honest way and deals with it by just deleting and blocking. By not clearly declaring that the items are sent for free or that she is only showcasing them because she is paid to advertise them, she is making it very misleading for her younger and more vulnerable followers who are trying to buy into her lifestyle.
I think the issue people have with these “influencers” they discuss on Tattle is the lack of honesty and the subsequent laziness they seem to get once they realise how easy it is to make money from just advertising.
I understand that they use their platform to earn money and I see that it is almost the same as seeing an advert in a magazine. Almost. The key difference with that is that I KNOW 100% that it is an advert when I see it in a mag, but when an influencer hides their intention or motivation behind using/promoting the product, that is when it becomes messy. I think the only way someone should use IG as a platform to advertise is when it is not their full-time job but just as a sideline so does not account for the majority of the income and we know that the product has been chosen to be ‘shared’ for the right reasons.