Zanna Van Djik Part #4 weekly flights in a pandemic, to produce content oh so generic.

[griffinsusie]

I am very much a believer in live and let live and honestly think that it doesn't matter how much you earn, what you have and/or how you choose to spend your money. My focus is on me. I do though have a real dislike of hypocrites and in the last few weeks the number of 'influencers' (some of whom I would never have imagined could be so openly. selfishly stupid) living their lives, on the Gram at least, with no care, thought or effort to abide by the coronavirus rules and guidelines has made me so so angry. There are so many, with huge followings that care not a bit for social distancing.

In the case of Zanna, I quietly and politely raised an issue with her back at the start of May via a gentle DM. Her response was to block me but not before a quite nasty, angry reply.
She recently had a birthday party/bbq in the garden of her new house which also failed to abide by the guidelines which just isn't right. Look at where our infection rate is going right now!?!? Add to that the fact that if anyone tries to have with her around any subject matter but especially those that she is supposedly a champion of and they offer up even the smallest of challenges then the same tactics apply.
It is not her height, her house, her ads, her partnerships or her choice of odd furniture from antique markets that bother me it is quite simply her overriding sense of privilege, lack of accountability and failure to be adult about anything that I think needs checking.

 

[hello0986]

Ok rant incoming and apologies as I’ll probably repeat stuff people have mentioned before but....

Zanna used to be one of my favourite influencers who I’ve followed since the Blonde Health days. That all ended when she blocked me for liking a comment on one of her posts, a very valid comment asking about her views on sustainable travel, not attacking her in the slightest. It was only after that incident that I started posting on here. What Zanna and other influencers don’t seem to realise is that we don’t live in North Korea. People are allowed to have opinions, especially on pertinent topics such a sustainability, and take issue with the content that you put out on the internet. If her page is her special corner of the internet to share what she wants to without accepting that there are consequences then this is ours to disagree with that. I personally disagree when people attack her appearance because I feel that takes away from the very valid criticisms on here and gives her an excuse to call us “haters”.

What grinds my gears is when influencers exploit the “be kind” movement which has absolutely nothing to do with them. Caroline Flack was hounded about very personal issues which she tried to keep private. I didn’t follow her on insta but she didn’t seem like the type to share her entire life on the internet, let alone sell it for free shit (although I might be wrong). Influencers who sell their and their families privacy for fame and free stuff are opening themselves up to opinions and criticisms from other people, as they rightly should. Anything you put on the internet, you open up to other people’s opinions, that is not the same as tabloid newspapers intruding on your personal life. No I don’t agree with people being abusive but that is not the same as disagreeing or questioning someone’s ethics, which is all anyone on here has done to get blocked by Zanna. I have private accounts and don’t share opinions on my social media because I can’t be bothered with people disagreeing with me. It shocks me that these influencers don’t have the mental bandwidth to understand the consequences of the industry they operate in. No one is obligated to “be kind” to you in pursuit of a free £800 sofa that you could easily afford yourself.

 

[ginamarcella]

Examples of "nobody's perfect":
- forgetting to ask for #nostrawplease at a restaurant
- buying spinach in a plastic bag
- having some dairy ice cream even though you're usually plant-based
- going on holiday by plane or to visit family overseas
- ordering takeout that comes in tons of plastic packaging

Not examples of "nobody's perfect":
- taking multiple flights per year just for fun/to shoot "interesting content"
- working with fast fashion brands/brands testing on animals if you are a sustainability influencer
- buying an entirely new set of pots and pans and all new furniture for your house

And don't get me wrong: I do not vilify any "regular person" that buys H&M for budget reasons, or doesn't want to go vegan, or travels the world. But if you constantly harp on about "making small changes", you should probably consider the bigger, more impactful changes you could make. It would make things feel a little less contrived.

 

[Skirmish1979]

I didn’t think the ‘Back to School’ mum & son pics would start until next week

 

[New-casettes]

Thread name suggestion: Zanna Van Dijk Part #5 I’ll fly where I like and fill my house with whatever I fancy; if you call me out you’re a negative Nacy.

 

[sarah_green]

Okay i too have been pushed on here after being blocked by Zanna. Again another block for querying her lack of transparency on sustainability, a nicely worded question to Zanna, not hateful.

I have a masters in ecological management and work as an environmental manager so I am highly educated and experienced in this field. I find it so frustrating and quite frankly dangerous that influencers like Zanna are becoming the face of sustainability.

It`s not okay to harp on about going vegan and full vegan to 'make up' for the carbon footprint of those who can`t and then..... take multiple first class flights a year, buy a large house with a significant footprint for just two people, have two cars for the one household, to start 'fresh' and buy everything new for said house, to plan unnecessary bathroom remodels because the sanitary-ware is not to your liking. And this is the same person 5+ years ago who was adding to the plastic problems by promoting one use plastics so she could get her free protein shake, protein brownies, salads on the go. etc.

I do believe Zanna cares about the environment like so many others. I think her beach clean-ups are great. Her lifestyle, not just her flying, however, is far from the sustainable image she would like to portray. I think she was wrong the choice for Dove. I think she should be more honest with her followers and accept critique.

 

[Silentcritique]

The cognitive dissonance of Zanna is unreal.

I liked Zanna: it was refreshing to see a young woman like me enjoying the outdoors and walking, animals, recycling and plastic reduction etc. I bought her book, joined her FB group and attended one of her overpriced brunch events (which turned out to be me me me) on Zanna’s part). It’s ignorant to call people like me a hater when actually it’s about seeing how problematic she is/has become. And actually yes she is a bad influence, with all the holidays during the pandemic. And then there’s the accepting freebies from small brands, endless free long haul holidays, receiving expensive space nk toiletries without doing proper reviews, boasting about her fitness stats, inaccessible workouts (I’m sorry but who can actually do reverse burpees, constant negativity and ingratitude towards her London flat which was A GOOD SIZE, and constant boasting about her new mansion. We happen to know how much it is worth but it’s pretty evidently worth a million pounds given its size and location, two facts presented by zanna van dijk herself. So acting smug about that when we’re about to face the worst recession isn’t a good look frankly.

I wish I was one of those people who could be happy for her but actually I have a bit of nous about me and know that people like her don’t deserve these handouts. Zanna thinks she is a positive force on Instagram, but she fails to considers the people for whom that lifestyle is unattainable- the expense, constant travelling, fitness obsession. Her entire feed reeks of white middle class privilege and that she has nothing better to do than fly to random destinations and stretch in her office.

It’s also ridiculous to complain about the effects on Ant, when she could have only ever referred to him by his first name but instead chose to publicise his full professional working name. I do wonder if sending an email to his work was a bit much, but at the same time the point about a Deutsche Bank employee having that type of presence online is extremely valid. Sexism within that industry is rife.

 

[Ilikethisname]

Name suggestion: Zanna's not sustainable any more, just a beggy Surrey bore

 

[Boutros-Boutros Ghali]

What does she think people are going to do....camp outside....she’s not one direction
As I said her concern should be the fact she’s been so braggy people have managed to work out where she lives less than 24 hours since she moved....don’t plaster it all over the internet then you dozy cow....oh yeah that’s right you don’t get free stuff otherwise
Good to see that you’re keeping up with tattle during your busy house move though....thanks for the love
Some free advice.....if it’s messing with your life delete the account, stick to ‘fitness’ and overpriced swimwear and live privately like the rest of us do....even if it means you’ll have to pay for your own sofa

 

[Dawn5219]

I'm new here.......I am completely outraged by the amount of ads and begging on both accounts - accounts that share the same content basically.
I have been doing up my own house so follow many other house accounts and enjoy their journeys as they are truly documenting info and builds. Who moves to their 1.6/8 million house with nothing, but, some cleaning products? It is clear what they are doing for the freebies. I am offended they do not even follow the brands that gift or pay her/them - they are clearly not "influenced" by the brands !
It also saddens me that this house is basically a set....she rushed out yesterday to the antique fair (some of us have been to them before Zanna - you are not the first!) and bought items for dressing a set for a shoot - call in the stylist. Homes should evolve over time - you get the essentials; sofa, chairs, table etc and all those other things are personal and in my house hold memories - I can look around my room and think oh I got that when we went there or someone bought that for me as a gift etc......She is rushing around (without Ant) buying "earthy" objects that look like they are from my local themed pub as dressings. Poor Ant is going to busy dusting hahaha !

 

[lattesandlabradors]

I get you’re trying to justify stalking her videos and satellite google but this is all getting a bit uncomfortable and is reminiscent of rape culture with the whole “she was asking for it, she put it out there and was provocative about it so what else was I going to do” rhetoric. I sincerely hope that the very obvious clues given away by earlier posters doesn’t lead to sinister people putting dead pigeons through her letterbox or worse.

Do you know how damaging it is to compare people finding zannas house to rape?
Maybe i'm just sensitive because of my personal experience but it's quite insensitive to compare the two. Noone had broken the rules with what you can and can't post.
Frankly I'm surprised the amount that shes posted about the house locationwise like the walk through the woods to the station and recording the journey there in the car which if you're familiar to the area like myself and quite a few other posters, really gives away the locations. I travel a lot for work and even I didn't post pictures of my house when I bought it because I know of the security risk.

 

[daisychain99]

She's updated her gifted sofa post to say Ad at the start now honestly I don't believe leaving that out was a mistake considering knowing the ASA rules is a major part of her job. If I could retract the complaint I would, BUT I don't regret flagging it, it's exactly why the ASA is there and it was not immediately clear from the post in the feed (unless you clicked on it) that it was sponsored (sorry, #gifted) content.

Also, I think given the amount of new members who are being driven to this site, mostly from long time followers/supporters of Zanna (myself included!), That there is a genuine concern around her content that we as followers are not able to address in an adult way without being labeled as "trolls" or "haters", getting our comments deleted and getting blocked, and Zanna seems unwilling to listen or take feedback on board.

To be clear, it does not make me happy that she is upset. I do not wish her, or Ant ill harm in any way. What alarms me more is that there's a lot of valid feedback about her content which she is now censoring unless it's confirming her opinion (which, let's be honest, obviously equals more £££ for her)

And because there is not a way of having these conversations/debates on her account, people are being driven here.

There is a difference between hate and constructive criticism.

This is an excellent post and explains how I feel also. I used to follow as I liked her content and ideals. In addition I would never want her to be upset, indeed I felt bad yesterday that this forum had made her cry... But then I went through and read all the posts again and realised that very very few people were actually being mean for the hell of it (some nasty comments about her teeth which are mean) but the rest are genuine questions, discussions and concerns.. eg.

- Incorrect advertising standards (now rectified)
- Show casing your house to burgelars
- Not being sympathetic to the current economic climate
- No one on here said they had emailed brands to say not to work with her
- Being a sell out on environmental issues re-fabletics and making a quick buck
- She mentions that people were 'meddling with her and Ants (sic) private lives'... That's not true it it.. some one just raised the question about what his colleagues would think

No one on here has been trolling her from these posts
She cannot take constructive feedback without breaking down

Just imagine if a company so obviously went back on it's environmental morals for a quick buck. It would be like body shop testing on animals or a fair trade chocolate company scrapping their standards... There would be mass public backlash against them...
She is effectively a company... She is set up as one for tax purposes (zanna van dijk ltd), she certainly is open about the need to generate profit, she has advertising strategies etc... Why can't these influencers start being held responsible and accountable to the same standards of governance and responsibilities that we hold companies to?!

If you want to make money off the public then you have to listen to their constructive feedback... After all that's market research

 

[Branched]

I moved house last week and I’m starting to think I did it all wrong. I did mention it to my friends but I didn’t put 20 updates on my Instagram daily. I just packed my stuff and moved, at the weekend too so I didn’t need to book days off work.

I'm writing this from a cushion on the floor as I currently have no sofa, nor do I have a bed frame or dining table. Any furniture I do have is a mismatched collection of discarded stuff from family (#gifted, for full disclosure) and things I bought secondhand. I didn’t realise sustainability didn’t matter when you’re moving house! I should’ve just bought all new items and hired an interior designer to do it all for me.

Zanna is really showing me up as always. Excuse me while I’ll try to go find all these emotions she’s feeling and cry for a few hours because my new place is a massive 45 mins from my old one.

 

[Branched]

Is she seriously advertising a Dell laptop now?! I'm sure she did ads for a HP laptop not long ago and said basically exactly the same thing - "oh it's so light and great for portability". We all know she uses her MacBook anyway, she doesn't hide that fact.

Also, I found it funny when she said that she "understands the importance of investing in the right tech". Bit rich coming from someone who gets #gifted everything, it's hardly an investment for her.

 

[OppositeFeature]

Zanna: Brags about all things house related, location, drives around the place.
Also Zanna: hAtErS foUnd OuR hOusE

 

[hmsizzle]

Sorry I don’t normally post on these things but I just saw her complaining about ticket prices in to London and I couldn’t not. As someone looking to move to Surrey and having to factor this in to my budget, it’s a bit distasteful for her to complain from her £1m+ mansion!

 

[Branched]

I feel like I should say something as the person who actually sent the email which people have been discussing. I’ve posted my reasons for it before so I won’t go into a massive amount of detail.

I sent it from the perspective of a woman in her 20s who spent years working in finance. It didn’t come from a troll or hater, it came from someone who spent a long time working in that male-dominated industry, where sexist comments and actions are regrettably normal, and ultimately from someone who thinks this needs to change.

The email itself was, in my opinion, polite and stuck to the facts, stating specific comments which I thought were inappropriate from a relatively senior employee of the bank. The kind of comments which would have been inappropriate irrespective of who said them - I would have had the same opinion had it been one of Ant’s colleagues. I know that if my seniors had made those comments in a public video, the bank I worked for (not Deutsche) would have had issues with it, and rightly so.

As I’ve said previously, if Deutsche have no issues with their employees making comments like those which Ant made, then they could simply dismiss my email with no further action.

I do not hate Zanna, nor do I hate Ant. Honestly I think Ant seems like a decent guy and he just made a bad judgment call on this one. I don’t wish to take it any further but I still stand behind my actions.

 

[AlexandraHamilton]

That’s just absolutely mad. Dove should have done some research

Seems like a good partnership if you ask me. Both pretending to be good for the environment but not not actually living up to their claims

 

[Ups27]

Oh my god. I have just watched her house tour. RUNNING around the kitchen LOOK AT ALL THIS ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES. That’s great that you have this house but people have lost their jobs so stop fucking boasting because you look a smug cunt. And I hate that word.

 

[AlexandraHamilton]

Shall we put a bet on next time she posts about doing emails it will be with her MacBook and not the Dell?