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The 'influencer' culture

mr.hicksta

mr.hicksta

Golf->Tacos->Gainz
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As some of your may or may not know, I dabble in fitness and nutrition. I came across this story the other day, and have been loosely tracking it since I initially read it.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fitn...-hundreds-dollars-workout-plan-181108926.html

I find the entire situation to be somewhat disappointing for a few reasons.

- First, it's amazing to me how quick people are to equate a physique to the knowledge and work required to get said physique. This woman has NO certifications or education in the fitness field, yet has a HUGE following. Now I realize the easy argument is 'certs and degrees don't necessarily make you an expert' and I agree with that to a point. I think you have to consider a persons entire body of work to accurately determine their level of knowledge. But with that said, this woman has neither and people were willingly paying her money, which is insane.

- Second, this story highlights how dangerous the 'quick fix' mentality is. I read a few comments/complaints about her putting women on 1000 calorie diets, which is freaking stupid.

- Lastly, and probably most important, the entire situation serves as a cautionary tale for anyone looking to improve in ANY endeavor. It's probably a good idea to make sure someone ACTUALLY knows what the hell they're doing before you put them in charge of your fitness and/or nutrition.

The internet makes it easy for people to slang snake oil and there are 'experts' all over these days. My wife busts my balls about how much research I do before making purchases, but if I'm going to spend money, I want to make sure I'm getting the best product possible. As someone who has worked with a couple GREAT fitness/nutrition coaches, not properly researching a coaches body of work is straight up idiotic. Unfortunately, many people won't do their due diligence and soon enough another story like this will pop up. Just a vicious cycle I suppose!

/END RANT

I'm interested to hear everyone's thoughts on this one!
 
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a fool and his (or in this case her) money are soon parted
 
Brittany doesn't look fit, she looks anorexic (sadly). I know many women would love to look like her, but I'm surprised so many have fallen for her scam.
 
I actually know a company that just hired an influencer (because they are a friend) and luckily it is a person who knows a lot about the industry and is respected already. As far as the fitness stuff I can't imagine listening to someone who doesn't have a background in it (such as a degree or established career).
 
aklawitter said:
a fool and his (or in this case her) money are soon parted
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Indeed!

campilobaxter said:
Brittany doesn't look fit, she looks anorexic (sadly). I know many women would love to look like her, but I'm surprised so many have fallen for her scam.
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I had the same thought and I suspect many people she fleeced will never get their money back. Damn shame.

c0ncept said:
I actually know a company that just hired an influencer (because they are a friend) and luckily it is a person who knows a lot about the industry and is respected already. As far as the fitness stuff I can't imagine listening to someone who doesn't have a background in it (such as a degree or established career).
Click to expand...

It seems like 'influencer' is essentially a social media or marketing manager. I could be wrong, but that's certainly how it looks!

In this case I think it's literally a case of 'oh she looks fit so she must know what she's talking about'. NOPE!
 
Great post Hicksta. I am amazed at what people believe will work and the ability to short cut well planned diet and exercise.
 
mr.hicksta said:
Indeed!



I had the same thought and I suspect many people she fleeced will never get their money back. Damn shame.



It seems like 'influencer' is essentially a social media or marketing manager. I could be wrong, but that's certainly how it looks!

In this case I think it's literally a case of 'oh she looks fit so she must know what she's talking about'. NOPE!
Click to expand...

So that is exactly the idea and of course in this industry it is a woman. I know their marketing guy and he is responsible for a lot but businesses in the industry really don't know the power of social media still.

Fitness is a dangerous area to believe anything someone says just because they look the part.
 
I read this story earlier. People don't take the time to actually research what they are getting into. You have to do your due diligence and not just jump in the water, but that is what people do. They want the quick fix and to move on.
 
She's done. I heard about this from the expo and videos and then saw that she was refunding $$ back but making people sign a NDA in order to get their $$ back. Now because of the backlash she's deciding to become transparent. This sort of business is trending w/ fitness models and quick $$ making instructors and I blame a lot of this on Instagram. They know this goes on and they turn their heads on it. False followers (buying follows), clicking on links that lead you to pay sites and photoshopped pics. It's become a racket and they are as much to blame paying these users for advertising. Sad, really sad.
 
mr.hicksta said:
As some of your may or may not know, I dabble in fitness and nutrition. I came across this story the other day, and have been loosely tracking it since I initially read it.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fitn...-hundreds-dollars-workout-plan-181108926.html

I find the entire situation to be somewhat disappointing for a few reasons.

- First, it's amazing to me how quick people are to equate a physique to the knowledge and work required to get said physique. This woman has NO certifications or education in the fitness field, yet has a HUGE following. Now I realize the easy argument is 'certs and degrees don't necessarily make you an expert' and I agree with that to a point. I think you have to consider a persons entire body of work to accurately determine their level of knowledge. But with that said, this woman has neither and people were willingly paying her money, which is insane.

- Second, this story highlights how dangerous the 'quick fix' mentality is. I read a few comments/complaints about her putting women on 1000 calorie diets, which is freaking stupid.

- Lastly, and probably most important, the entire situation serves as a cautionary tale for anyone looking to improve in ANY endeavor. It's probably a good idea to make sure someone ACTUALLY knows what the hell they're doing before you put them in charge of your fitness and/or nutrition.

The internet makes it easy for people to slang snake oil and there are 'experts' all over these days. My wife busts my balls about how much research I do before making purchases, but if I'm going to spend money, I want to make sure I'm getting the best product possible. As someone who has worked with a couple GREAT fitness/nutrition coaches, not properly researching a coaches body of work is straight up idiotic. Unfortunately, many people won't do their due diligence and soon enough another story like this will pop up. Just a vicious cycle I suppose!

/END RANT

I'm interested to hear everyone's thoughts on this one!
Click to expand...

I'm not sure there is anything I dislike more than "influencer" culture. You don't have to know sh** about anything; you just need page views and companies will pay you to peddle their BS products. And we all know how some of these "influencers" are getting these views. I'm just happy at least advertising laws are catching up, requiring said "influencers" to acknowledge in posts they are receiving either compensation or free products for the posts.

Sorry, that was a tad off topic, but I HATE this aspect of modern society.
 
Nate said:
She's done. I heard about this from the expo and videos and then saw that she was refunding $$ back but making people sign a NDA in order to get their $$ back. Now because of the backlash she's deciding to become transparent. This sort of business is trending w/ fitness models and quick $$ making instructors and I blame a lot of this on Instagram. They know this goes on and they turn their heads on it. False followers (buying follows), clicking on links that lead you to pay sites and photoshopped pics. It's become a racket and they are as much to blame paying these users for advertising. Sad, really sad.
Click to expand...

it's the new Get Rich Quick scheme
 
This happens in every industry unfortunately, gullible people always fall for things like this. I blame FB/Instagram/YouTube, they suck you in with the ads etc. and slowly brain wash you into thinking something is good when it really isn't. Heck even those subscription based services are a terrible thing, why would I want to pay X amount of money per month to get a random box of stuff I may or may not want? Why not just buy what I really want?
 
I try to get my fitness advice from people who spend more time lifting heavy things than they do on their lower eyelashes.
 
This saddens me, but sadly its become the norm and this is just a single tale.
People of influence need to use and share proper information and while some won't like the info given, if it's correct you do not run the risk of these things happening.
 
This type of story will become more and more common, and the influencer nonsense will fade away or evolve into something more meaningful.
 
Nate said:
She's done. I heard about this from the expo and videos and then saw that she was refunding $$ back but making people sign a NDA in order to get their $$ back. Now because of the backlash she's deciding to become transparent. This sort of business is trending w/ fitness models and quick $$ making instructors and I blame a lot of this on Instagram. They know this goes on and they turn their heads on it. False followers (buying follows), clicking on links that lead you to pay sites and photoshopped pics. It's become a racket and they are as much to blame paying these users for advertising. Sad, really sad.
Click to expand...

Yeah it looks like things will come toppling down on her. Seems like a 'sorry she got caught' situation with a move straight to victim mode to try and soften the blow.

JMB3 said:
I'm not sure there is anything I dislike more than "influencer" culture. You don't have to know sh** about anything; you just need page views and companies will pay you to peddle their BS products. And we all know how some of these "influencers" are getting these views. I'm just happy at least advertising laws are catching up, requiring said "influencers" to acknowledge in posts they are receiving either compensation or free products for the posts.

Sorry, that was a tad off topic, but I HATE this aspect of modern society.
Click to expand...

No way, that's all on point! This one just happens to be about the fitness industry, but you could replace that with just about any other industry and find similar situations.

Paladin said:
I try to get my fitness advice from people who spend more time lifting heavy things than they do on their lower eyelashes.
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That's a solid approach, haha!

JB said:
This saddens me, but sadly its become the norm and this is just a single tale.
People of influence need to use and share proper information and while some won't like the info given, if it's correct you do not run the risk of these things happening.
Click to expand...

No doubt, and it's crazy she got this big before things went sideways. It seems like there were warning signs for quite awhile. It always good to see people with influence doing the right thing regardless of the industry, but it's a real bummer when situations like this pop up!
 
mr.hicksta said:
Hahaha, that's FANTASTIC!!!

'P.S. the answer is NO' :rofl:
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You should google “influencer denied hotel” all kinds of articles and this crazoid keeps on putting up videos about it. Truly upset they fought bake and damaged her petty reputation


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
So did every person that bought her plan not see results? If so then I see the uproar. I mean, we as consumer run out and buy the newest driver because of the claims we read about or see on TV. How many have firmed FB groups and complained that they didn't see any distance gains or great consistency. She apologized to salvage her image in hopes of maintaining her influence title.
I am not for scamming the public by any stretch but these women bought into this skinny ass woman's message. Just like people buy into TV evangelist everyday. It's ok to throw away your money on 'end of the world barrels" but we cringe at Instagram peeps doing the same thing.
 
JMB3 said:
Haha, thank you for this! I want to shake the hand of the person who wrote the response email. Well done!
Click to expand...

That man is my hero and in my position you would think it would be the other way : )
 
I think there's always people looking to make a quick buck.. 15 years ago it would have been minimal people scammed, maybe even actually a legitimate business with less clients, but now with all this access more people can subscribe and buy much easier.

Social media influencing is horrible, taking advantage of people who just buy into everything they see/read.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
Tadashi70 said:
So did every person that bought her plan not see results? If so then I see the uproar. I mean, we as consumer run out and buy the newest driver because of the claims we read about or see on TV. How many have firmed FB groups and complained that they didn't see any distance gains or great consistency. She apologized to salvage her image in hopes of maintaining her influence title.
I am not for scamming the public by any stretch but these women bought into this skinny ass woman's message. Just like people buy into TV evangelist everyday. It's ok to throw away your money on 'end of the world barrels" but we cringe at Instagram peeps doing the same thing.
Click to expand...

That’s a good question, because all I’ve seen are a bunch of complaints on social media and her BBB page. You bring up a good point though, and I’ve seen one well established person in the fitness industry talk about the consumer needing to shoulder some responsibility for buying what she was selling with doing any research. And I also agree with your point about having expectations about a product and then the product doesn’t meet the mark. I think it’s a bit different in the fitness/nutrition realm though because it’s a lot more personal. For golf clubs, it’s easy to swap one that ‘doesn’t work’ for the next shiny one. Ultimately it’s all a hustle and it only works if people drink the kool aid. I tend to think most frauds can be discovered quickly if people took the time to do a little digging, but it seems like a lot of people just avoid that step all together.
 
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