[ad_1]
Are influencers really putting their used pillows up for sale? It seems pretty sketchy, and could be a sketch, after some of the influencers involved came out saying it was part of a social experiment hosted by a popular local lifestyle content channel.
Just over the weekend, online reports began circulating on social media, spreading the news that a group of influencers were ‘selling’ their used pillows for as little as $ 20, or as much as $ 200, in a website called The Sleeping Beauties.
Once the news went viral, criticism and degrading comments against the young women began to accumulate. They were also harassed on their personal social media accounts.
As a result, several of the influencers involved have suffered anxiety attacks and are refusing to leave the house, while others are hiding out, waiting for the storm to pass, some of them told AsiaOne.
They also claimed that the company had misled them: They were asked to help with a social experiment by taking photos with a pillow, and they did not expect the photos to be marketed in such a sexual way.
The website has been down since December 21.
Website More “Sexual” Than Originally Featured, Influencers Say
In a Facebook post uploaded on Tuesday (December 22), influencer Vivian Tian clarified that she, like other influencers, had participated in the experiment out of fun and curiosity.
The company had told them that the experiment would be part of their new video series. For that particular episode, which would be titled “In 10 days, we can create an e-commerce website that sells favorite pillows,” they claimed they were inspired by women who sold their hair and other favorite items to earn money. .
https://www.facebook.com/tinklevee/posts/10225093748199255
“What we didn’t expect was how the media company in charge of this project will portray us on the sales site. [sic]”Wrote Tian.” Our involvement only went as far as taking a photo with brand new pillows given to us, and then quoting a ‘price’ for them to include on the site.
“Anything afterwards was out of our control.”
He did not receive any payment for his participation in the project, he added.
Another influencer who participated in the experiment, Avander Ho, received the exact same tone from the company in screenshots seen by AsiaOne.
Meanwhile, influencer Cheryl Allison said she was not informed that the pillows would be marketed as used products, but was helping to model for new ones.
“They told me they were going to sell new pillows,” Allison told AsiaOne. “They didn’t tell us that [the company] would post on their website saying ‘Omg influencers selling used pillows.’
That item is no longer available as of today (December 24).
Although Allison was informed by the company when the website went live, Ho, however, did not know.
“Only when my friends and family asked if it was me did I find out about the page and how sexual it was,” she said. “Some influencers they sent the website link to early on told the company to remove their photos, but for me, it was too late.”
The company allegedly asked for photos in silk pajamas
In the screenshots provided to AsiaOne, a representative from the media company asked Ho for more photos and requested different poses.
Ho was also asked if he had silk pajamas instead, an experience shared by Allison and several other influential people, who did not want to be named.
Influencers were not told when the video would be posted
Allison added that the company had not given the girls an estimated date for when the video would be uploaded.
“I was expecting the video to come out at the end of 10 days, explaining that it was an experiment, but it is not.”
According to Ho, the video would only be uploaded at least three weeks later, in mid-January next year.
They also told him not to reveal that the website was a social experiment until the video was posted.
Influencers were stranded
Faced with a growing backlash, Ho and other influencers have asked the company to come out and clear things up, hoping the hate will stop.
However, they allegedly told Ho that since the influencers had voluntarily agreed to the experiment, they should have been prepared for the backlash. His attempt to reason with his contact at the company was also rejected, with the latter allegedly saying: “Everyone should have known that when girls take pictures of themselves with pillows like that, it will become sexualized.”
Meanwhile, Allison has said that she has not yet received a response from the company.
Despite several attempts to contact the lifestyle content channel for clarification, AsiaOne received no response.
