An Instagram influencer has clapped back to a diet brand aggressively asking her to become an ambassador by explaining that, as a former eating disorder sufferer, there’s no way in hell she’d promote a diet to her followers.
Charlotte Rollin, 20, from the U.K., posted screenshots of the exchange to Twitter.
“An Instagram diet shake company literally wouldn’t stop emailing me about a potential ‘collaboration’ and so after at first ignoring them, I decided to tell them what I actually thought,” she tweeted.
The Choco Diet is yet another one of those shake / tea companies you see all over Instagram, claiming that you’ll lose weight naturally by consuming their products. IDK if you’ve ever tried one, or spoken to anyone who has, but they apparently just make you drop your guts for days at a time. Weight loss by shitting!
“I had hoped the absence of my response would prevent you from contacting me again, however seeing as you have now emailed me three times regarding this ‘collaboration’, I feel a need to reply and hopefully prevent further correspondence,” Rollin said.
“It is quite apparent to me that you have not taken the time to look at my previous social media posts or even have an idea of the type of the content I create, as if you had, you would most likely be aware that I in fact have suffered with anorexia for the past 5 years.
“I therefore would, under no circumstances, even consider promoting a diet or detox drink on my social channels, which many follow as they also suffer from mental health issues and use as a reassurance that they are not alone in these struggles.
“I find the nature of your product to be damaging, and I know for a fact that these shakes are not a healthy way to lose weight, even for those that have a genuine, non-disordered desire to do so.”
She also called out the company for looking shady as hell.
“Moreover, it is very suspicious to me that you have over 10,000 followers, yet most of your Instagram posts have less than 20 likes. This is a clear indicator to me that your business and following is not a legitimate one.”
The first post on @thechocodiet is from October 19, and while it has racked up a tidy 10.2k followers since then, its smattering of pics (bikini and product shots) have barely cracked 30 likes.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbthgpJBMLF/?taken-by=thechocodiet
Another Instagram influencer, Stephanie Spook, said that she, too, had been low key harassed by the brand.
https://twitter.com/fffigs/status/932670119137955842
Rollin recommended The Choco Diet find a better way of approaching influencers in the future “that does not include blanket emailing and aggressive follow ups”, but tbh, we wouldn’t hold our breathe.
You can read her full exchange with the brand below.
https://twitter.com/_charl0ttesweb/status/932361747985567744
To access information or support around eating disorders, please go to The Butterfly Foundation or call them on 1800 33 4673.
