there Infamous tweet As follows: “Every day on Twitter, there is one main character. The goal is to never be like that.”
This week, that personality was an influencer named Dani Carbonari – better known online as Dani DMC, she is a model and content creator with over half a million followers across TikTok and Instagram. Instagram. She was among a Bunch of creators From the United States who have accepted a free trip to China from fast fashion giant Shen.
The company was founded in China over a decade ago, and though it still produces items there, Shein is now based in Singapore. Shein has become widely popular thanks to its ultra-cheap prices and fast pace of production that allows it to stay on top of even the smallest of fashion trends. The company owns accuse Cotton is sourced from China’s Xinjiang region, where forced labor and human rights abuses are rife. (Shi denied the accusations.)
The name is pronounced, “she is in”. As in, “She dresses so cheap.” As in, “She’s in trouble for these TikTok videos.”
This brings us back to Danny DMC. The influencers were supposed to tour the company’s factories and talk to the workers. While they technically did, what happened next may not have been what Shein had in mind.
in a video Now deleted from her account, Danny DMC posted clips from a tour of Shane’s “Innovation Centre,” a clean, well-lit facility. Danny DMC said she “was able to interview a woman who worked in the textile-cutting department,” and that the employee, whom we never heard directly from, replied “truthfully and truthfully.”
Dani DMC, who described herself in the video as an investigative journalist, added that the worker was “very surprised by all the rumors that were circulating in the United States,” adding, “She told me about her family, her lifestyle, her commute, her hours.”
Another innovator on the trip, Destene Sudduth, posted a file video describe similar interactions. (My colleagues Jordin Holman and Sapna Maheshwari spoke with a creator who also went on the journey, if you’d like more details.)
“Most of them work, like, 8 to 6 hour shifts, and their commute is 10 to 15 minutes, just like normal,” Sudduth said of her conversations with the workers. (Carbonari and Sudduth did not respond to my requests for comment.)
Stop by here for a little reminder that Shein paid for and planned this trip. Trips like this are very common in the beauty, fashion, and lifestyle industries. (Dubai tart disasterAttendees on brand rides don’t usually get paid, but ethics are called into question, for example, when a creator later posts a glowing review of the very brand that paid the bill.
Online, backlash to the trip was swift. Despite the deletion of many videos posted by the creators, nothing on the Internet has ever disappeared. The videos, particularly those of Danny DMC, were instantly reposted on Twitter and TikTok.
When asked for comment, Shein said in an emailed statement that she is committed to transparency. “We respect the point of view of each influencer and vote on his experience and stand by it.”
Danny DMC posted a video at the beginning double On her defense of SHEIN – This video has since been deleted – and on file more modernShe apologized to her fans and said she had ended her partnership with the company.
People online are accusing her of apologizing to save her own skin, angry that it took her such a backlash to realize why partnering with Shein was such a bad idea.
I can’t blame the internet mob. As someone who has spent much of my career advocating for influence as a legitimate profession and a field to be taken seriously, journey creators are doing their peers no favors.
But the mob isn’t sharpening a pitchfork to go after every single person who posts a file shein A specific type of video where creators purchase multiple brand elements and model them for their followers. Perhaps this energy, however valid, could be served better if reforming the fast fashion industry is really the goal.
“Shane left these ladies as scapegoats, first and foremost. The rest of us are following that lead, unfortunately, and allowing ourselves not to think critically about the real problem here,” said Michelle Gabriel, who directs the Graduate Program for Sustainable Fashion at Glasgow Caledonian College New York.
Although the trip may not have gone as Shein had planned, there is a dark silver lining to the company. Shein now has a face: half a dozen influencers who are easy to blame.
Internet candy
Here’s what else is happening online this week.
Death by Grimm’s Shake
Last week, gory scenes with purple tahini instead of blood went viral on social media. This gooey is the Grimace Shake, a limited edition milkshake released by McDonald’s to celebrate the birthday of the character, a mysterious bloblike friend of Ronald McDonald’s.
TikTok users are Really having fun with this. They start each video like a regular food review video, sampling shakes and wishing Grimace a happy birthday. Then, there is a dramatic cut to a horror scene that is suggested to have been caused by Grimace in some way: some people have become Grimace Shake zombies. others were stuffed into basketball hoops. (The Times spoke with several of the creators of these videos.)
Even with its apocalyptic themes, perhaps the trend is good for McDonald’s, Jared Watson, assistant professor of marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, said by phone Thursday.
TikTok users knew McDonald’s was playing a role to get their attention, he said, and sabotaged the brand accordingly.
But at the end of the day, they still buy – and advertise – Grimace Shake. d said.
– Callie Holtermann