A “social media influencer” with 55,000 followers on Instagram and Facebook was roasted online after she demanded free videography and photography for her wedding in 2021 in exchange for publicity and promotion on her channels.
Besides demanding wedding day videography, 1,000 wedding photos and a pre-wedding documentary, the influencer asked bridal companies to also give her a promo code for a hefty 25 per cent off their services that she could share with her followers.
The influencer’s demands did not go over well with Frankie and Laura, the proprietors of Betrothed & Co – one of the wedding photography and videography companies that the influencer’s representative contacted.
Last month, Laura shared screenshots of her company’s email exchange with the influencer’s representative. The email thread began with the representative – who identifies herself as Melissa – conveying the influencer’s demands in exchange for “extensive promotion” and shout-outs on her social media channels.
Melissa also, rather condescendingly, asked the company to reply as soon as possible for the sake of their business since they have contacted four other companies with the same demands:
Laura and Frankie replied with a rather hilarious email, that began with them noting that the number of followers the influencer supposedly has is rather small to demand so many concessions in exchange for promotion, especially given the risk of bots and duplicate accounts.
The business owners also pointed out that they typically expect to raise their prices if an influencer gives them a strong recommendation, instead of taking a hefty 25 per cent pay cut just so the influencer could offer a discount code to her followers.
Laura and Frankie also sarcastically expressed their appreciation to Melissa for informing them that they should act quickly to secure this wedding since she has also approached others, instead of respecting them as artists:
Melissa and the influencer took great offence at Laura and Frankie’s response and wrote back, informing them that they are no longer being considered to film the wedding.
In an email riddled with poor grammar, Melissa noted that the wedding would have been a lucrative opportunity for Betrothed & Co since they could have networked with “celebrities who would be making TV appearances later in the year.”
In what appears to be attempt to guilt-trip Laura and Frankie, Melissa wrote: “This wedding is really important to my client as her mother has been diagnosed with cancer and it’s really unfair for you to be so mean when you could of [sic] just said no politely.”
The email ends with Melissa threatening the business owners that she will “name and shame” them if they email her again.
Frankie replied to Melissa’s email and said that she struggled to find abuse in their last email to Melissa. She wrote, tongue-in-cheek: “apologies if our forthright attitude means we’ve forfeited the opportunity of networking with “celebrities who will be on TV later this year.” (Or in non-PR speak: “People who have never been on TV.) We’ll just need to take this one on the chin and try to rebuild our business as best we can.”
Frankie also expressed her sympathy for the influencer’s mother, especially since she lost her own mother to cancer.
She, however, pointed out that she would have been more sympathetic if Melissa and the influencer had tried to get a discount since the influencer is also dealing with her family suffering from a terminal disease instead of using this to guilt-trip them.
The business owner finally noted that an attempt to name and shame her company would probably end up backfiring against the influencer:
While Betrothed & Co is a UK-based company, Singaporeans sharing the post have noted that this sort of nonsense is also common in Singapore:
https://www.facebook.com/tharenii/posts/10219364267514897
https://theindependent.sg.sg/professional-photographer-locks-horns-with-spore-model-who-didnt-know-she-had-to-pay-for-his-services/