After Dropping Sponsors, Instagram Star Essena O’Neill Asks For Money
Instagram star Essena O’Neill is quitting social media. (Photo: Instagram)
What happens after you take an idealistic stand that cuts off your income? Social media star Essena O’Neill may find out. Two days ago, 18-year-old O’Neill, who once boasted a combined 884k followers on her Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat accounts shocked fans by letting them know that “nothing is real” when it comes to social media. She re-captioned her images to explain the truth behind her photos, revealing how much money she was paid to promote clothing, food, and beauty products. She also pulled back the curtain on the number of photos she took in order to achieve a “perfect” highly, manipulated image. Her fans, consisting of mostly teenage girls who grew up with social media and who know no other truth, were surprised and inspired by O’Neill’s honesty.
Essena O’Neill wants young girls to be wary of false images on social media. (Photo: Instagram)
The reality of quitting her full time social media career has proved difficult for O’Neill, though. In one video on her new site, she reveals that she fears for her future, not knowing what she will do for money. She concludes the video by writing “I am not a purist, I need money for rent and food. If you get anything from my videos or the site, pay what it’s worth to you on the support tab.” The tab directs you to a credit card link with suggested amounts starting at ten Australian dollars.
Since publicly asking for funding for her new life without social media, O’Neill has received criticism regarding her intentions. Her first video explaining her revelation about her social media-fueled lifestyle reeled in over a million views in the first 24 hours that it was posted, garnering mixed reviews from critics and fans. “Maybe it’s just the cynic in me, but rebranding herself, initiating a campaign, and launching a website doesn’t sound much like retreating from social media,” one man wrote on Facebook. “Then again, if you want to promote realistic self-image and a healthy cutback on social media and the hunt for perfection, I suppose you do need to be heard by people.” O’Neill has responded to critics on her website, “First up, how ironic, the week I quit social media I receive ‘my second fame.’ All this backlash saying 'she’s fake, hoax, attention seeker.’ THIS IS MY EXACT POINT ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA. You think you know someone or have the right to tear them down for the sake of views and gossip. I had no idea this would ever go viral.”
Essena O’Neill reveals the truth behind sponsored social media content. (Photo: Instagram)
O’Neill is not the first blogger to let go of fame and a hefty income in favor of pursuing altruistic or disparate goals, but she is among the first to do it without acknowledging any reasons beyond the defense of her morals. Nadine Jolie Courtney was a popular beauty blogger, but when her numbers began to drop, and her issues with sponsored posts amassed, she looked to more fulfilling career alternatives that proved less lucrative. While her career change was truer to Courtney’s morals, she wrote a candid piece describing the conundrum. “If I’d still been making thousands of dollars a month, it would have been a much harder call,” she admitted. Likewise, Heather Armstrong was the so-called “Queen of Mommy Bloggers” when she let go of Instagram, siting her children’s personal needs and requests as the last straw after they refused to attend sponsored events.
O’Neill is saying ‘no’ to paid sponsorships and hopes that her new site will be true to her vision for honesty. The candid videos on “Let’s Be Game Changers” features O’Neill without makeup or styling. In the videos she discusses her prior “addiction” to social media and the negative effects that it had on her self-esteem, saying that she “quit social media for [her] 12-year-old self” because at that age she “told [herself] that [she] meant nothing… because [she] wasn’t popular online.” The videos convey her idealistic vision for her generation and ask people to stop measuring themselves through followers and likes, suggesting instead that people unplug and look up from their screens.
While it is unclear whether O’Neill’s traffic dropped off and her new site is actually intended to generate press, her message is reaching the young people who need positive influence, and the reassurance of knowing that social media icons manipulate their photos is a good thing. However, she does need to generate income, and while it would be great if the “Support Me” tab would provide enough to live off of, O’Neill is clear that she may need to be open to working out deals with businesses. “I wish to create a platform that acts to spread new age messages of conscious living, addiction to technology, minimise the celebrity culture, promote veganism, plant based nutrition, environmental awareness, social issues, gender equality, controversial art etc,” writes O’Neill on her new site. “I plan to fund this with donation based work (I want everything, every future project to be free, but with a 'pay what you think it’s worth’ option). On top of this support, I also plan to collaborate with companies spreading the same core messages. This is explained further here.” When you click on “here” the link isn’t active, which leaves us with the question as to how she will make this all work. We are excited at the possibility that she can succeed on her own terms.
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