A TikTok influencer is going viral but not for the reason she wants.
Valentine’s Day is a huge holiday for a lot of businesses and it’s especially big for small businesses that offer flowers, cakes and other romantic novelty things. A lot of these small businesses really rely on Valentine’s Day and other holidays to keep the lights on. That’s what makes this particular conversation extra irritating.
Names were hidden in the original screenshots.
Anytime I see an influencer say “collab” I know they are going to ask for something for free. There is no collaboration.
First of all, that cake, er dessert thing, is absolutely adorable. Second, $60 seems like a pretty good deal for a large cake thing and 6 cupcake things, given how lifelike they are. I can’t even imagine how long it would take someone to make!
I dont think influencers know what “collaboration” means. It means working together. I don’t think posting one tiktok counts as working together.
The business owner decides to give the entitled TikToker a piece of their mind and it does not disappoint! Even if she does give the business a shoutout on social media, the best way to support small business is to pay them what they deserve for their hard work!
So the small business owner posted this conversation on TikTok to expose the influencer and others who think their following and social media presence entitle them to exploit people who are working really hard. Well, that did not go over well with the influencer. She made a rebuttal TikTok.
In her response, she claims she was merely “inquiring about a potential product promotion.” That’s not what I saw. She was demanding a specific product for free, there was no inquiry about it. Then she goes on to say the business attacked her character. No honey, you did that yourself with your rude attitude. She even goes as far as to call them a bully.
People in the comments have no sympathy for this self-proclaimed victim.
This reddit user brings up a good point. 1.4M followers is no easy feat and it is comendable, if in fact, they are real people. It is way too easy to fake things.
Another user brings up a great point! Giving away one cake doesn’t seem like it’s going to tank this small business. But if people are reaching out frequently demanding free products as a “collab” there is no way for a business to keep running.
I guess you can’t blame the influencer for shooing her shot and trying to see what she could get. But I think her attitude was wrong throughout the entire conversation. I have no sympathy that her pathetic behavior was called out on the platform where she runs her “business”. Hopefully other influencers can learn from her blunder.