Should Models Be Blamed For Failed Marketing Strategies?

Should Models Be Blamed For Failed Marketing Advertisements?

Sponsored content and influencer marketing has become the life blood of the fashion industry. Girls and guys are making bank off of their social media accounts and models are now being paid to market their ‘real-life’ with a single paid post staged as a candid moment making more waves than a more traditional fashion editorial. But with so much change to the way the industry works, there comes a new set of rules that apparently not everyone has agreed upon just yet.

Kendall Jenner’s failed Pepsi add and the whole disaster that was Fyre Festival feel like old news yet I still find myself asking whether the backlash that the models involved received was fair. People the world over called out Jenner for the socially out of touch Pepsi add she was in and models such as Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin and Romee Strijd amongst others, were all blamed for their part in the disintegration of what was supposed to be a luxury music festival but that turned out to be… well, you know how that one ended.

But were any of the models really at fault? Some had their work ethic and the validity of their career questioned when really they were all actually just fulfilling a job brief they had been given. Realistically, the job would’ve passed through numerous Marketing professionals and talent managers before it made its way to the models in question yet somehow the models are getting blamed for the controversy.

And it’s not just these high profile models that are bearing the brunt of the criticism. People blame models for being too thin, too thick, too young or too sexual for any particular advertising campaign and the creative team, casting directors in particular, who are ultimately responsible for the end result, get perhaps a throw away mention of criticism hidden away in an article.

Granted celebs and models have a social responsibility to act as role models to the multitude of fans they amass and I’m all for curating opportunities so that everything you do reflects your personal brand. To question a models integrity though because someone else has gone into a creatively askew direction? Mmmm not so sure I’m here for that.