Ddespite the fact that the controversies on social media with A-list celebrities are aimed at journalists, television writers and unknown users – and the corresponding conversation about these power dynamics – in recent years celebrities still use their influence in irresponsible ways for the most absurd complaints.
The latest is an incident with Demi Lovato and a popular frozen yogurt shop in Los Angeles called The Bigg Chill. After the former Disney star announced her institution for the display and sale of sugar-free cookies and other diet food products on Sunday, the former Disney star explains her role in the dramatic saga after she got online backlash.
“I’ve gotten into a situation that does not suit me,” Lovato said in an Instagram video on Monday. ‘My intuition said you should talk about this, so should I. And I feel good about it. What I do not feel good about is the way it was interpreted and how the message was misinterpreted. ”
The incident, which unfolded fairly quickly, began with single paragraphs Lovato posted on her Instagram Stories in which she calls the company the “harmful messages” and makes “disorderly eating” possible.
“You find it extremely difficult to order Froyo at @TheBiggChillOfficial if you have to walk past tons of sugar-free cookies / other diet foods before you get to the counter,” Lovato wrote with the hashtag #dietculturevulture. “PLEASE DO BETTER.”
The “Dancing With The Dark” singer also posted a direct message exchange between her and The Bigg Chill’s Instagram account in which the store claimed they were “no diet culture vultures” and apologized for offending her. The store also defended themselves on their Instagram Stories by tagging Lovato and writing: “We carry items for diabetics, celiac, vegan and of course also have a lot of indulgent items.”
Nevertheless, Lovato declined to comment on this reasoning, sending the company a message that their service was ‘terrible’, explaining that eating disorders are the second deadliest mental illness “which is opioid [sic] overdoses. Later, presumably after the singer received some back-up on social media, she suggested that the company label their snacks as intended for people with dietary restrictions and vegans not to “exclude one demographic by providing for another.” .
While the singer’s claims that seeing the diet options of the store obviously cannot challenge her highly propagated battle with bulimia, Lovato may receive accusations on social media that her provocation of the small business was not only impulsive and uninformed, but irresponsible if she considers her. aggressive online fans who sent the history of death threats to individuals with whom Lovato spoke.
This phenomenon – which is common in most communities of big pop stars – is actually something that Lovato has addressed and condemned several times already, unlike many of her famous colleagues, including Taylor Swift, who recently exposed. Ginny & Georgia actress Antonia Gentry for having online hate after she publicly complained about the subject of a joke in the program, and Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, who exclaimed Daily doll host Morgan Stewart and ‘bloggers’ in general on social media after she accused the former in 2019 of lip-syncing. In 2014, Lovato wrote down a long message in which she instructed that she should stop ‘Lovatics’ sending death threats to comedian Kathy Griffin after she answered someone. who asked her who the “biggest celebrity shower” on social media is with her name. (A year later, in an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Griffin claims law enforcement should get involved.)
Recently, Lovato addressed the issue in her YouTube documentary series informatively Demi Lovato: Dance With The Devil which premiered in March. In the third episode, her friend and former creative director Dani Vitale revealed that she received thousands of hate messages and death threats daily after fans accused her of giving drugs to Lovato before she almost fatalized in 2018. Lovato admitted that while she has ‘amazing’ fans, they can be ‘out of line’ and ‘not always all the information’.
‘Lovato acknowledged that while she has ‘amazing’ fans, she can be ‘out of line’ and ‘not always have all the information’.”
Journalist Rachel Brodsky, who called on pop stars such as Swift, Grande and Lana Del Rey to address the culture of harassment and doxxing among their online fans in an article for The Independent, called this moment in Lovato’s documentation “frustratingly rare”. It is then disappointing that this awareness of the damage her fans are capable of inflicting with or without her assignment did not expand over the weekend, presumably because she was able to set up her call to her 102 million Instagram followers as a service of people suffering from eating disorders, despite how clumsily performed.
But as many have reported on social media, including employees of The Bigg Chill, the production and sale of sugar-free foods is not inherently fatphobic, nor does it encourage eating disorderly habits, as there are a significant number of consumers with medical conditions are what cause eating. sugar dangerous or even deadly. In addition, someone’s decision to choose a sugar-free snack may be motivated by a handful of other factors that do not include an unhealthy relationship with eating, such as a preference in taste, a balanced diet, dental health, or simply not wanting to. not. exceeds their recommended daily sugar intake, something that all people, regardless of our size, should consider. There is also the obvious fact that diet foods and beverages are sold at virtually any institution that sells food, especially groceries and large box stores, and are not commonly caused by people suffering from disordered eating habits.
Even when Lovato defended herself before her apology Monday by posting a 5-year-old photo from The Bigg Chill’s Instagram of a show of Eat Me, Guilt Free Cookies (The Bigg Chill told TMZ that they no longer have the product sell), her critique would be slightly better directed directly at the discussed problematic marketing of the snack, rather than the single operations that are likely to rely in part on partnerships with other businesses. Even then, a culture that makes physical size a moral issue and encourages women to be thinner can better not be attributed to one brand, especially not in a day and time that almost every famous person who influences diet shakes and detox tea does not advertise, and these fast results products can deceive consumers by abusing body-positive and health-driven messages.
Given the number of conspicuous mistakes in Lovato’s weekend crusade, releasing a thorough apology for the onset of the whole incident would be an obvious way to go, a la Ariana Grande when she found herself in battle with a local donut shop in 2015. But Lovato still maintained a fair attitude and expressed interest in working with The Bigg Chill ‘to help align the messages to where [she] bird[s] safely enter there. Like many celebrities accustomed to a life of privilege and people who meet every request, she still does not understand that a business aimed at different customers is not obligated to meet her personal needs, especially not if she has the means to have everything not food she wants to deliver to her through a personal assistant or can simply go to another frozen yogurt shop where diet food is not on display.
If anything, Lovato’s latest judgment, no matter how obstructive it may be of more important news, shows that not everyone who suffers from mental illness or has oppressive beauty standards has the tools to be an effective voice for people with shared experience. .