Cash or credit only, please — because your social media “money” is no good here.
The owner of a boutique resort in the Philippines is going viral by calling out the “wannabe freeloaders” who inundate him with demands for room and board — and offer to “pay” with a post to their Instagram account.
How did Gianlucca Casaccia, manager and co-owner of White Banana Beach Club, fight back?
With a fiery Facebook post, of course.
“We kindly would like to announce that White Banana is not interested [in offers] to ‘collaborate’ with self-proclaimed ‘influencers,’ ” Casaccia, 40, writes. “And we would like to suggest [you] try another way to eat, drink, or sleep for free. Or try to actually work.”
His protest post currently has more than 12,000 likes, 3,000-plus shares and 1,500 comments — many piling on more influencer hate. Others, however, critique Casaccia’s take, saying the “Instfamous” are vital for publicity.
Undeterred, Casaccia tells The New York Times he finds such digital begging “disrespctful,” and points out that many of these poseur power-players have fewer than 2,000 Instagram followers: “How can you help me if you are no one?”
Commenter Katie Crenshaw had one suggestion: “You seem a little unfamiliar with basic marketing,” she wrote, before dropping a random link to a story about how collaborating with the “Instafamous” is now “essential” to a growing a business.
You know what else helps? Cashing in on viral attention while it’s hot: Casaccia promptly launched a new bourbon-forward cocktail called, you guessed it, “The Influencer.”
