Influencer slammed as 'racist' after advertising $45 white quilt cover
A Kmart blogger has been accused of being "racist" and a "white supremacist" after posting a photo of the budget department store's white quilt cover.
Claire, whose Instagram handle is @thekmartlover, uses the photo-sharing platform to post photos of her favourite Kmart items. Last week, however, she found herself at the centre of social media storm over a post regarding the store's white waffle quilt cover.
When sharing the item with her followers, Claire wrote "white is right" as part of the caption, and it was this choice of words that incited a furore which saw her denounced as "racist".
Although Claire - who boasts over 111,000 followers on the social media platform - has since changed the post's caption, over the weekend she revealed how she has been affected by the abuse in a tearful Instagram Story.
"I’m not racist. I was purely talking about a bloody doona cover and it does hurt. It hurts me. I put in time to this page. It’s my page," she said.
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"I don’t get paid to tell you where an item is from. I don’t get paid to give you a swipe-up link. I don’t get paid to show you what it would match with and so many of you ask things like that and I give you my view on it."
She also proceeded to share a photo of herself on the white bedspread, writing "Just a girl on a bed in what she considers a cool outfit sharing her love for home styling and fashion. Unshowered, heavy eyes from a bad headache, no make-up. Nothing more, nothing less."
"This week I have been trolled for having too many hats and contributing to landfill. This week I have been trolled as being racist for saying ‘white is right’ about the depicted doona cover. This week I have been trolled for having too many clothes and that I should donated more, that I am wasteful, not thoughtful and that I should influence people in a far better way," the Tasmanian woman continued.
"I could stay quiet as some of you have suggested and not respond to any of these remarks but that is not me. I am strong. I am independent and I am taking a stance against this small minority of society that feel this behaviour is ok because it is not. I am using my voice for those that do not feel strong enough to have a voice. I am using my voice so that hopefully this changes the mindset of one person out there that has thought about writing something negative in any online forum. I am using my voice so that hopefully one less person becomes a victim to self-harm and/or suicide due to online trolling. This behaviour is not ok, it is not tolerated and it is time for it to stop."