An Instagram influencer has been criticized harshly on social media this week for taking pictures of empty shelves at a supermarket during the coronavirus pandemic.
Former Big Brother Australia contestant Skye Wheatley took to Instagram earlier this week, to post a picture of herself and her son posing for pictures in an empty supermarket to promote sponsored content for a competition.
Watch the US Surgeon general's recent speech on the coronavirus in the video below:A number of commenters on the post seemed to think that the pics were pretty insensitive, and were exploiting a real-world crisis.
For instance, one Instagram user wrote: "Wow. Probably should take this post down. It's really insensitive. I don't think it's about sending positive vibes or whatever. People are losing their jobs. Fighting in shopping centres , people dying everyday. If you wanted Forest to see pics when he is older, take them for yourself not everything is for social media. [sic]"
Meanwhile, someone else wrote: "Spreading positivity would look like volunteering, supporting small businesses or sharing an uplifting quote... not using a sensitive setting from a current world pandemic to attract attention for a giveaway [sic]"
In a later follow-up post, Wheatley addressed the criticisms by writing: "please be kind to one another, please send love not hate, please focus on the positives and be aware of the negatives but shift your energy to the light not the darkness. I honestly recommend googling the law of attraction guys it’s really helped me through some pretty dark times. [sic]"
She continued: "Obviously there is a lot of sadness in the world but PLEASE keep your minds and bodies strong with love not hate ... if this post doesn’t sit well with you please don’t focus and scroll past, fill your soul with things that will make you happy during this time not angry. Anger isn’t helping the world right now. [sic]"
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