Instagram’s platform allows influencers to freely and instantaneously share ultra-filtered and photoshopped images for six–figure salaries, blatantly humiliating traditional models.
Double taps, stories and followers have changed the face of modeling to look diverse, but have also exposed the historically artistic industry to parasitic capitalism.
According to a 2017 Forbes article, “an Instagram user with 100,000 followers can command $5,000 for a post made in partnership with a company or brand.”
Some Instagram models such as Sommer Ray, a fitness influencer who has amassed more than 24 million followers, makes $29,000 or more for each Instagram post, according to Harper’s Bazaar magazine.
In comparison, the average model in New York makes about $34,000 a year and the average model in California makes about $43,000, as reported in 2018 by The U.S. Bureau of Statistics. These two states have the highest concentration of models.
Naomi Campbell, a legendary runway model, brought attention to this unfair industry trend when she spoke on “The Meredith Vieira Show.”
“I kind of feel like, ‘My God, it’s like we’ve worked so hard and we are still working at it, you know? - then it just comes like that for [Instagram models]’, ” said Campbell. “I am actually grateful for the way I had my career. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Many of these traditional models have worked their way up by attending go-sees, casting calls and agency interviews.
Instagram influencers’ shortcut to success devalues the years of work and practice traditional models have typically undergone.
However, the even bigger problem lies in how Instagram profits off the desperate aspiration of lesser-known models, quickly turning the business transaction into a soul-sucking nightmare.
Young adults, especially women, arguably sell their public image, self-esteem and identity to brands for likes and followers – the lifeblood of their success.
Instagram users could buy 1,000 followers for $90 by using multiple sites such as InstaBoostGram, Stormlikes and AudienceGain, according to Forbes.
Instagram models have carelessly opened the doors to insidiously suffocating advertisements and redundant promo codes, making modeling an outlet for self-expression and activism nearly impossible.
On average, 1 in 4 Instagram posts are ads, according to Marketing Land, a publication that covers marketing.
With so many ads attached to their profiles, these Instagram models might as well be advertisers.
Instagram’s prioritization of capitalizing off of selfies and #ootd photos through sponsorships and collaborations gives modeling a completely different meaning.
The app propagates the notion that modeling is all about being pretty, popular, relatable and an advertiser.
