Anon NY Times Article on Girl Influencers and Leotard Brand Reps

[Anonymous (118d)]

This article was disturbing, but sadly should be required reading for all parents. It’s unbelievable the number of moms that view their children as commodities. No wonder there’s a shortage of mental health professionals. If parents would do their job and protect their children, they wouldn’t create avoidable trauma and baggage.

 

[Anonymous (0a93)]

More of the same, this time in the Wall Street Journal

https://www.wsj.com/tech/young-influencers-instagram-meta-safety-risks-6d27497e

 

[Anonymous (1892)]

I was a fan of CW and because they have gorgeous Leo’s and great resale values! However after reading this and then looking at their content I have decided to be more conscientious about where I put my money. I was very disturbed to find a child with over 200k followers almost all of whom were adult males and hundreds of disgusting comments on most of the child’s posts. Clearly no one is safe guarding this child. It’s first a parental responsibility but after that the brand should not allow ambassadors to have accounts that have this kind of following and commenting going unchecked. I know policing accounts doesn’t solve the problem but to just allow this content to sit on the internet promoting your brand..not ok! Even less ok to do to your own child

 

[Anonymous (9f8e)]

I was a fan of CW and because they have gorgeous Leo’s and great resale values! However after reading this and then looking at their content I have decided to be more conscientious about where I put my money. I was very disturbed to find a child with over 200k followers almost all of whom were adult males and hundreds of disgusting comments on most of the child’s posts. Clearly no one is safe guarding this child. It’s first a parental responsibility but after that the brand should not allow ambassadors to have accounts that have this kind of following and commenting going unchecked. I know policing accounts doesn’t solve the problem but to just allow this content to sit on the internet promoting your brand..not ok! Even less ok to do to your own child

I also notice Chalk Warrior has mostly younger girls as their ambassadors.. I thought that to be telling.

 

[Anonymous (d96d)]

These mothers absolutely know what they are doing. I saw one advertising their child’s used Leos to 100K+ followers. Men were in the comments asking questions about the leotards!! Our gym has a used Leo exchange so I’m aware that used Leos are a thing but Why are you as a mother advertising your 9 year old daughter’s used leotards with details on when and where she wore it? Mother led grooming.

 

[Anonymous (a71b)]

I'm most disgusted by the parents that are profiting off their children, but the companies are also to blame. For example, I've heard such great things about Salute Leotards being soft like gymgear and I've seen a lot of cute ones, but I can't even look at the website. I feel like the entire thing is not even set up to purchase leotards. It's just a bunch of pictures of young girls posing provocatively. It looks completely intentional in my opinion.

 

[Anonymous (0a93)]

The new Netflix documentary on "kidfluencers" is well worth a watch, and its release just happened to coincide with Chalk Warrior's latest search for "brand ambassadors", in which assorted parents showed us all just how determined they are to land a bag of free leotards and a little more exposure for their 10-year-old.

 

[Anonymous (67fa)]

Try so much as taking a photo of your own kid inside our (UK) gym and you'll be pounced on by staff in seconds. I realise a lot of these accounts feature pics from home but I'm genuinely shocked when I look at Instagram and see how many US gyms are happy to have people openly filming little girls in leotards. Seems such a basic safeguarding issue.

Makes me this of how our gym very quietly opened an "adult open gym" session while teams were practicing. There were safety issues as well, but a lot of parents were not happy inviting all these strange adults to be in a close space with these young girls in leotards. Eventually there was enough push back that they got rid of it.

 

[Anonymous (0e7e)]

That kidfluencers documentary is quite crazy. It is amazing what people are willing to do for the chance at generational wealth.

 

[JBS]

Is this the one?

 

[Anonymous (0e7e)]

Is this the one?

Yes. Crazy stuff

 

[Anonymous (d462)]

I am the one that started this thread and here we are a full year later and this issue is still in the process of being brought to the light by mainstream media like Netflix. I am hoping that we finally start seeing real changes to protect children!

 

[Anonymous (025b)]

Most ambassadorship only means you get a deeper discount than others. Kids do not get paid if others use their codes. Many families (hundreds to thousands of followers, not professional influencers) do it to get a few discounted Leos and boost kids confidence.

Of course large scale influencers are different stories.

Parents have full control of the accounts. You can simply set it as private! And only approve followers who are friends, families, classmates and fellow gymnasts. Again, gymnasts don’t get paid when people purchase with their discount codes (really, 10 or 20% off is nothing, who would bother to use it, just wait for a sale), so there is really no need to “sell” the product.

At the end of the day, how these accounts are run and how content is created is really based on “wants”. The ambassadorship is just a stepping stone. Parents who make the account that way is because they “want” it - making it big so it can be profit making from future business opportunities.

 

[Anonymous (d520)]

Most ambassadorship only means you get a deeper discount than others. Kids do not get paid if others use their codes. Many families (hundreds to thousands of followers, not professional influencers) do it to get a few discounted Leos and boost kids confidence.

Of course large scale influencers are different stories.

Parents have full control of the accounts. You can simply set it as private! And only approve followers who are friends, families, classmates and fellow gymnasts. Again, gymnasts don’t get paid when people purchase with their discount codes (really, 10 or 20% off is nothing, who would bother to use it, just wait for a sale), so there is really no need to “sell” the product.

At the end of the day, how these accounts are run and how content is created is really based on “wants”. The ambassadorship is just a stepping stone. Parents who make the account that way is because they “want” it - making it big so it can be profit making from future business opportunities.

This thread is over a year old. You restated everything that's been discussed. Just wondering if you read through the 3 pages, or just read the first post and commented on it?

 

[Anonymous (025b)]

This thread is over a year old. You restated everything that's been discussed. Just wondering if you read through the 3 pages, or just read the first post and commented on it?

Yes I actually did and I didn’t “restate”. I don’t agree that “ambassadorship” or kids being ambassadors is an evil thing. It is a cheap way for brands to market for sure, but the majority of the kids in it are no where near being exploited or even make money, mostly just doing it for fun. I actually got curious and looked at a few girls in my daughter’s circle with 1000 - 4000 followers, none of them has creeps followers.

The accounts with the creeps all over are intentionally set up that way…there is a big difference between mega influencers and regular gym girls.

 

[Anonymous (78b1)]

Yes I actually did and I didn’t “restate”. I don’t agree that “ambassadorship” or kids being ambassadors is an evil thing. It is a cheap way for brands to market for sure, but the majority of the kids in it are no where near being exploited or even make money, mostly just doing it for fun. I actually got curious and looked at a few girls in my daughter’s circle with 1000 - 4000 followers, none of them has creeps followers.

The accounts with the creeps all over are intentionally set up that way…there is a big difference between mega influencers and regular gym girls.

You went through 1k-4k followers of multiple accounts and could determine none of those followers are creeps?

 

[Anonymous (025b)]

You went through 1k-4k followers of multiple accounts and could determine none of those followers are creeps?

Quick view, all gymnast girls, many mutuals, can’t see anything suspicious at first glance. The trend is gymnasts girls follow each other to get their followers up. If you set your account private, parents views and approves all follow request, it is very easy to spot creeps or not…