In recent years, we have seen how brands collaborate with social media influencers and content creators to reach their target audience, increase their visibility, and promote their products. They often run campaigns on festivals and important days like Women’s Day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Men’s Day, etc., in collaboration with influencers who align with their brand’s image and vision. Influencers endorsing certain brands can have a major impact on consumer behavior.
However, Sakshi Shivdasani, who is a popular influencer and content creator on Instagram with nearly 400K followers, opened up about a shameful incident that happened to her.
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A brand wanted to collaborate with Sakshi Shivdasani for a Father’s Day campaign and wanted her to shoot a video with her father, who suffers from paralysis. The brand allegedly knew about this information. However, while giving feedback for the video, someone representing the brand asked her if her dad could move in the video because he appears too still.
When she reiterated the fact that her father suffers from paralysis, the representative allegedly added that they talk “too slowly” in the video too. The brand’s representative also asked her if her father is “actually paralysed” or “kind of paralysed”.
The brand later got back to her saying that because of her father’s condition, they are not sure if their policy allows them to work with him.
“That’s very ableist and frankly, insulting. Why am I taking this insult? It was just like a shitshow. Then she (the brand representative) comes back to me and says, ‘Can you shoot this campaign with Suvrat (Sakshi’s boyfriend)?’. Then I was like, ‘Is this a Father’s Day campaign?’, so they were like ‘Yeah, but can you shoot it with Suvrat? You can make a joke calling him ‘daddy’ or something’. I was like, ‘That’s f*cked up and I’m not doing that,” Sakshi revealed.
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The brand further asked her if she can shoot the video with any other elderly male member of her family and not with her father. Sakshi went on to say that she was not doing it and that maybe they should cancel the collaboration.
She revealed this entire ordeal on Instagram broadcast. A user on Reddit recorded her voice notes and shared it on r/InstaCelebsGossip. You can hear it here:
Hot tea on Sakshi Shivdasani’s broadcast. Whichever brand this is, seriously they need to learn basic human decency.
by u/Which_Discussion_347 in InstaCelebsGossip
Several people online came to Sakshi’s support and asked her to name and shame the brand as this is unacceptable behavior. Here’s a look at some of the responses:
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by u/Master-Machine-8700 from discussion Hot tea on Sakshi Shivdasani’s broadcast. Whichever brand this is, seriously they need to learn basic human decency.
in InstaCelebsGossip
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by u/TemporaryRegret3531 from discussion Hot tea on Sakshi Shivdasani’s broadcast. Whichever brand this is, seriously they need to learn basic human decency.
in InstaCelebsGossip
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by u/khuwushi from discussion Hot tea on Sakshi Shivdasani’s broadcast. Whichever brand this is, seriously they need to learn basic human decency.
in InstaCelebsGossip
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by u/Ok-Tour-7248 from discussion Hot tea on Sakshi Shivdasani’s broadcast. Whichever brand this is, seriously they need to learn basic human decency.
in InstaCelebsGossip
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by u/Maleficent025 from discussion Hot tea on Sakshi Shivdasani’s broadcast. Whichever brand this is, seriously they need to learn basic human decency.
in InstaCelebsGossip
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by u/New_Perspective1201 from discussion Hot tea on Sakshi Shivdasani’s broadcast. Whichever brand this is, seriously they need to learn basic human decency.
in InstaCelebsGossip
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by u/Noobita2803 from discussion Hot tea on Sakshi Shivdasani’s broadcast. Whichever brand this is, seriously they need to learn basic human decency.
in InstaCelebsGossip
It is truly disappointing and enraging to see the audacity and insensitivity of certain brands.