Authenticity is hard to find these days, especially when it comes to social media. However, most if not all of the 419k followers following Jenn Chia on Instagram would argue that she is as real as it gets.
If there’s one thing fans can count on, it would be Jenn’s tell-it-like-it-is attitude. She wears her heart on her sleeve and makes it a point to only promote things (sponsored or not) that she believes in.
Earlier today (Friday, 24th September), the 30-year-old Malaysian public figure responded to a fan asking the type of cat food she feeds her three furry pets. For those curious, it’s Fussie Cat (the Salmon & Chicken flavour) because (unlike certain brands that could be allergic for the cats) this is grain-free. Jenn also added a disclaimer that “this is not sponsored”.
She later took to Instagram to elaborate that while it’s more authentic when she highlights that it wasn’t a sponsored post, there’s a downside to it. “It makes my sponsored posts seem less authentic,” she wrote, before insisting that “I only ever share or recommend things I love and actually use after assessing it.”
Because she’s set a pretty high standard for herself, it’s hard to avoid clashing with clients and brands who want things done their way. It may have affected her when brands labelled her a “diva”, but as stated by the lady boss herself, “I’m happy to be a diva” if it means being able to keep it 100% with her audiences.
If you recall, Jenn was testing out the benefits of retinol a few months ago and experienced a dramatic skin purge. One could tell that she really takes the time to research and commit to the process before “selling it” to her followers. Her skin reaction got so bad that she was advised to do an extraction to treat her skin congestion.
Too often, we hear influencers proclaiming, “A lot of you guys have been asking about….” out of nowhere and proceed to promote their sponsored posts. We’ve also heard cases where certain influencers don’t even bother using certain skincare products or taste the client’s food products, but boost about how awesome it is.
Here’s an example:
It’s not only misleading, but we do feel cheated when influencers disguise paid advertisements as personal posts. We get it, this is their source of income too but as previously published in this article, it’s important that influencers exercise self-regulation.
To quote Jenn herself, “Social media is fun but when it intrudes your self worth… that becomes a problem – especially if you’re comparing your life to a “curated” reality.”
