Jenni Gilbert There’s something deeply disturbing – at least to this member of the Baby Boomer generation – about former Instagram sensation’s Essena O’Neill’s revelations this week.
The 19-year-old Queensland social media identity revealed to mainstream media, via her many and varied platforms, that she had abandoned sponsorships to promote clothes, among other goods, in myriad Instagram posts that had consumed her teenage life; that had made her obsessed with how she looked in photos and how many followers she would attract as a result.
She said it left her feeling “empty” and guilty that she was “deluding” her followers, as well as setting unrealistic standards for other young women with her “dishonest” and “contrived” photos (as many as 50 at a time to get The One).
Whether this epiphany is entirely altruistic or a different bid for attention is another story altogether (fellow social media “star” associates claim it is related to Essena’s recent break-up with a hunky actor during an unhappy stay in Los Angeles).
A subsequent YouTube video where she sobbed to camera (pictured above right) “I can’t afford real life”, asking the public to help fund her new, simpler existence, including paying her rent, did make this editor cynically wonder whether getting a job like others of her age typically do – think McDonalds, Coles, Woolies, Bunnings – had occurred to her.
A further YouTube confessional revealed: “I don’t agree with horse racing”, wondering why everyone was talking about Melbourne Cup jockey Michelle Payne and not young women in Syria. Only emphasising Ms O’Neill’s reality divide.
As of Wednesday afternoon, November 4, Ms O’Neill had taken all her social media accounts down after global backlash, with her “media representative” announcing Essena is writing a book and concentrating on her website.
This soap opera in a teacup brings into focus the impact social media has had on generations’ self esteem; the way we view ourselves, each other and our clients, and the way we do business. And whether this is all to the good.
This is a topic of exploration – Selfie Obsessed Nation – in the latest issue of SPA+CLINIC, which will be lobbing in your letterbox any day.
Experts from across the spectrum comment on the phenomenon and its consequences, and what aesthetics, media and wellness professionals can do to help their patients and clients navigate this minefield.
Also in this issue:
- The skinflammation epidemic
- Mastering mummy makeovers
- The pointy end of micro-needling
- And much more …
… MUCH MORE!
With this issue you will also receive our first RETAILING: FACE+BODY+SOUL “magette”, to help you do even better business.
Effectively retailing the products you use in treatment on your clients, and the opportunity to further interest them in inventory such as makeup by offering complimentary quick makeovers after facial treatments, could dramatically boost your profits.
Yet too few salon, spas and clinics in Australia do this – or are even aware of the opportunities they are missing out on.
Business pundits say retailing should account for 40-50 percent of a salon, spa or clinic’s bottom line but in reality the average is less than 10 percent.
Find out from the experts how you can think more laterally in 2016. How to create attractive retailing spaces (they don’t have to be huge) within your business, ways to coach staff (from therapists to receptionists) in the subtle art of selling and incentivise them to do ever-better, and broaden your horizons in terms on items to retail.
They don’t just have to be the skincare products, for instance, that you use in-treatment, or the makeup you may apply afterwards. Think books about healthy eating with delicious recipes, scented candles, bath salts and soaps to recreate the ambience at home, yoga or fitness wear pieces than double as fashionable leisure wear, caftans, teas for every occasion (detox, skin clearing, to relax or revive, to promote, better sleep) … you get the drill!
Ensure you receive the must-have resource for aesthetics, medi and wellness professionals; and use the hashtag spaandclinic when it lands in your business.
