The social media influencer has faced extreme backlash for appearing to mock blue-collar workers.
Charli D’Amelio, a 19-year-old influencer worth $30 million, has been called out across social media for “cosplaying” as a cashier. D’Amelio recently shared a video of herself wearing a Walmart employee uniform to promote her family’s partnership with the retailer.
As reported by The Independent, the influencer, her 22-year-old sister, Dixie, and their parents Heidi and Marc D’Amelio, launched her popcorn brand, Happy Snacks, with Walmart. To promote the launch, the family shared videos of themselves scanning the popcorn bags at the checkout.
In one video, Dixie “worked” at the checkout stand with her mother and casually scanned the popcorn while dramatically flipping her hair. On social media, many people argued that D’Amelio’s advertising campaign was insensitive to those working blue-collar jobs. Critics were also quick to note that more than two million Americans work at the retailer and only make $17.50 per hour—compared to D’Amelio’s $100 thousand per sponsored TikTok post.
One Twitter user responded to the video, “Look at what poor people have to do to survive, let’s make a video about it.”
“Must be nice to be able to play pretend while you sitting on stacks,” another commented.
“So she was a working class woman for Halloween?” a third user asked.
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Charli D’Amelio isn’t the only celebrity who has pretended to be a part of the working class. In a 2022 episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kris and Kylie Jenner were called out for romanticizing “normal people” activities, including grocery shopping and going through a car wash.
While at the car wash, Kris remarked, “This is like Disneyland. We have to bring the kids here.”
After the episode, one Twitter user wrote, “Kris and Kylie Jenner went to the grocery store and car wash for fun, when can I have that kind of life?”
Another user found similarities between the D’Amelio’s video and the Jenner’s, pointing out, “this has the same energy as kris and kylie jenner going to a grocery store ?”