Influencer slammed for chasing Instagram likes with staged crash shoot
Tiffany Mitchell, a blogger in Nashville, is being called out on social media for sharing photos of her on the floor, following a motorcycle accident.
The blogger, who goes under the Instagram name of ‘tifforelie’, says she was left shaken and with scrapes from the scene of the accident.
And she originally shared ten photos of the accident on Instagram, with a lengthy caption about how it occurred.
The photos show Tiffany with her white crash helmet off - not the normal protocol during an accident - being cared for by a man on the side of the road. In some images, his motorcycle is positioned behind them, while in others a bottle of Smartwater and a reusable water bottle is positioned by her face (with the label facing the camera).
According to Cosmopolitan, In the original caption, Tiffany wrote: "I misjudged a curve, took it too fast and my bike went off the road. It slid through the grass and I hit the pavement. I had my helmet on so my head was fine, but I scraped up my left side. I was in absolute shock laying on the side of the road. Scroll through the pics to see how much of it Lindsey captured!"
Some Instagram users in the comments criticised Tiffany's decision to upload the photos, calling her out for being insensitive and inappropriate. Others queried whether the post was an advertisement for Smartwater.
Twitter users also speculated about whether Tiffany had fallen off her bike, as it’s unsafe to take your helmet off after an accident - due to possible spine and neck damage - and pointed out her lack of road rash.
Tiffany, in all fairness, posted to Instagram Stories to defend herself. "I got a lot of negative photos questioning why I'd take photos during an accident, and why I was glamourising an accident," she told her 216k followers. "There was no brand work being done at all. My friend Lindsey documents everything... No photos were taken until everyone knew I was OK. I didn't know that Lindsey was taking photos. The water could have been any brand - the water was brought to me because I was laying there."
She also insists she "absolutely" had her helmet and motorcycle safety clothing on, and that the whole accident was a "blur".
Via social, Tiffanny is adamant that the photos weren't sponsored, and went on to share another Instagram post to add that "I’m sad that something so true and personal has been treated this way."
What do you make of it all? Be sure to chuck in your opinion the comments below.
