Aldi catches online heat for ‘tone deaf’ influencer challenge
Aldi has come under fire for paying an influencer to participate in a challenge in which she fed her family of four for a week on a £25 shop.
The campaign, which used the hashtag #AldiPoorestDayChallenge, aimed to “showcase just how easily you can feed your family healthy, balanced and affordable meals” from the “poorest day of the year” until pay day.
24th January is the poorest day of the year because that is when post-Christmas bills start rolling in, according to a press release from Aldi.
UK fashion influencer Natalie Lee said on Instagram: “January is probably the hardest month of the year financially for most people, so I’m interested to see if I can feed my family with a well-balanced and nutritious weeks food shop.”
Yet many people found the campaign to be in poor taste and decided to trash the pair on social media. “This post is a sad reality of the warped world of social media & influencer culture; only this world would set this up as some kind of ‘helpful challenge’,” one commented.
“It is only from a place of extreme privilege could both a brand and individual think of this as helpful and not hugely discriminatory and patronising.”
Another wrote: “This challenge is so tone deaf, I can't believe this is real … how can you expect to understand our struggles after just 7 days?”
Lee had the following response to her critics. “It really was thoughtless and a big mistake, lessons have been learned. In the social media world, influencers do just that: influence. They really need to be careful with what they agree to, especially when it’s at the expense of others.”
Aldi, however, was unrepentant. A spokesperson said: “We are hugely proud of the work that we have done to democratise access to healthy and affordable food. Our campaign was intended to offer practical advice about how people can make their money go further.”
