A LEADING marketing expert has called out influencers who had been tricking shoppers into buying unnecessary products online.
Mara Einstein, who was featured in a new Netflix documentary released this month exposing the dark arts used by major brands, branded Brittany Dawn the “worst of the worst” among content creators misleading their audience.
Dawn faced a lawsuit from the state of Texas who sued her for violating consumer protection laws and failing to deliver personalized fitness and nutrition plans for her customers.
The fitness influencer admitted wrongdoing two weeks before the trial was set to begin, reaching a $400,000 settlement deal.
Dawn rose to prominence online in 2019 as an online fitness instructor in Texas by claiming to create personalized fitness and nutrition plans for her customers.
However, her clients claimed they had been all sold the same fitness and diet plan rather than one specific to their dietary needs.
In the lawsuit, plaintiffs alleged the plans she sold were “not individualized,” accusing her of misleading customers by not delivering on the plans.
Davis has close to 500,000 Instagram followers and 1.3 million on TikTok. She built her following by posting fitness and health content and sharing how she overcame an eating disorder.
Einstein said Dawn’s story is emblematic of how the internet is rife with online influencers selling products to consumers they don’t need or misleading clients.
Einstein said Dawn was called out for the mess after her clients worked it out in a private Facebook page.
She is the worst of the worst
Mara Einstein
“It wasn’t personalized, it wasn’t personalized at all, and she was called out for it and it became a big brouhaha and she had a whole crying thing on YouTube.
“She was on Good Morning America and was ultimately sued by the state of Texas.”
Einstein is a New York based marketing expert and author of Hoodwinked, helping people protect themselves against deceptive and coercive strategies used by some of the world’s biggest companies.
She was featured in Netflix’s new documentary Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy, revealing the tricks and covert strategies brands use to keep consumers locked in an endless cycle of product purchases.
Einstein said Dawn later pivoted to becoming a Christian influencer, which she said was “not uncommon because it becomes a way to say I’ve been redeemed.”
“I can come back from the mistakes I’ve made and so on. It also opens up a new audience for you,” Einstein said.
Einstein noted Dawn’s story tells a good example of consumerist culture and how people often tie their values to things they can buy.
“I think it’s a key thing for people to think about because people haven’t stopped believing; they want to believe in something, but what it is they are finding less and less good honest things to put their faith in, and it becomes very difficult in a social media space that has no regulation on it, or it is owned by billionaires whose only north star is to make more money.”
Dawn did not respond to requests for comment by The U.S. Sun by deadline.
BEWARE OF AMAZON, WALMART
In an exclusive interview with The U.S. Sun, Einstein also urged shoppers to be aware of retail giants, including Walmart, Amazon, and Target, using tactics to lure shoppers into buying products they don’t need.
Einstein explained how companies prey on people’s emotions to get them to buy things they don’t need.
She said this includes using before and after photos and creating a sense of false community through cult-like brands.
Using the example of before and after photos, Einstein said brands deliberately prey on shoppers’ vulnerabilities.
“Marketers use the same tactics as cults, and one of the key tactics is to recruit people when they are vulnerable,” she warned.
“Advertisers do before and after photos … my hair looks terrible, my face is breaking out, whatever it is, use my product and you will feel better.
“Nine times out of ten, the product doesn’t help, but you’ve tapped into people’s vulnerabilities and the hope that their life will be better or if I use this product, my life will somehow improve.
“The idea that no advertiser is going to tell you that you are okay exactly the way you are, because if you did that, then you’d never go out and buy their product.”
