An Instagram blogger has spoken about the abuse and death threats she's received after posting a photo on her account.
Scarlett London, 24, shared a photo of herself sat on a bed in a paid post for Listerine. Captioning the picture, she wrote: "The best of days start with a smile and positive thoughts. And pancakes. And strawberries. And bottomless tea."
So far so innocuous right? Except, her photo was picked up by someone on Twitter who shared it with the caption: "Fuck off this is anybody's normal morning. Instagram is a ridiculous lie factory made to make us all feel inadequate."
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That tweet quickly went viral and has had almost 95,000 likes and 21,000 retweets and, off the back of that post, Scarlett has been inundated with abusive messages, including death threats.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: "Many to the effect of that I'm a danger to young women and should suffer, I should be stopped, I should suffocate on the balloons, I should kill myself because of how pathetic I am. But if I'm totally honest, those were the more tame of the bunch."
As well as the abusive messages, Scarlett was also called out for trying to pass tortillas off as pancakes, having a photo of herself on a blanket and for drinking from an empty cup of tea. The Internet is a wild place, isn't it?
Replies to the tweet called Scarlett out for being 'fake', with one wriitng: "This is so ridiculous on so many levels. Everything in this pic is ridiculous and hella fake. I don't know from there to start, the tortillas or the product placement."
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Another wrote: "Envious of what? Do you really think it takes talent to dink an empty cup of tea while pretending to be happy about it?"
Other accused the blogger of being 'damaging' to young people, saying 'unrealistic staged photos like this are just as bad as Photoshopped models in magazines'.
Following the huge backlash, Scarlett posted saying: "In the last 48 hours, grown men & women, MPs, women's equality representatives, journalists, actresses and broadcasters have discovered my Instagram feed and decided to pick it apart online, in front of thousands.
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"I implore those mindlessly sharing this content to research who I am as a person, before they further drag my name and image through the mud. Yes, I do adverts on here, but only with brands I genuinely use and would spend money on myself. My feed isn't a place of reality.
Before going on to say that some of her posts are 'OTT' and 'whimsical' but that she doesn't aim to present an 'idealistic version of life'.
She continued: "I try to raise awareness for the digestive condition I suffer from, the same condition that years ago threatened me graduating from university. My Instagram has been an outlet to show you can be positive and have fun with life, despite this condition.
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"I personally don't think my content is harmful to young girls, but I do agree Instagram can present a false expectation for people to live up to. And I am wholeheartedly sorry if I've ever made anyone feel inadequate through my content. My life mission is quite the opposite.
"I am a strong 24-year-old woman who has experienced bullying in the past. I am and will be okay after this hideous experience. But another young girl or guy as the subject of a targeted hate campaign might not be okay. Please remember at the centre of every viral storm is a human being."
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/Scarlett London