A lifestyle blogger and Instagram influencer has defended her decision to share a photoshoot centred around a motorcycle accident that she experienced.
Tiffany Mitchell is a Nashville-based blogger with more than 211,000 followers on Instagram. She was recently in a motorcycle accident that left her with minor injuries, but badly shaken up.
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At the time of the incident she was being followed by a friend, who was taking pictures of her while driving alongside her. After she fell off the bike, her friend - called Lindsey - decided to keep on taking shots as she lay on the road receiving treatment.
That's strange enough, but in one of them a conspicuously placed bottle of Smartwater is placed at the front of shot.
After receiving criticism online, Tiffany has moved to dispel suggestions that she used her traumatic experience as a brand promotion opportunity.
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She told Buzzfeed News that she would "never turn a very important personal story like this into a brand campaign."
She continued: "I'm sad that some people are taking it that way,"
In her original post, which has been archived since the negative comments started flooding in, she said that during the incident she was thrown from her bike before receiving treatment from people at the roadside as well as from medical professionals.
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Describing the incident as 'unreal', she also spoke about how she lost a partner to a motorcycle accident three years ago, which added to the trauma that the incident caused her.
She wrote: "We all drove back to my house with a green light from angels that cleaned me up in the ambulance, sat with our new friends listening to music and laughing until I fell asleep.
"I'm resting and healing up my arm, and @ianwhitetattoos may need to touch up my wildflowers, but I am feeling so much better,"
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Many of the comments received on the post were from people wishing her a speedy recovery and sending her their best wishes, but eventually - this is the internet, remember? - the negativity started to take over.
A lot of people questioned the placement of the water bottle and became cynical about her decision to a) have the photographs taken, and b) publish those photographs in such a way on her Instagram page.
One wrote: "This must have been super scary and I'm glad you're okay, but... if my friend continued to take photos while I was lying semi-unconscious in the road, I'd be furious. I love your photos but it's a little weird to include those."
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Another said: "How are people commenting on this like it's normal?"
Featured Image Credit: InstagramTopics: Instagram, US News, Weird