A teenage star of the popular reality series Dance Moms has been accused by her social media followers of promoting ‘diet culture’ and encouraging eating disorders, after sharing an image of herself posing with a controversial weight loss tea.
Kalani Hilliker, 16, came under fire from her 4.3 million followers on Instagram on Tuesday after sharing the promotional post, with many arguing that she shouldn’t be encouraging such weight loss methods as she has a fan base of young girls who could be easily influenced by a celebrity.
They also pointed out that Kalani probably doesn’t actually use the tea herself, since she stays in shape by dancing, and shamed her for promoting a product she doesn’t know enough about, specially since many of the controversial teas often promoted by celebrities have been found to have unhealthy ingredients.
Uh-oh: Dance Moms star Kalani Hilliker, 16, has been slammed by her social media followers for encouraging eating disorders after promoting a weight loss tea on Instagram (pictured)
But does she really drink it? The dancer also posted an Instagram Story linking back to the detox tea’s website, while holding up a packet of the product
‘Labor Day was too much fun, gotta make sure I follow up with my @fittea,’ Kalani captioned a picture of herself lounging in a bikini top and shorts while holding the product to the camera, which she posted to her Instagram on Tuesday.
Irresponsible? Kalani’s fans asked her to consider her influence over young girls
The reality star also posted an Instagram Story holding up the tea and linking back to the product’s website.
Her fans were quick to respond, expressing their disappointment with the young star over her choice to promote such a controversial product, and asking her to consider her influence over young girls.
‘This makes me so sad – detoxes are dangerous and unhealthy,’ one of Kalani’s 4.3 million followers wrote.
‘You have so many young, impressionable followers, please please please think before promoting products like this.
‘Diet culture promotes eating disorders.’
Another added: ‘Most of your followers are in such a vulnerable stage in their lives. Someone they look up to promoting ed [sic] is not something they need to see right now.
Many commenters accused Kalani of promoting a dangerous product that they called a scam, saying it’s misleading for her to promote a weight loss product that she most likely doesn’t use.
Does a dancer need detox teas? The young star’s Instagram followers pointed out that she probably stays in shape thanks to dancing (pictured in the middle with the Dance Moms cast)
She’s not alone: Celebrities earn thousands of dollars by promoting things like weight loss tea on their social media (pictured: Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian)
One wrote: ‘Why do you promote Fit Tea if you don’t even need it you have a beautiful body, and a lot of your followers are probably young gullible girls and I feel like everyone knows that Fit Tea doesn’t even work and it’s just another one of those “lose weight scams”‘
Kalani is not the first celebrity to come under fire for promoting detox teas. The Kardashians and Jenners, Demi Lovato, and many others have been accused of encouraging both unhealthy products and a toxic culture because of their social media posts asking fans to try products they get paid thousands of dollars to push.
To make matters worse, Kalani did not clarify that her post was paid advertising, something the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has said breaks the law.
In fact, Fit Tea reached a deal with the Kardashian sisters to change the way they advertise the very same product Kanali is now promoting after an inquiry by the National Advertising Division showed they weren’t properly labeling their posts as paid content.
An Instagram user with between three and seven million followers can expect to earn $75,000 per Instagram post, Esquire has reported.