Are Influencers Out of Touch? Their Followers Are Starting to Think So
A Seychelles brand trip during a record heatwave sparked boycott calls in France — and exposed a widening gap between influencers and the followers who made them famous.
By Board of Creators ·
Key takeaways
- A luxury Erborian brand trip to the Seychelles during France's record-early heatwave triggered boycott calls against the brand and roughly a dozen French influencers.
- Critics named major creators including Sananas, Sundy Jules and Paola Locatelli as "soldier-influencers"; none responded to media requests.
- Léna Situations' rise from relatable friend to Accor Arena superstar illustrates the decade-long drift between top creators and their audiences.
- The backlash is structural: aimed at the influencer business model itself, not just individual scandals, as young followers face economic and climate anxiety.
- Creator silence is replacing the apology-video era — and reads as further proof of distance.
- Creators can reduce backlash by timing posts to the moment, showing their work, acknowledging privilege, responding visibly, and giving audiences a stake.
A heatwave, a Instagram post, and a boycott call. That's all it took this summer for one of the creator economy's oldest tensions to boil over again.
At the end of May, as France sweltered through its earliest heatwave on record, the Korean-French skincare brand Erborian flew about a dozen French influencers to the Seychelles — nearly 8,000 kilometers away — for an all-expenses-paid brand trip. The paradise-setting posts that followed were meant to sell moisturizer. Instead, they sparked a revolt.
Héloïse, a Paris astrophysics student who watched the trip unfold from her sweltering apartment, left a comment calling for a boycott of the brand and what she described as "soldier-influencers." Among those named by critics: Sananas (three million YouTube subscribers), Sundy Jules (1.3 million) and Paola Locatelli (1.9 million Instagram followers).
"When I saw how out of touch they were, it made me so angry," she told *Le Monde*, which reported the story this week. None of the creators named responded to the paper's requests for comment.
A decade of drifting apart
The episode is anecdotal, but the exasperation behind it isn't. According to *Le Monde*, social media users spent the summer openly venting about influencers' lavish lifestyles, their accumulating privileges, and a perceived "gap" between creator reality and follower reality.
That gap has been widening for years. Take Léna Situations, arguably France's defining YouTuber. Over the past decade she has gone from being her audience's relatable best friend to a genuine superstar — a trajectory that recently culminated in a live spectacle in front of some 20,000 people at Paris's Accor Arena. Like many creators at her level, she now faces regular criticism that she has lost touch with the people who made her famous.
The timing makes the resentment sharper. The fans doing the criticizing are mostly young, and *Le Monde* describes a generation dealing with economic insecurity, climate anxiety, outrage at international news, fears that AI will take their future jobs, and political dread ahead of France's 2027 presidential election. Against that backdrop, a champagne-colored brand trip reads less like aspiration and more like provocation.
Why this backlash is different
Creator-economy watchers have seen "influencer backlash" cycles before — usually tied to a single scandal, a bad apology video, or a tone-deaf post. What's happening in France feels structural rather than personal.
First, the criticism is aimed at the business model, not just individual behavior. Calling creators "soldier-influencers" frames them as enlisted marketers — an accusation that lands at a moment when regulators across Europe are tightening disclosure rules.
Second, the targets are staying silent. A decade ago, a creator called out for excess would post a Notes-app apology within 48 hours. Now, the calculation increasingly favors saying nothing and waiting for the cycle to move on — which itself reads as further proof of distance.
Third, the audience's definition of "relatable" has changed. Followers no longer expect creators to be broke — they expect them to acknowledge the moment. A luxury trip during a record heatwave, posted without self-awareness, breaks that contract.
What creators can actually do about it
None of this means brand trips or big productions are over. It means the framing has to change. Creators who are navigating this well tend to do a few things consistently:
- Read the room before posting. A luxury activation during a national emergency, heatwave or election flashpoint carries real risk. Timing is now part of the creative brief.
- Show the work, not just the reward. Audiences tolerate success when they can see the labor behind it — the production, the team, the years. Polished fantasy with no visible effort invites resentment.
- Acknowledge the gap explicitly. Creators who name their own privilege ("I know this isn't normal life") consistently absorb less backlash than those who present luxury as default.
- Answer criticism selectively but visibly. Silence scales badly. One direct, human response to a viral criticism does more than a week of ignoring comments.
- Give the audience a stake. Community initiatives, transparent pricing on recommendations, and honest "what I actually use" content rebuild the sense that creator and follower are on the same side.
The bigger picture
The French summer of discontent is a warning flare for the whole industry. Influencer marketing still works — but its fuel is perceived closeness, and closeness is exactly what's eroding. Brands booking the next tropical activation, and the creators boarding the plane, should both be asking the same question: what does this look like from a hot apartment in Paris?
*This story is based on reporting by Aurélien Defer for Le Monde, published September 12, 2026.*
Frequently asked questions
Why are French followers calling influencers out of touch?
During France's earliest heatwave on record in May 2026, skincare brand Erborian flew about a dozen influencers on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Seychelles. The luxury posts, viewed by followers enduring the heat at home, sparked boycott calls and broader anger about the gap between influencer lifestyles and audience reality.
What is a 'soldier-influencer'?
A term used by French social media critics to describe influencers seen as enlisted marketers for brands — creators whose content primarily serves commercial campaigns rather than their community.
Which influencers were named in the French backlash?
Critics named Sananas (3 million YouTube subscribers), Sundy Jules (1.3 million) and Paola Locatelli (1.9 million Instagram followers), among others. None responded to Le Monde's requests for comment.
How can influencers avoid seeming out of touch?
Best practices include timing luxury content around national events, showing the work behind success, explicitly acknowledging privilege, responding to criticism directly, and giving the audience a stake through community initiatives and transparency.
Is influencer marketing still effective despite the backlash?
Yes, but its effectiveness depends on perceived closeness between creator and follower. As that closeness erodes — through lavish brand trips and silent crisis management — the trust that powers influencer marketing weakens.