The Internet is Mad at Jillian Harris (Again).

Let's Talk About It.

I unfollowed Jillian Harris long ago, after briefly following her during Covid, where everyone being stuck at home seemed to give her and her just launched Jilly Box subscription a big boost that had its own queue drama, it was that popular. I quickly realized that while her aesthetic wasn’t my personal jam, her appeal was broad and resulted in millions (1.4 to be exact) of followers. I never became a fan, but I did respect the business and community she built, which resulted in not just one, but a two part podcast deep diving her business acumen. This was in 2022, and to date, it’s the podcast that most people ask for a follow-up on. Eventually, I’d like to get to a part three since so many of my views have changed since the recording of that podcast. The TL;DR of that episode is that she has built an incredible community of loyal followers that will support her in most of her business endeavours… except the mostly defunct Jilly Academy which not to gloat, but on the podcast I called this as being the one least likely to work out. Sure, you can teach people how to use Canva and digital marketing tools, but whatever magical charisma Jillian has (and I think even the most critical of us can agree she has a certain appeal), isn’t something you can sell or bottle up as a bundle (that was reduced in price from $599 to $199, a steal!).

We also theorized that a big part of Jillian’s draw was the cast of characters; the kids, the partner, cousins, in-laws, friends, hair-dressers… she’s popular both online and off, this much is clear. During the dark days of the pandemic when most of us were pretty isolated, Jillian’s popularity boosted, in part, because of her rich social circle. From the outside looking in, it felt like a hit of dopamine that most people aren’t lucky enough to have (even if you have loads of friends and family around, they’re likely not just casually dropping in for pool play dates all day long). We surmised that given the strong parasocial relationships people have with influencers, it’s ultimately our responsibility to manage how we engage with them. Simply hitting the unfollow button is always an option, particularly if their content is bringing us down or giving us the ‘ick,’ for lack of a better word. I’ll say it again; the responsibility is on us (atleast until there are better regulations and more transparency in place). That being said, it still surprises me that with a community as loyal as the Jilly army, she continues to alienate even her most ardent of fans. The latest controversy happened yesterday involving a series of Instagram stories and a sponsored post around the much coveted Eras Tour, and people have feelings about it!

Morality as it suits you, babe.
Like most people, Jillian tried her luck at getting tickets through whatever the mysterious Ticketmaster process was. Also like most people, she wasn’t given a code or able to buy tickets at face value. In March of 2024 (and I know this because it turns out I messaged her about it!), she posted a few stories appealing to her community; would someone be willing to sell her tickets to either the Vancouver or Toronto shows at a ‘fair’ rate. Fair is subjective here and I don’t know what she paid, but she’s reiterated many times that the amount was more than face-value Ticketmaster prices, but less than StubHub. She ended up taking down those stories after getting backlash, but not before she was able to purchase tickets to BOTH Toronto and Vancouver. It gets more complicated when she later secured a partnership with Rogers Behind the Seat where she was gifted enough tickets for her and her family to go for free. I’m not bothered by the free tickets; this is part of her gig as an influencer, and ‘unfair’ as it may seem, such is life. What I am bothered by is the canvassing of followers for tickets at a ‘fair’ price. Using your position of power (literal influence) to ask followers for a favour as big as this feels like an abuse of power and privilege. Her stories didn’t stay up for long, so people jumping at the chance to sell Jillian tickets (I’m assuming to have some sort of proximity to her), is wild. While I don’t agree with the bonkers markup of tickets that landed on Stubhub, atleast two of her followers missed out on a payday for the chance to come through for her. So let’s get this straight… It’s okay for Jillian and other influencers to sell their followers product at a markup (sometimes steep), but when it comes to buying off StubHub that’s where ethics and morality come into play? Got it. I’m unbothered by the tickets gifted from Rogers (again, this is her gig and life hasn’t been fair…ever), but glance at her sponsored post or Reddit and man, people are not having it. If I were on Team Jilly, I’d be weighing the net positive of all this. Sure, you bought tickets for friends and family at a decent rate and were given a set of free tickets (uncertain how many), but for someone whose entire brand and marketability depends literally on people liking her, having a chunk of the internet be mad at you feels hardly worth it. She spent money on tickets either way; she could have just bought them off StubHub, paid a little more, and avoided the controversy of asking followers for help. I’ll maintain taking those free Rogers tickets was fine and just business as usual, I would have taken free tickets too! I still can’t tell you what Rogers Behind the Seat actually is though, what they are selling, or what the point was, but that’s a Rogers problem.

Ummmm guess I was in my feelings too!

Never complain, never explain. Influencer edition.
The reason we are all here is because following the critical comments on the sponsored Rogers post, Jillian dedicated a few stories to explaining herself. There was no explanation necessary, because she explained it exactly as it happened above. No notes! If I took a shot every time she reminded us this was her job and she is grateful and gives back when she can, I’d be too drunk to write this piece for the next week, atleast. I’ll give her this; she does a great job at centring herself as being charitable enough to gift the tickets she purchased via fans to friends and family. The altruism of it all! I know she gave tickets to a Toronto influencer who had tickets to the cancelled Vienna show. And that’s very nice, but… I think if you can afford to travel to Europe for a show, you can probably afford resale. Those tickets are hers to use as she pleases, but this whole mess could likely have been avoided had she run a fan contest among her followers and gifted them to people who financially could never afford to go. She continues the stories by highlighting some of the charitable work she does to offset the backlash of being gifted so often. I’m not sure we should be giving out gold stars to people who are so frequently gifted that they donate the bulk of it, simply because they have no need for it. It’s nice, but it’s also just… being decent. I would be curious how much charitable work influencers boast about come from their actual bottom line (not gifted or sourced through small businesses), and how charitable partnerships are structured, since even charitable posts often have sponsored tags if you look closely. If I worked on her team, I’d advise her to just own it, and people would have moved on much faster. I wouldn’t be writing this piece! This gives me shades of Rachel Hollis trying to be relatable; it feels forced and inauthentic. It’s okay to acknowledge that your brand is aspirational, not relatable.

You can blame all those free trips on the slow death of journalism.
Reading through the more critical comments on Jillian’s post, it’s clear many people are over influencers and all their ‘free’ stuff. I put free in quotes, because it’s not really free. Like it or not, brand partnerships and gifted items/trips is the gig, and it exists because there’s an economy for it. I had a super interesting conversation with a former PR consultant who worked for one of the big chain hotels that often collaborates with influencers. She explained that in the days of traditional media, you could rely on journalists from travel and lifestyle media for promotion. As magazines and traditional media/journalism are being replaced by social media and influencers, the model had to change. I’ve often wondered what the ROI is really like when most followers can’t afford these luxurious suites, but she replied that that is not the job of PR. ROI is hard to measure in most cases, so they focus on exposure and experience instead. If gifting an influencer with millions of followers a free stay or cruise translates to brand awareness in a world where traditional outlets can’t be relied on, then it makes sense for them. What I’m more curious about is where we’re headed next. Part of the appeal of TikTok is that it’s the messy younger sister of Instagram, far less polished to the point that those beautiful curated grids look incredibly boring now. And do we really need a highly edited version of an influencers gifted experience when we know it’s not the same experience you’ll have as a paying customer? And the AI of it all is to be determined. There have been valid conversations around leveraging your kids as content. There are already laws around it in some places. An easy work around would be an AI algorithm that could just *poof, create your perfect influencer. They’d be able to recommend the exact right things to you at the exact right time, because nobody knows you better than your algorithm. The morality of it all would go out the window; you can’t be disappointed in a line of code or feel they’re not being relatable. And sure, the humanity of it all… but anyone who has seen the movie Her or watched Black Mirror can tell you, it’s possible to develop parasocial relationships to tech because even though it’s not living or breathing, it has the ability to really know us (scary!) A reader messaged me in defence of Jillian to say, ‘don’t hate the player, hate the game.’ They are totally right! But the game moves quickly, and I’m curious how it’ll adapt as people shift their focus and brands try to keep up.

Everyone agrees with you if you simply block out the noise.
Lots of you signed up for this Substack because you saw my Instagram stories on this (hi, and welcome!) If Jillian’s community is made up of followers that buy what she’s selling physically and metaphorically, then a large part of mine is made up of those that are over it; the de-influenced, or trying to be. A few dozen people reached out to let me know they had been blocked for liking critical comments on the sponsored post, or sending a dm, or writing a comment themselves (I can’t verify this, but it seemed to be a common sentiment). For those that remember, this has shades of Freedom Convoy all over it. There were many well-liked influencers who had more conservative/traditional leanings, but never outright expressed them until they shared they were anti-vax conspiracy theorists with alt-right leanings when it came to the convoy. Don’t come at me if you were a convoy supporter, I’m not saying all supporters were like this, but these particular influencers certainly were. When their followers reached out to them to express disappointment or give them a different perspective, they were quickly blocked. One in particular that sticks out was the new mom of a NICU baby that reached out to me after she tried to explain to a pro-convoy influencer that masks and vaccines are a necessity given their circumstance, and was promptly blocked after years of following this woman and giving her money through direct product purchases and affiliate links. Besides being rude, this is bad business. And that’s what influencers are; business personified! All of Jillian’s endeavours - Jilly Box, Jilly Academy, Team Jilly etc are eponymous because she is at the centre of it all. In the microcosm of Jilly the Brand, she is the sun of which her followers orbit. Is it easier in the short term to simply hit block to drown out the noise and criticism? Sure. But in the long term, you’re not just alienating former paying customers with little chance of winning them back, you’re also doing your brand a disservice by not being open to change or discussion. How do you grow and maintain relevancy when your echo chamber is all yes people? We saw pro-convoy influencers later lose brand deals, followers, and relevancy. Paying attention versus blocking out the noise is just good business.

Haters gonna hate (hate, hate, hate, hate).
Guys, it’s not like I’m not getting backlash of my own for this. And all I’m doing is re-iterating what Jillian herself posted, then discussing whether it’s good business or not. Many people who’ve dropped into my DM’s have told me to ‘get a life.’ They might be right! And I thank them for thinking of my well-being, perhaps I do need to touch grass and I will as soon as this newsletter goes out. Are we allowed to have critical thought and discussions about public figures and successful business people without being called a hater, bully, or stupid jealous bee though? For the record, I certainly don’t feel jealous. I too was at the Eras show (that I fully paid for), and don’t have to invade my privacy or my families to get free stuff that I don’t need or want. As someone who subscribes to many Substacks from writers and academics who explore influencer culture in the US, we could desperately use that critical eye in Canada. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of thoughtful pieces exploring the cultural ramifications of Ballerina Farm and Nara Smith because people are obsessed with them, and anything we’re collectively interested in is worth exploring because it’s a reflection of our culture back at us.

It’s not an accident that the rise of Trad Wives coincides with the alt-right MAGA movement, and that’s important and worth exploring! Why can’t that same critical thought be applied to Jillian and other influences in Canada without the ‘babes supporting babes’ crowd yelling at us? We don’t really have the Trad Wife movement here (yet), but we do have boss babes, wine moms, ‘relatable’ moms, and of course, the body positive momfluencers. For many, these influencers make up a large chunk of their feed, heavily impacting decisions on what to buy, how to dress, what charities to donate to, and what to make for dinner. Beyond the beautiful aesthetic in the case of Trad Wives and convoy supporters, you can find coded political messages or vague ideas around threats to their well-being (the well-being of anyone who isn’t rich, white, thin, and fundamental Christian). Critical thought is analyzing the world we live in, and people who are literally called influencers as their job are not just fair game, they are part of the chess pieces that make up the game.