Influencer Fakes Trip to Bali: Could You Tell?

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The past few days, I’ve seen this headline floating around: YouTuber Fakes Trip to Bali with IKEA Photoshoot. I had to see for myself what happened.

YouTuber/Influencer Natalia Taylor decided to run an experiment. She staged a photo shoot at her local IKEA store and made it look like she was on a trip to Bali. She found generic photos and videos of Bali on the internet and posted them on her Instastory. Then, she posted her staged IKEA photos with captions of her inside an airbnb in Bali.

Of course, she documented the whole thing on YouTube, which you can see here. It’s very entertaining.

Did her million+ viewers notice? Nope, not a one! They all fell for it. There were even a few IKEA tags hanging on the furniture if you zoomed in.

I don’t really follow Instagram travel influencers. However, I think I would have been suspicious that she didn’t have any outside photos against some iconic backdrops. I mean, why have all of those inside airbnb photos when the real scenery is outside?

The moral is: Don’t believe everything you see and read on the internet. Most of us know that already, but it’s easy to get caught up in the hype. I’m actually a big cynic and probably go overboard doubting too much of what I see on the internet.

Would you have spotted this fake trip? Do you know someone who has faked a trip on social media?

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