Some time ago the model Kendall Jenner shared a series of publications on her Instagram account where she revealed to her millions of followers the great suffering she had suffered in her adolescence due to acne. Her tears had managed to shock her audience until, a few days later, it became known that the model's revelation was actually covert advertising. Jenner was the new face of a cosmetics brand with anti-acne products. This episode highlighted a practice that is increasingly present on social networks and is now identified as sadfishing: using emotionality as a strategy to capture the attention of the online community.
“It seems like a rather unnecessary performance to me,” says digital culture and trends expert, Rita Rakosnik. “But that is what advertising has done all its life, appealing to emotions and identification. What happens is that now it is personified in the figure of influencers, supermodels or celebrities.” Digital platforms have become the perfect setting to camouflage promotional messages between seemingly organic publications. “We must not forget that when we are talking about an influencer we are talking about a person-advertisement, it has a commercial purpose and all or practically all of its content will revolve around that.”
The purpose of sadfishing is not always limited to the sale of a product. This practice can be used, either consciously or unconsciously, to capture attention, encourage interactions through likes and comments, or achieve a deeper identification with your audience and thus gain their trust. “It's like celebrity apology videos; those videos that they always make from the least luxurious corner of their house, wearing casual clothes, without apparent makeup, showing regret and humility,” explains Rakosnik. “But in the end, it's a performance. And there are tools to identify this type of speech so that people do not fall for them.”
Unlike the idealized and perfect image that used to predominate in the beginnings of Instagram, contemporary influencers today adopt a more human posture. “That humanity brings us closer,” explains the psychologist specializing in trauma, attachment and bonds, Mireia Rodríguez. “On a commercial level, when we see a person showing that most vulnerable side, we assume that they are being transparent and make us trust.” This emotional openness helps strengthen the bonds between users and content creators. “When I trust, I am more likely to believe the solutions or products you sell me, because I have lowered all my defenses.”
Using sadness as a tool on social networks is a double-edged sword, both for those who practice it and for those who consume it. The negative stigma associated with mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety has decreased considerably as more and more public figures openly confess their own struggles and challenges in relation to these conditions. But when these personal confessions are intertwined with commercial objectives, “real mental health struggles can be trivialized,” says psychologist Maria Palau.
The abuse of sadfishing “can lead to saturation where important messages about mental health lose their impact or can be misinterpreted.” It is crucial to strike a balance between emotional authenticity and ethical responsibility when sharing personal experiences online. “Users must develop a critical sense when consuming content on social networks.” Tracking signs of authenticity such as “a continuous commitment to the topic, beyond a single publication,” can serve, according to Palau, to evaluate the veracity of the content.
Many people turn to social media for the purpose of regulating their emotions and use these platforms as a means to find comfort or emotional relief. But this relief is nothing more than “a temporary treat,” explains Mireia Rodríguez. “Just as we wouldn't let just anyone passing by on the street operate on us, it's also not very kind for our mental health to seek emotional regulation from anyone who appears on social media.” It is important to remember that, “as much as we see human beings through the phone, the real world is when we raise our heads.”
