“Spend a week with me in Tokyo, Japan!” From delicious food blogs to clips of blasting Skibidi toilet on a quiet subway, influencer tourists have made their way up the popularity list on social media. Millions of videos of influencers visiting different countries and exploring new places flow out daily. Today, one can see hundreds of people filming beautiful spots, ready to capture the perfect image. However, many of these tourists have added photos to a gallery outside of appreciation. Rather than showcasing the bright life seen on Instagram stories, they highlight controversy.
For context, an influencer tourist, also known as a travel influencer, is someone who travels the world, showing social media their trips. A lot of creators post videos of themselves eating food in the city or visiting historical sites in different countries. While these posts seem harmless, some accounts will record themselves doing outrageous things in public. For example, some clips include dancing disrespectfully on shrines, climbing important infrastructure, and making a commotion in public spaces where families are trying to live their day-to-day life. Behind the scenes, the true motive is that influencers will do anything for attention, even if it means facing serious legal consequences and pushing the boundaries of social norms.
On October 9th, 2024, American streamer Rhamsey Khalid Ismael posted a video of him rubbing baby oil on a comfort woman statue while blasting P. Diddy’s song “Last Night” in South Korea. These statues were placed to honor the Korean women who faced horrendous assaults from Japanese soldiers during WWII. Ignoring the angry yells and pleas, Ismael mocked the historical significance of the statue. After running off and hiding from the police for a week, he was caught and faced serious legal action, being banned from leaving South Korea until his trial was concluded (now postponed to March 2025). This is one example of the many occurrences where influencer tourists have taken it too far. Having a platform does not grant immunity from facing the full responsibilities of disrespectful behaviors, nor does it provide a force-field against repercussions. CHS freshman Krista Baaklini shared her insight.
“I think some influencers are good at being respectful,” Baaklini said. “They know about the culture and the social norms on how to be polite. Though, I am not sure if there are a lot of honest influencers out there. Some can be a bit rowdy; they do not care about their surroundings.”
It is perfectly fine to take a vacation and travel to experience new things. But being obnoxious and disrespecting the space you are in is not. We should be appreciating the cultural norms in other countries, not terrorizing it. So put the tripod down and cancel that plane ticket.
