Not everyone can go to Coachella, but if you’re an Instagram influencer, you can fake it.
In a new YouTube video, influencer and lifestyle vlogger Gabbie Hanna revealed how she used photoshop and a little influencer magic to fake a Coachella appearance on Instagram.
Hanna boasts 6.5 million YouTube subscribers and 3.8 million Instagram followers who are fans of the influencer and singer’s lifestyle content, music videos, and health and fitness posts. Unlike many of the big names in the influencer community, however, Hanna was not in attendance Coachella this year. While the Indio, California music festival has become synonymous with Instagram influencer culture, Hanna admits she’s “not Coachella’s biggest advocate.”
In order to prove to her fans “how easy it is to fake things on social media,” Hanna dug into her influencer tool box to fabricate a convincing Coachella appearance, then spilled the secrets to her fans on YouTube.
In “I Faked Going to Coachella…”, which has amassed over two million views since Monday, Hanna revealed the secrets behind her ruse, which included posing in festival attire for her Insta story and reposting actual festival footage from other users. Hanna faked a coveted appearance at Kanye West’s Sunday Service by reposting a video from someone else and writing, “I cannot believe I woke up in time for this but so glad I did.”
In the video, Hanna went on to explain why she felt it was important to show her followers the underside of influencer culture.
“People look at people on Instagram and social media and they think, ‘wow their life is impossibly perfect, that body, that vacation that car…’ So much of it’s fake, and that’s okay, I’m not shading anybody who does that on social media because it is a viable career. But for an average viewer who’s just watching these things and is firing for these things, just know that those things aren’t always as attainable as they seem.”
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