Ethics in Influence: Flaunting Luxury While Suppliers Go Unpaid – Something Navy

Influencers’ brands are fully built on trust and customers follow the influencers because they connect with their lifestyle, personality and taste. But trust can break easily when there is a gap between the image shown online and the reality behind the image shown. The Ethics in Influence became a talking point in the Something Navy brand story. The influencer Arielle Charnas showed luxury vacations, designed outfits and events online but various reports from Business Insider in 2022 revealed that some suppliers were still waiting for their payments. 

Ethics in Influence

For an Influencer brand, image is everything. But showing up in luxury only while ignoring the business problems like supplier payments issues can create a negative image of the brand and this same happened with the brand called Something Navy. Customers and industry followers expect honesty and responsibility from the brand. But in the case of Something Navy, many people on social media pointed out how unfair it looked when luxury was on display but the suppliers were struggling to get paid. This raised the questions about the Ethics in Influence and responsibility of brand in influence business. 

Influencer’s Ethics For Brand – Quick Facts 

Post Title	Ethics in Influence
Brand Name	Something Navy
Influencer	Arielle Charnas
Ethical Issues Highlighted	Showing Luxury Lifestyle while suppliers faced delayed payments
Public Reaction	Criticism on Social Media
Impact On The Brand	Damaged trust and reputation
Result	Downfall and $1 Sale
Post Category	News

Why Flaunting Luxury Became a Problem?

Luxury content is a big part of influencer marketing and it also helps in attracting the followers and customers. It creates the brand aspiration. But in the case of Something Navy, Flaunting luxury became a problem when suppliers were not getting paid. The influencer posts the luxury moments online and news stories revealed that the brand was late in paying suppliers. This created a strong negative reaction towards the brand. People felt it mismatched with reality and created a bad public image. Luxury became a problem because it sends the wrong message at the wrong time. 

Ethics In Influencer Marketing – The Something Navy Case  

In Influencer Marketing ethics means doing the business honestly without any pitfalls. 

• Being Honest: The influencers do not need to make any false promises or promote the products that do not work. If the post is sponsored then the influencer needs to clearly mention that. 
• Being Responsible with Brand: If influencer owns a brand then the influencer must be open about the challenges instead of hiding them 
• Keep Trust Alive: The customers must be treated fairing, goods should be delivered timely and responding to the customers complaints is essential. 
• Avoid a Fake Image: Do not show a perfect or luxury lifestyle that feels completely different from what’s happening in the business. 

Let’s check how these ethics applies to the Something Navy Case: 

The Something Navy situation is a real life example of these ethics in action.

• When Arielle showed her luxury lifestyle online, it coincided with the brand’s financial troubles and unpaid suppliers issue.
• The lack of public explanation created a trust gap. It means this brand does not feel responsible for their acts.
• The supplier’s issues were not addressed openly. People just get to know after Business Insiders report. This faded customers’ trust.  
• The ongoing luxury posts made people feel that the influencer was disconnected from real struggles of her own brand and posted the fake image of herself. 

All the provided ethics lacks in the Something Navy case and this leads to low brand image. This example fully shows how influencers ethics are key to keeping a brand image strong. 

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