Why a small business offering to raise thousands for farmers has been criticised
A Brisbane-based fashion boutique offering to buy drought-stricken Aussie farmers hay bales, in exchange for Instagram likes, has defended the campaign after being accused of profiteering from the dire situation.
One day after it was confirmed 100 per cent of New South Wales was in drought, Beginning Boutique took to Instagram to offer one bale of hay for every 200 likes they received.
Within 15 hours more than 84,000 people had liked the post, meaning the company which employs just 30 people, would be up for at least 420 bales of hay – with nine hours still to run.
With ‘Buy a Bale’ valuing each bale anywhere between $20 to $100, CEO Sarah Timmerman told Yahoo7 News she knows she could be up for around $25,000 or more.
“We’ve never done anything like this before, we had no idea how it was going to go,” she said, adding that they have no intention of backing out of their promise.
“This whole campaign started because three customers asked us to use our platform to raise awareness.”
But among the thousands of likes, some Instagram users questioned the Fairfield-based boutique’s method of requesting likes during such a trying time.
“I really don’t like this! Why can’t they just donate hay without fishing for likes,” one woman wrote.
“Capitalising, trying to grow their own business with ‘likes through the struggle of Aussie farmers,” another wrote.
Others lauded the idea, saying there’s “plenty of big companies doing nothing at all”.
Ms Timmerman said she can understand why people are criticising their campaign but reiterated that her business has not gained any extra money or social media following from the post.
“This campaign is about support… it goes beyond a silent donation which is what we do generally,” she said.
“For them [the farmers] to see how many people care, it just shows they’re not alone.”
She said they have already started working with Buy a Bale who will help them dictate who receives their donation.
A post shared by Beginning Boutique (@beginningboutique) on Aug 8, 2018 at 1:10am PDT
How to help drought-affected farmers
Aussie Helpers – aussiehelpers.org.au + 1300 665 232
Rural Aid Australia – ruralaid.org.au + buyabale.com.au + 1300 327 624
Lions Need for Feed – needforfeed.org
Drought Angels – droughtangels.org.au
Lifeline – lifeline.com.au + 13 11 14
