Colleges Are Hiring Influencers to Make Mask-Wearing a Trend
And many students aren’t buying these “performative” safety measures
In July, University of Missouri freshman Caleb Poorman was scrolling through Instagram when he noticed a direct message from an unfamiliar account: Gen Z micro-influencer agency Glacier. Brand partnership scams run rampant on Instagram — look at any celebrity’s comment section and you’ll see dozens of “wanna collab?” messages. Poorman had never taken a sponsorship deal and had reason to be skeptical, but Glacier’s message wasn’t a sham. Instead, it was an unusual sponsorship opportunity with his university, which often goes by Mizzou.
The partnership between Glacier and Mizzou had a simple goal: identify potential social media influencers on campus and pay them to deliver public service announcements on safe Covid-19 prevention habits. Poorman, who now has about 1,700 followers, was among the first to sign up. Soon, he and four other Mizzou students were posting photos with captions encouraging their peers to use hand sanitizer, wear a mask, and log onto Mizzou’s symptom checker app #CampusClear. They were to be the inaugural class of Covid Ambassadors.
“I realized I was just as much responsible for my safety and everyone else’s safety as the next person,” Poorman said. “It was…
