A construction worker dad has shown how easy it is to become an Instagram star after racking up over half a million followers by posting pictures of himself mocking typical influencers on the platform. It has since been revealed the stunt was the result of a brainstorm for new promo tactics for a small coffee shop.
Posting under the handle @justaconstructionguy, Omar, based in Austin, Texas, has been catapulted to online success. But it has now been revealed everything was a carefully constructed stunt to advertise a local coffee shop. And it seems the plan worked.
Only appearing on Instagram last month, the account was the result of a “creative brainstorming session” by Cuvee Coffee staff. The page has since hit dizzying social numbers for mocking influencer culture.
Speaking to Buzzfeed News, coffee shop owner Mike McKim said:
The whole idea was what we always thought as an influencer, and what we used as an influencer in the past, they don’t always fit our brand. We need a different type of influencer: a hard-worker, blue-collar guy.
With thanks to ad agency Bandolier Media, the persona was born. Things went up a notch after a Twitter account with the handle @barbzlovescarbs posted about the account, claiming it was her dad, with the tweet subsequently spreading across social media.
McKim admits the goal had been to get the Instagram profile to 1,000 followers. But now, it sits at 531,000. Not a bad effort!
Lead image by Christopher Burns on Unsplash.
Too funny....so basically do jack#ss stuff..post them and get instafamous LMAO
WHAT?! If I can't trust Instagram influencers, who CAN I trust???
Marketing people, I really think you can trust them!
YouTubers? :-)
Nigerian princes.
I usually trust whatever graphic is inside Tony and Chelsea's projector screen in the Youtube thumbnail. Hasn't steered me wrong yet!
Tax service, they could never forget you!
I can't help but wonder how this feels to everyone who struggles so much to try to increase their follower count.
I worked on sites and the first clue is all of his gears were way too clean and new.
Yeah I don't see a porta potty or a "bathroom box" anywhere. First red flag.
This illustrates a great point. People don't want to look at how awesome everyone else is all day, they want to see things that they can relate too. A simple hardworking guy just being fabulous and funny, that's what clicks. Maintaining a sense of humor and a positive attitude while doing the best you can in your life is way more inspiring than another ,,Just quit my day job now traveling around the world full-time'' types which just make you feel worse about yourself. Bravo to this guy and that's how it should be.
Nah, you missed the point. Doesn't matter if he's fake or not, the message is what clicks. I mean, posting 20 and getting such a response, kinda obvious I think. I think people are getting tired of seeing everyone so awesome, rich, free, travelling the world etc. as it makes them feel bad about themselves, don't you think?