Meet Louise Delage: world traveler, socialite, fashionista, and foodie. More importantly, Louise is one of many social media stars who stud Instagram’s ‘”explore” feed. For many, she represents the carefree, effortless qualities of “the cool French girl”, a mythical being whom the fashion industry celebrates (obsesses over).
Background
Remember Essena O’Neill? The 18-year-old Instagram model, who, after revealing a depressing reality behind her polished facade, spread the message that, “social media is NOT real life.”
However there’s one unsettling detail: unlike Essena, and so many others, @louise.delage actually isn’t a real person.
Louise Delange is a fictional character created by French advertising agency, BETC. Her mock Instagram was a part of the Addict Aide campaign called Like My Addiction, designed to attract a similarly young, trendy audience.
The purpose was to simulate the difficulty in detecting an addiction of someone close to you, or, in Louise’s case, a complete stranger. Months later, BETC put Louise’s demon on blast, revealing that she had been suffering from alcoholism. Cleverly placed throughout all 150 photos, alcohol, ranging from bottles of beer to glasses of wine, was always in plain sight.
What We Can Learn From This
Social media undoubtedly plays a massive role in our everyday lives. Louise may not exist, but her addiction does, and it affects millions of young adults around the world.
Alcohol is becoming normalized in our society. Growing up in a land of plenty doesn’t exactly scream moderation. All it takes is a ‘like’ to enable others, let’s not be the generation that glorifies substance abuse.