Your Brand Should Butt-out of the Selena & Hailey Drama … Here’s Why

If you’ve spent more than fifteen minutes on TikTok over the past few weeks, you’ve probably seen at least one post about the drama between Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber. You’ve probably also picked up on the fact that the public — by a landslide — is #TeamSelena.

Another thing you’ve probably caught on to is that everyone has been quick to throw in their two cents on the matter, whether that be more evidence that Hailey & her friends are allegedly bullies or just overall support for Selena Gomez and Rare beauty. Even professional business accounts on social media have quickly jumped in on the drama by having customers choose whose team their on or by just directly making snarky remarks about not liking Hailey.

This is entirely unprofessional, inappropriate, and, to be honest, tacky. Regardless of what screenshots and videos come out, I don’t think it’s in the best interest of most brands to bash Hailey publicly, even if the current evidence does point to her being a “mean girl.”

This is by no means a defense of Hailey on my part, but I have to acknowledge that we do not know what happens behind closed doors between the two women, so we might not even know the whole story of what is really happening.

But even if we do, though, and it turns out that she is the “mean girl” the internet says she is, the reality is that this is celebrity drama and gossip. Not a pressing social justice issue. Businesses don’t need to use their platforms to highlight this, especially since, in most cases, it's not really relevant to the brand.

Most companies joining in on this are only tag-teaming Hailey because it's currently popular online. You can’t build a brand by just trying to be cool online. Companies do not need to participate in every trend. It comes across as desperate to gain attention by any means, even, in this case, by bandwagoning and bullying.

This is not to say that brands shouldn't participate in any trends. But companies should focus on trends that elevate their brand instead of joining in on whatever is popular on the internet as a social media strategy.

Brands could also address the issues indirectly by supporting causes that are related to the problem. For example, start an Anti-Bullying campaign instead of having your customers choose whether they’re #TeamHailey or #TeamSelena on a poll.

Hailey and Selena are wealthy, successful businesswomen who will most likely be okay throughout all of this because they have the resources to be. But a young teen being bullied might not be okay because they don’t have access to mental health care or know how to handle the issue. Provide resources, not fuel, to the drama fire.

Or, if you really want to talk about it, do so as a content creator or on your personal account, but don’t use bandwagoning as a marketing strategy for your business. It’s not a good look.

In sum, bullying, regardless of whether you feel it's deserved on a professional business account, is never a smart move. Unless that’s what you want your brand to be known for, but I’d hope not. Why wouldn’t you want your brand to be a beacon of light and improve the world?

Want to talk more about social media management? Need help figuring out which trends you should or should not join? I can help.

Let’s take your brand’s online presence to the next level together! Reach out to me at hello@briannamwalton.com to get started!