Former TOWIE star Sam Faiers sparked outrage last week after posting about the “exhausting” flight back from her free luxury holiday to Abu Dhabi.
Posting a picture from the family’s first-class flight, Sam wrote to her 2.5m followers, “The truth is, going on holiday with small children is tough, especially with a crawling, teething baby.
“We have had the most wonderful time in the sunshine, swimming every day, exploring, sightseeing and eating lots of ice cream, but it’s exhausting, remember nobody said it was easy.
“As for the flight home, Edward slept maybe 1 hour out of 7.5, safe to say I was doing everything I could to keep him entertained without crying… Thank you @etihad for allowing me to wander about in the kitchen area for a change of scenery.”
While some fans applauded her for being open about struggling with motherhood, there was also backlash from some who accused Sam of being “tone deaf” – in light of not only the cost-of-living crisis, but because the five-star trip was a freebie.
One aggrieved fan told Sam, 32, to “read the room” as everyone else is “exhausted” during the current financial crisis, as another wrote, “Just imagine how hard it would have been if you and the family had sat in economy”.
As a result, Sam – who jetted off with partner Paul Knightley, their three children, Paul, seven, Rosie, five, and nine-month-old Edward, as well as sister Billie’s family and their mum Suzie – changed the caption to, “Home sweet home” and turned off comments.
And now PR expert Nick Ede says that Sam may need to tread more carefully in future when posting on social media.
Nick says, “Celebrities like Sam walk a fine line because they need to be compassionate and relatable, but they also earn a good living and want to live their lives. She has a responsibility to her fans. Most of them will have nowhere near as much money as she does, but she makes money by encouraging them to spend cash on the products and experiences she endorses.
“Her ‘tone deaf’ caption was not great, and statements like this could be detrimental to her brand. Celebrities need to be mindful of their captions and their tone – they shouldn’t be ostentatious or over the top.”
This is not the first time Sam has had a PR blunder. In December 2018, she was accused of “ripping off” designs from a small, family-run baby clothing label, Forever Sewing, in a bid to launch her own – a claim she denied.
And Nick says, going forward, Sam – who was also recently embroiled in a scandal with former best pal Ferne McCann after leaked voice notes appeared to feature Ferne’s voice calling Sam a “fat c**” and “narcissistic b***h” – should think carefully about what she posts in the future, so as not to rile her fans.
He adds, “Reality stars like Sam became popular because of their relatability. They come from nothing and become what they are because of the fans. I totally understand they make their money from promoting or endorsing – but captions like Sam’s won’t do her any favours. She needs to be more careful and think about her brand and its longevity.”
