'AITA for not letting social media influencers take pictures of my food?'
"AITA for refusing to let influencers take pictures of my food?"
So I recently went out to lunch with friends of ours, who had also invited this couple who are "Social Media Influencers." We were told more people would be there but not that they would be influencers.
We all ordered and as a side note, everything single thing that was discussed at that table basically became content on their next couple of videos. But anyway, by the time the food arrived we were all really hungry. Once everybody's food arrived, we were all about to dig in but the influencer couple stopped us and said they needed to take pictures.
I waited about two minutes. They kept taking pictures from different angles and after a point, I said "Sorry guys, It's my cheat day and I'm really hungry" and started eating.
After eating, they wanted us to give them short clips reviewing the food and I declined because I just met these guys. I wasn't comfortable with being on their social media.
Now the two influencers are extemely PO'd with me and are saying I'm an AH for not letting them take pics and not helping them out with their content. A few people voiced that I could have cooperated more. Am I the ahole here for not letting them take pictures and refusing to do the video clip?
EDIT:
Everyone paid for their own food. Lol they couldn't even get us a discount from the restaurant for featuring them on the video. They asked the owner and he refused. Lol, they actually both have legit paying jobs. Both of them work in Marketing/Advertising and one of them is manager level.
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
Careful_Fennel_4417 said:
Nope NTA! Food is meant to be eaten hot, especially food I’m paying for. There would be nothing that would tick me off more than being prevented from enjoying my meal.
jpb said:
NTA. They clearly have a bad case of Main Character Syndrome. They can waste all the time they want photographing their own food, you're not obligated to accommodate their influencer crap in any way. Let me guess - they said you should be happy for being on their feeds because it'll help you get followers.
very_unconsciously said:
NTA. You can't really expect privacy if you are eating in a public place. But you absolutely should expect to be able to eat your meal on your terms, without people interfering in any way. And you certainly can decide whether you want to contribute to their social media or not.
WDTHTDWA-B^TCH said:
NTA- your friends didn’t warn you beforehand that the people they were bringing were going to post content online, so you couldn’t properly consent and it sounds like the influencers assumed you would be fine with it until you said no. You were put in an awkward situation without being told ahead of time. You have the right of refusal, for sure.
International_Yam_80 said:
Okay = taking a picture of the food in like 30 seconds. Not okay = taking pictures for 2 minutes or more and making video's after it without being asked in advance. NTA.