First question: are you following Louise Delage (@louise.delage) on Instagram? You might well be, because she’s got an impressive 46.1 thousand followers and looks a lot like one of those Instagram cool girls we all love to follow, and by follow we mean stalk. Second question: did you know she’s not real?
No, she isn’t one of those animated Instagram stars, the woman in the picture is a real person – but her lifestyle isn’t. This ‘Instagram influencer’ is all a clever campaign to highlight alcohol addiction. Take one quick look through her feed and while at first you might not spot it, in every single image ‘Louise Delage’ has a drink in her hand. On the street, with friends, on boats, in clubs – you name it, she’s drinking there.
Created by French brand BETC for Addict Aide, this feed was created for the ‘Like My Addiction’ campaign, and asks us to look beyond eye-catching images we see on social media and spot the warning signs of addictions. The account first appeared on the 1st of August, and her images have since gone on to have over 50 000 likes, with her followers completely unaware to the warning signs of drinking, that is until they posted a video explaining the campaign.
One commenter wrote under a more recent picture: ‘This campaign was such an eye opener for me. I recently quit drinking, and feel like I was trapped and didn’t even know it. Knowing I don’t have to drink in every situation, or at all anymore.’ It’s easy to misjudge social situations and drinking regularlycan become a problem before we’re even aware of it. More often than not ‘social drinking’ is seen as just that, a social thing. According to the NHS 4% of UK women have a dependence on alcohol, and it’s more than likely that a large amount are completely unaware of their dependence. This account highlights just how easy it is for onlookers to miss it.
If you are concerned that you or someone you care about has a problem with drinking you can find support here
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Follow Alyss on Instagram @alyssbowen
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.