Instagramming Tragedy in Australia’s Bushfires

Celebrities take to social media posts to boost donations

Large parts of Australia are currently ablaze, destroying many homes for people and animals alike and putting the country in a state of crisis. Even koalas are under threat of extinction. 

On your social media platform of choice, you may have seen the latest Australian bushfires that have seized attention with horrific images of burnt koalas and clouds of smoke. 

From Twitter to Facebook, there has been a global cry for support for a country that is vastly unprepared to fight a burning natural disaster of this magnitude.

With millions of people posting on the Internet daily and garnering significant attention, it often seems like everyone wants the spotlight. However, the Australian fires have become more than just an eye-catching event for influencers. This terrifying tale has given Instagram’s most popular influencers a chance to wield their powers for good. 

Famous names such as Bella Hadid and the Kardashian clan have called for support and charity with posts on their accounts that have millions of followers.

Bella Hadid’s post on Jan. 7 depicts a koala clinging to a firefighter with a caption using the startling phrase, “at this rate koalas will go extinct” and then proceeds to plea for donations to the non-profit WIRES, @wireswildliferescue. 

The celebrity posts all follow a similar formula that feature an image of the fires and their disastrous effects on human and animal lives.

Regardless of the image, the captions of these posts share a similar sentiment like “heart going out to the people of Australia” or the “urgency of the situation” for not just Australia, but the entire global climate. 

Instead of simply sharing their latest collaboration with a beauty brand, rich influencers are pledging to donate money themselves while highlighting organizations such as the Red Cross and WIRES as the perfect places to donate with the slogan, “every cent matters.” The star-studded list of donators is endless, reaching even outside of the social media world to big names like Leonardo DiCaprio. It appears that social media has developed a beneficial side. 

In this light, we can see that there is much good to be had from social media connecting the painful damages of the bushfires of Australia to the front doorstep of Americans with those few extra cents. 

However, how can we tell if these posts are just designed to gain more followers or if they’re actually for the right reasons?

Social media posts may provide a certain false illusion of help by merely sharing information about the problem in order to evoke an emotional reaction. 

Most people would agree that what is happening in Australia is awful, but simply posting about the problem on an Instagram story is not enough. Only active volunteering and donations can alleviate the pain that bushfires currently inflict upon the Australian people and wildlife. 

In case you haven’t seen the facts, more than 20 people have lost their lives, half a billion animals have perished and there remains millions in property damage.

Thanks to social media awareness, millions of dollars have been donated to aid the damage done by the bushfires in Australia. 

Without the internet connecting the world together, the money and attention to this devastating issue would be significantly undercut, and Australia would be struggling even more.

Contact Sabrina Moyes at smoyes@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.