We have a new favourite Instagram. The account, called zoomthashit, is only four months old, but already has 27.3k followers. I know, I know, influencers are pests, but stick with me because these two aren’t really influencers.
Italian fashion students Sara Morsillo and Samuel Batista met a little over a year ago, and are the people behind zoomthashit. The account is just candid photos of the two out and about, looking glamorous in coordinated outfits.
They’ve been snapped looking like they’re living the ridiculously rich and attractive life that Instagram laps up, which is why their account has taken off so quickly. In a pretty cool plot twist though, the people doing the snapping aren’t who you might think at first.
Turns out Sara and Sam aren’t being chased by paparazzi down the streets, as much as it looks like they are. They’ve been painstakingly planning their outfits and how they want the shots to look, taking a tripod down to wherever they want to be seen, and taking their own pictures for Insta. Yep, they’ve been faking paparazzi shots.
Genius.
“Our concept is to show the three top things that people like to show on social media: love, fashion, and food,” the couple said in an interview. “It is meant to be satire”.
As much as the pair look like your run-of-the-mill Instagram influencers, they definitely don’t live the high life. “I’m sure that if, tomorrow, I started to put my real life on social media, people would stop following me,” said Sam. “Outside of social media, this reality does not exist.”
In a pretty ironic twist, by poking fun at influencers Sara and Sam have found themselves actually being offered products to shill. As their popularity grows, they’ve been offered more and more free stuff – which they tag in their photos. Turns out faking paparazzi shots was a pretty good business idea.
Life imitates art, after all.