Chrissy Teigen — The Sarcastic, Social Media Mastermind
Celebrities and social media are two things that go together like peas in a pod, apples in a pie, my Epipen and coconuts — you get the picture.
It is incredibly rare to find celebrities who do not have at least one active account on various social media platforms, whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, or Instagram. The way that celebrities utilize social media is dependent on what kind of brand they want to project to their fans and followers — Kylie Jenner posts about her makeup and fashion lines to sell more product and come across as a young, hip entrepreneur, life lived to be envied by millions, while Taylor Swift publishes Instagrams about her new album and her cats, trying to create an image of a girl next door musician despite being a multi millionaire pop phenomenon.
The majority of celebrities and public figures who use social media utilize their accounts to promote their brand, daily lives, projects, and activities, and are often not ones to share political opinions that can possibly alienate their fans. Not all celebrities are like this however — Donald Trump, even before his sad, sorry excuse for a presidency, typed up politically controversial tweets to send out to the masses, and Piers Morgan writes articles charged with right wing propaganda on the daily. While less uncommon then before, celebrities still tend to share a little bit about what they believe in — and then there’s Chrissy Tiegen.
The model, who currently amasses fourteen million followers across all of her social media accounts, is not one to hold back against trolls, politicians, other celebrities, or even her husband, John Legend, on her social medias. Seemingly without fear, Chrissy shares her opinion on everything and anything that she finds interest in, voicing her thoughts in a demeanour laced with a heavy dose of apathy as to what consequences or backlash she could face from those she opposes. She is a fiery, witty, and intelligent part of any conversation she inserts herself into — while also being a master of utilizing her social media personality to gain a certain fanbase, reputation, and response from each platform she posts on.
Chrissy’s main social media of choice seems to be Twitter, the platform where she calls others out the most on. Chrissy has been slated as “the Queen of Clapback” — her insults always being a carefully calculated blend of wittiness, research, poise, and humour. Take this sly dig at Donald Trump early last year, for example:
The dig is short, but effective. It’s offensive enough that the president himself blocked her on Twitter for her insult, but also funny enough that everyone can sit back and laugh at the ingenious that is Chrissy Teigen.
For another great example, take a look at this tweet sent to our feisty friend from an apparently “worried-about-your-kids” Trump supporter:
Chrissy’s response here is less smart and witty and instead, is more aggressive, calling mister @j_roc83 an “ignorant tool” and immediately following that up with an expletive filled goodbye message. These two insults, both fired at conservative pundits who barely know how to use the internet, show the different sides of Chrissy’s patience towards idiocy online, whether directed at her or not. She chooses to be witty at the times she feels necessary, coming across as an intelligent, hilarious voice of reason, and in the other times, comes across as immature and slapstick humorous, not using her best insults on idiots whom she deems not worthy.
While having great comebacks to trolls and naysayers, Chrissy is also known to be incredibly open in all aspects of her life on social media. She is always one to tweet about cute things her and John Legend do together, what she’s watching on TV, her favourite current memes, and as of late, Neopets. She is able to craft a “girl next door” persona online and show us snapshots of her life that make us believe that we are all like her.
Chrissy is a master of appearing like everybody else online—she is average, funny, eats take out food, roasts her husband, and complains about mediocre first world issues like the majority of the Western population. She has seamlessly made her audience believe that she, a multimillionaire celebrity, is just the same as you and me.
Chrissy uses social media in a way that invites her followers to engage with her comments and pictures, whether it’s through her fans exclaiming “that’s so me!” at an Instagram of Chrissy eating pasta in bed, or followers to scream chants of encouragement when she decides to “drag” someone online. She has fabricated an online presence where the support is pouring in from those with similar humours, views, or goals they’ve aimed at in their lives, placing her on a pedestal at the same time she is attempting to be at ground level with normal people who don’t share her celebrity.
Chrissy’s actions online portray something a lot of celebrities cannot achieve, and that is a sense of relate-ability. Celebrities live a life constantly surrounded by opportunity, luxury, grandiosity — something the everyday person will never be able to have in the excess that stars, musicians, athletes, and politicians have. Chrissy shows us an insight to her life that makes it seem like she doesn’t have any of this—instead, she is just the same as me, you, your neighbour; all of us.
In examining the model-turned-cookbook-writer’s social medias, one of her most famous exploits came when she tweeted out a need for a favour:
The banana crowdsourcing debacle of last year amassed thousands of responses from her fans on Twitter and garnered tons of news support, being featured on sites such as Buzzfeed, People, Teen Vogue, and US Magazine. The cry for help on Twitter eventually was answered by one of her fans, Meg Zukin. She received one of Chrissy’s cookbooks, a Becca palette, and a pair of John Legend’s underwear in return.
It was an interesting campaign Chrissy pulled here — rather than sending her assistant to go to the supermarket and scope out some brown bananas for her, like any other celebrity would, she instead went the route of asking her followers in the LA area if they had any, and offered them some pretty exclusive gifts for the trade in addition!
Chrissy’s interesting tactic here reinforces her online persona tenfold — she is a relatable, funny, understandable, and desperate woman, one who only wanted some ripe bananas to make banana bread with. She gave out the chance to a lucky banana-owning fan to be her “knight in shining armour”, persay—but this action in itself; the one where she is able to ask millions of people for something and have thousands of responses, offering help — is only one a famous person of privilege can achieve. If Chrissy was really like any of us, she would have had to go to the grocery store and hope that there were some brown bananas there, waiting for her. There wouldn’t have been a #nannergate hashtag, or anyone online replying seriously — there might not have even been bananas able to be used at the supermarket.
Teigen’s antics on social media, whether on Twitter or Instagram, show the online queen as a lowkey genius. She claims to not have a specific strategy, and places whatever she pleases online depending on her mood. This action of not having specifically curated posts, tweets, or pictures, shows how “real” the model appears to her audience, which does in turn display a strategy, even if Chrissy doesn’t inherently embrace one. When asked about her social media strategy with Mashable, she states:
“It didn’t start out being easy to say whatever you wanted [on the internet], because some people, they just don’t know you,” explains Teigen. “You kind of have to come out the gate really showing different sides of your personality, and people start to, years later, get used to the fact that you’re going to be politically involved, you’re going to livetweet [Real] Housewives a lot, you’re going to talk about food. And people start to realize: that’s just you. And they start to accept you.”
Her honesty on social media has made her a prime influencer, one brands are constantly trying to get attention from. Chrissy, now nearly retired from modelling, had since used her fame to start writing cookbooks, which she has published two as of today, and is the host of Lip Sync Battle, a popular television show where celebrities battle in the art of lip syncing and dance. She has also released clothing lines, and is on a panel talkshow called FABLife, hosted by Tyra Banks.
Chrissy Teigen is a entertaining online mastermind, one who knows she can use her sarcastic, apathetic personality to connect with the users on each site she’s on. Consistently trending online for her funny statements and cute pictures, she is constantly relatable, hilariously humble, and someone who knows her audience can look to her to connect with, but also view her as an ultimate goal. She is smart, genuine, and doesn’t try to fabricate a life of perfection—she is a breath of fresh air in our landscape of constant curation, poses, and advertisements.
