A small Nantucket store is becoming the subject of controversy after its owners hung up a sign reading "No Influencers."
As content creators have flooded businesses large and small, filming their experiences and sharing with their followers, the Massachusetts artisan craft and antique store called Four Winds Craft Guild is now a hotbed for growing questions about the place of influencers in public.
The store's owner, John Sylvia, told The New York Times in an interview that the sign was not meant to be taken literally. "I don't have this hatred toward influencers," he said. "It was more of a joke. It is a problem we should look at as a society." He added, "I feel sometimes my store is used as someone's background, a stage."
The sign was posted
on the store's social media by his partner, Jessica Jenkins, and from there, social media discourse flooded the feeds of millions as some creators expressed their disappointment with the store's new policy. One was Paige Paul (formerly known as Paige Lorenze), who has more than a million followers on Instagram, left a lengthy comment under the store's Instagram post, claiming that the sign was "anti-feminist," as there are more female influencers than male.
From there, debate erupted on both sides of the issue: Some people sided with the influencers, saying the sign is exclusionary of a specific group and would alienate people who are not influencers but may want to make videos about the store. But there were even more people who sided with the store, which they felt took a necessary stance against influencers.
Paige Lorenze's response to the 'No Influencers' sign
Paul is the founder of the lifestyle brand Dairy Boy, which recently opened a store in Nantucket. In her comment under the store's post, saying, "Mocking women when they become powerful in a new industry isn’t new." She continued, "It’s just a strange message coming from a store that celebrates a craft with such a rich history of women shaping the island and its economy."
Other women have stood behind her in the comments section. "If the ring lights and filming bother you in your own store, that’s so understandable!" one creator said in a comment under the store's post. "But putting up a sign to put down an entire industry comprised mostly of women is not the way forward … Influencing may not be something you’re fond of or used to, but so many people are able to provide for their families because of this industry."
What Nantucket store owners have said: 'People creating videos on corners'
Jenkins, who runs the store's social media page, told The New York Times that Instagram took down the original post showing the sign, but she later reposted it. USA TODAY reached out to Instagram, but did not immediately receive a response.
"I feel that whenever I open Instagram, I see someone show me a guide of what to wear, a guide of where to eat, a guide of what to buy, a guide of how to pack for Nantucket," Jenkins recounted to the publication, saying that as she tries to enjoy a walk around town, she's overwhelmed with "people creating videos on corners of themselves sipping an iced coffee and looking over their shoulder and doing a shoe kick or whatever.”
Stephanie Sproule, who owns a Nantucket store called Bodega, told the New York Times there has been a rise in "people just here to take their picture and to be seen on Nantucket."
Jenkins told the Times that ultimately it was good for business. After adding about 8,000 people to its follower count, she went on to say, "It’s come with a lot of drama, but it also brings in business."
Other influencer bans like this: Brooklyn, Ireland, Taiwan and more
Back in 2023, a Brooklyn coffee shop called Dae banned people from taking photos and videos inside, aside from the "quick snap." The café uploaded a post to their Instagram story, where they wrote: "We love food and drink photos (clearly) … but the TikToks and Instagram photoshoots have gotten a bit out of control for us.”
A select board in the town of Pomfret, Vermont, closed a picturesque road that was the backdrop to many an influencer snapshot, for close to a month, citing "significant safety, environmental, aesthetic, and quality of life issues" as the reason.
Going further back, in 2020, a cafe in Taiwan "strictly banned" influencers after they became frustrated with people doing photoshoots in the shop. A hotel in Ireland imposed a ban on all "bloggers" in 2018 after a content creator asked for a free stay in exchange for content.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nantucket store's 'No Influencers' sign controversy, explained
