This week's newsletter: Kim Kardashian West's opportunistic campaign in the name of COVID-19 relief, and an inside look at one of those infamous "loop" Instagram giveaways to gain followers.

This is Please Like Me, BuzzFeed News’ newsletter about how influencers are battling for your attention. You can sign up here. Shapewear WILL be sold during the apocalypse

Instagram / @kimkardashian

Things are quickly changing, and everyone has had to adjust to a new, sad, and stressful reality. However, the one constant in life — or at least in my life — is that some influencers are always going to be opportunistic or just cringe in how they respond to world events. It’s concerning, but also weirdly comforting? Take Kim Kardashian West, the queen of seizing online opportunities, and her recent “helping people in need” post that’s mostly promo for her shapewear line, Skims. “As a mother, helping families in need during this time is especially important to me,” she wrote, before mentioning the organization Baby2Baby that provides children in need with diapers and other necessities. “Today @skims will be restocking our most-loved Cotton collection and donating 20% of the drops profits to @Baby2baby’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Program.”



As some people have already noted angrily in the comments, donating 20% of the profits is laughable. Kim has enough to give from her own pockets, but of course, she will use the crisis to push her products first. Charity is charity, so thank you? But also, Kim is gonna Kim.



When I reached out to her reps to ask if she has donated privately or outside of her brand campaigns, her team responded, saying they “don’t comment on personal donations.”



As she’s showing us, some influencers and celebs continue to be a bit out of touch, cringeworthy, and self-serving. But as angry as posts like Kim’s make me, they’ve also given me a kind of comfort in these strange times that I’m having trouble accepting. I can’t help but feel assured by any kind of normalcy these days, like: • Influencers proselytizing their ~positive vibes only~ message: Don’t worry about a thing! Here’s a sexy nakey pic of me.

Instagram / @janis_danner

• Influencers showing people every mundane aspect of their lives — except now it’s all very mundane.



Instagram / @laurabeverlin

• Influencers running out of places to have photo shoots — and even photos to share. Some are resorting to showing us their entire iPhone camera rolls. LOL.



Instagram / @lilymaymac / @niki

And all of the wonderful chaotic energy in this photo and caption:



Instagram / @cassiemasangkay

“Ricci [her friend] cut my bangs!! We were supposed to upload a fun video about it but a portion of it is sponsored and approvals take longer than normal bc of the whole covid-19 situation. Anyways, I hope you guys are safe and doing your part to #flattenthecurve, Ricci and I will hopefully be pumping out new content for u guys so keep your eyes peeled & your hands washed!!!” Couldn’t have said it better myself. —Tanya True Life: I Got Asked to Be in a Loop Giveaway With Savannah Labrant

Instagram / Savannah Labrant