An Australian influencer has been criticized online and accused of “cultural appropriation” by some followers over her song choice and an outfit she wore in a social media post sharing photos from her current holiday in Japan.
Sophia Begg, who goes by the name Sopha Dopha online and has more than 1.4 million followers, shared a carousel of photos from the first day of her trip in Tokyo on Instagram.
However, the 21-year-old accompanied her “photo dump” with a song in Mandarin by Chinese rapper SKAI ISYOURGOD called Blueprint Supreme.
“Day one: Tokyo,” Begg captioned the post, which included photos of her friends eating ramen, drinking matcha, shopping, and posing next to a vending machine and on trains.
Some of her followers immediately noticed her choice of song.
“Girl I love you but please, the song isn’t even in Japanese,” said one user, whose comment received over 100 likes.
“I fear this song is Chinese,” another bluntly pointed out.
Others called her out for not only choosing a Mandarin song but also wearing a T-shirt with the Japanese word “Suki” on it, meaning “like” or “love”.
One user thought she was using “culture for aesthetic” without actually understanding it.
Another woman, who is Asian, said she also took issue with Begg wearing a shirt with Japanese characters on it.
However, some defended her outfit and song choice saying the shirt “looked good” and she was “embracing the culture”.
Someone else argued, “I highly doubt she did it with malicious intent.”
“I don’t understand why people can’t appreciate other people’s culture, even aesthetically,” asked a different user.
Communications strategist Kriti Gupta, a South Asian woman, said that using a country’s culture to be “visually appealing” is an issue.
“Culture isn’t a choice,” she explains.
And even if the outfit and song choice was a “misunderstanding,” – Ms Gupta reminds influencers to think carefully about their content before posting, as she says impact is more important than intent.
Begg is yet to comment on the backlash online.
News.com.au has reached out to her for comment.
