Ingrid De La Mare Kenny was vacationing in the French Alps in early March when cities across Italy started to shut down, alarmed by the climbing death toll from the new coronavirus. On Instagram, where De La Mare Kenny has over 55,000 followers, she posed with oysters and champagne, her mirrored sunglasses reflecting the mountain snow. Yes, she had gone skiing in the midst of the coronavirus, she told her followers in the caption, and she was ready to acknowledge it. “I can’t keep posting about health and flat tummies and ignore the pink elephant in the room. Corona virus is not a gimmick, it’s happening, and you need to be educated about your immune system to avoid falling victim to it,” she wrote. Then she recommended that her followers try Simply Inulin, a dietary supplement she sells on her website for €26.99.
De La Mare Kenny has all the trappings of a certain type of wellness influencer: her own Pilates-inspired workout regimen, her own line of holistic products, and a robust social media presence to promote it all. With this formula, she’s gained a moderate Instagram following. Other women, and men, have turned their healthy lifestyles into platforms that reach millions. It’s a world of never-ending detoxes, athleisure couture, and #fitspo with a side of body-enhancing supplements. Some of the products are so ubiquitous that they’ve become a punch line: Did you hear the one about the celebrity with the flat-tummy tea?
Simply Inulin is a powder, not a tea, but its webpage still promises a “flatter tummy fast.” On Instagram, it’s now been repurposed as a solution to Covid-19. “The immune system is within us, we can’t buy it, but we sure can boost it and make it bullet proof to Corona,” De La Mare Kenny wrote in a post. “Simply Inulin is the very weapon to boost your immune system and fight off Corona Virus. It’s science and it will fight it off much better than a mask can.”
Except it’s not science. Th
