Ikea's Newest Influencer Is a CGI Instagram Model
In 2020's latest twist, Ikea's newest social media influencer isn't actually real. I'm not just talking about layers of FaceTune and Photoshop, dear reader. I mean she's literally doesn't exist.
Move over, Lil Michaela, Balmain's Shudu, Margot and Zhi, and the ever-controversial Bermuda -- there is yet another CGI It girl (not to be confused with the I.T. girl) in town. In what sounds like a weird, Swedish precursor to Disney Channel's iconic "Smart House," Ikea has drawn upon a new CGI influencer named Imma, who has over 200 thousand Instagram followers to star in their aptly-titled "Happiness At Home with Imma" campaign.
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Aimed at illustrating both small-space living and how to stay somewhat sane while remaining at home during the pandemic (which sounds like a very March-y brand of optimism, but you do you, I guess) the campaign centers around Imma going about her daily CGI business inside the company's new Harajuku shop for three days while live-streaming the whole affair.
From whipping up what appears to be an Instagram-worthy acai bowl, to practicing yoga, to of course, in true Ikea fashion, assembling furniture, Imma is truly living her best life, being the person we all wanted to, at one point, be during this whole debacle. Ahh, the nostalgia for that early "get your life together" phase of quarantine really hits different six months into a global pandemic.
In an even more Black Mirror twist (a particularly apt comparison, considering Imma's Ashley O-esque hairstyle), IKEA has been heavily relying on CGI instead of photography for many years now, Imma isn't entirely virtual. According to My Modern Met, "each of Imma's images are rendered by transposing her 3D animated head onto a live-action body and background." In other words, although Imma is technically CGI, she's slightly more real than that one terrifying picture of Khloe Kardashian.
Keep living your best life(?), Imma!
You can find the mostly real (and only slightly FaceTuned) Carly on Instagram @HuntressThompson and on Twitter @TennesAnyone.
