thebirdspapaya_snark

TheBirdsPapaya is going away next week. I wonder if she purchased tickets to the SI Swim Social Event in NYC. Or will she be attending the immersive 2-day event on the Qwickies ad budget?

Sarah seems desperate to be part of the SI world; she is only a part of it when Knix or Quickies pay for her to play. Sarah Nicole Landry didn't earn her walk on the runway through casting, the Swim Search, or being scouted.

Does Sarah understand that Authentic Brands Group owns SI Swim (Not Sports Illustrated)? The SI Swim magazine is published under a licensing deal with Minute Media; however, Authentic Brands Group retains ownership and control.

Authentic Brands Group transformed SI Swim from a special issue magazine (editorial) that targeted male readers into a brand strategy that is aimed at women and relies on commercial $ particpation from brands. It's one big advertorial.

Authentic Brands Group bought the SI Swim brand in 2019 for $110 million USD. Authentic Brands Group charges for licensing and commercial participation in SI Swim and its various live events. The focus of Authentic Brands Group is to grow SI Swim as a brand through live events, co-branding, licensing, and brand promotion at live events and in the pages of the magazine.

To appeal to women (Authentic Brands Group's new target market), the company created "Pay with Change" (January 2022 kick-off), a program that required brands to create actions that would create a "better world for women" (source Edelman/ 2024/ company presentation).

The goal of "Pay With Change" is to turn "every media partnership into a movement for women's progress", essentially, Authentic Brands Group/ SI Swim required brands/advertisers to virtue signal while still PAYING massive sums of money to participate. Obviously, this approach has been criticized for being hypocritical. Authentic Brands Group was riding the 2020-wave of self-love BS (and gunning for millennial women's dollars). While the program hasn't been scrapped, it has been diminished. Look at this years line up of cover models. The four cover models all have the more traditional SI body (visibly fit).

A reminder to Sarah Nicole Landry, who claims to have been selected by SI Swim magazine to walk the runway at the 2024 Swimweek:

**-Knix paid to be featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue and at Miami Swim Week. Their presence was part of a paid commercial investment through the magazine's structured Pay With Change initiative. (Source Edleman) **

-Knix worked with Edleman directly and through ABG’s internal brand-monetization division to buy into the"Changemaker" framework.

-Knix signed on as an official paid advertising partner starting with the 2023 issue. Under this model, brands buy ad space, and SI matches the investment with editorial and online integration. This financial partnership secured Knix the distinction of being the first leakproof swimwear brand featured in the print magazine (modelled by Katie Austin).

-Knix's broader marketing spend extended to Miami Swim Week, where Knix purchased runway showcase placement to debut pieces like their Sarah Nicole Landry collaboration

-Instead of Landry being selected through traditional independent editorial casting, her appearance on the SI Swimsuit Runway Show at Miami Swim Week was designed to debut the "Knix x The Birds Papaya" co-branded swimwear collection.

-Knix purchased the runway integration as a marketing activation. Landry walked the runway, specifically modelling the pieces she "designed" with Knix (such as the Cinch Shaper One-Piece and ruffle string combo), acting as a brand ambassador within Knix’s paid sponsorship slot.

-By securing this placement within their broader corporate ad spend, Knix successfully bridged the gap between traditional print media advertising and influencer-driven live commerce.

-Sarah Nicole Landry has not been independently featured by Sports Illustrated Swimsuit as a model since Knix ceased the paid partnership that initially secured her runway spot.

-Landry applied through standard independent channels to be cast as a model for the upcoming regular issue. However, she was not selected by the editorial team for a standalone, non-sponsored feature.

Sarah Nicole Landry has publicly framed her runway appearance as an organic invitation, downplaying or omitting the fact that it was directly tied to Knix’s corporate sponsorship deal.

-The "Surprise Invitation" Narrative: In media interviews and viral podcast clips, Landry frames the moment as a sudden, unexpected call out of the blue, stating: "My manager messaged and was like, 'Sports Illustrated has invited you to walk their runway in Miami this year'... I was terrified, truly felt so out of my element with an incredible amount of 'why me?'

-Omitting the Commercial Structure: When telling this story to her audience, she focuses on her personal history of applying independently to the magazine for years. She presents the runway slot as the universe finally answering her dream, rather than a contracted brand activation meant to launch her product line.

-The Corporate Reality: Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s own coverage of the event explicitly noted that the runway slot was organized in tandem with Knix.

Impact on Audience Perception:

-Deepened Core Loyalty: Landry’s 2+ million followers viewed the milestone as an authentic, earned triumph for body-positive representation. By presenting it as a surprise validation of her "real body", the narrative generated massive emotional engagement (such as a viral clip garnering over 70 million views). Her community celebrated it as a grassroots victory against industry beauty standards.

-Insulation Against Backside Criticism: Because the audience believed she was selected strictly on merit, they interpreted any online pushback or body-shaming she received as an attack on body-positivity itself. This successfully mobilized her followers to defend her online ecosystem.

-Skepticism Among Industry Observers: For media literate circles and brand analysts, the omission of the "Knix x The Birds Papaya" commercial tie-in fueled skepticism. Critics point to it as an example of performative vulnerability, in which a major corporate contract is masqueraded as a spontaneous, spiritual breakthrough.

**Legal Ramifications **

By framing a paid Knix corporate activation as a spontaneous, merit-based selection, Sarah Nicole Landry successfully bypassed competitive editorial gatekeeping, weaponized audience trust for massive organic engagement, and manufactured an elite cultural status that commands inflated fees from future sponsors who believe she has independent mainstream media cachet.

This behaviour is unethical because it sanitizes a transactional product launch under the guise of an authentic, body-positive spiritual breakthrough, violating consumer trust and distorting the perceived meritocracy for aspiring creators. Regarding legality, this narrative strategy risks violating the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Endorsement Guides and Canada's Competition Act (as Landry is Canadian)

The regulatory bodies mandate that influencers must "clearly and conspicuously" disclose any "material connection", such as financial ties, corporate sponsorships, or co-branded business relationships, that could affect how an audience evaluates an endorsement. While the runway items themselves were commercialized, failing to disclose that her entire presence on the platform was bought by an advertising partner constitutes deceptive marketing by omission, as it misleads consumers into believing a commercial placement was an independent editorial endorsement.** (Courtesy of Landry Legal) And yes, the name sent me 😂

-Joanna Griffith's language used in the Knix SI Swim/ The Birds Papaya press release is misleading. Joanna tends to use misleading language in an ambiguous way, since losing a class-action lawsuit (twice) for claiming that Knix are PFA-free. Joanna, who once claimed "no Photoshop" on Knix marketing visuals, now makes statements like "Photoshop, who needs her?" Joanna is aware of what she is saying and presents it in a fashion that doesn't make her liable. Sarah, however, outright lied.

-I wonder if this report will upset Joanna enough to buy a last-minute sponsorship with Authentic Brands Group for the SI Swim Social Club. I hope so, it would help me out ;)