Does sadfishing really work?

Negativity, tension, and conflict are becoming popular strategies for boosting a brand's value, despite the emotional manipulation involved

The term “sadfishing”, defined by the Journal of American College Health in 2021, refers to social media users who “exaggerate their emotional state online to generate sympathy.” It could be in the form of a sad photo, an ominous quote, or a vague post. 

It was actually journalist Rebecca Reid who coined the term in 2019 after a questionable Instagram post by Kris Jenner featuring her daughter Kendall Jenner (28.2 million Twitter followers). In the post, Ms Jenner described her daughter’s “debilitating struggle” with acne and received a large amount of sympathetic responses from her followers. However, it