The pizzaiolo Lele Scandurra, owner of the restaurant L'Evoluzione in Catania, Italy, decided to prohibit the entry of influencers to his establishment after an episode involving a content creator with more than 400,000 followers on Instagram. The influencer had dined at the restaurant accompanied by a friend, praised the pizza served, and left the premises without paying the bill, which totaled approximately €60, equivalent to about R$360 at the current exchange rate.
According to Scandurra, the content creator had made a reservation to dine like any other regular customer. At the time of the meal, there was no formalized collaboration agreement between the parties, nor any negotiation for the meal to be exchanged for social media promotion. The influencer's name was not revealed by the press.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Scandurra stated that he had no intention of making this story public, showing discomfort with the media coverage of the case. The episode reignited the debate about the conduct of some digital influencers who use commercial establishments without fulfilling their financial obligations, seemingly expecting some type of preferential treatment based on their social media presence.
