A TikToker whose life was threatened by a brand is spreading the potential dangers of brand partnerships.
Joanne Romarate is a student and mother of two toddlers living in Texas. Romarate began making review videos on TikTok during COVID-19 in 2020 and eventually gained 35,000 followers.
She said she enjoys making content for fun, and her videos have led to occasional partnerships with different brands.
When a Chinese company called Rugsstyle reached out to Romarate and offered her a free rug in exchange for making a video within a week of receiving the product to promote the brand, she agreed.
When Romarate was unable to make the video on time as previously discussed, the backlash was beyond anything she could've imagined.
Rugsstyle tormented her in a scathing email before explaining why they were so upset.
It read:
"You liar. Didn't your parents teach you to be honest? Or are you an orphan with no parents? Do your parents know that they gave birth to and raised such a shameless you?"
"Do your children know they have a mother who has no dignity and lies to others? Do your friends know that they know you as such a shameless person? Or are you surrounded by people who are undignified scum like you."
Rugsstyle then threatened to compromise her TikTok account, saying:
"We haven't received your video yet, we will report all of your videos within 24 hours, which will limit your account traffic and even remove your videos."
"We have more than 20 accounts that can report you and leave comments below your account, telling your followers what a liar you are."
Romarate initially posted a TikTok summarizing the toxic interaction.
She posted a follow-up post explaining the situation and warning users not to patronize Rugsstyle.
In the clip, Romarate explained that life got in the way because she was "super busy" and missed the video-making deadline by two days.
As a result, she was given death threats.
"Do not ever buy from them," said Romarate of Rugsstyle, adding, "Do not ever work for them."
Romarate said she received another email from Rugsstyle as she was considering returning the free product if they paid for shipping.
The email read:
"Ha ha ha, you liar. We gave you our trust, and you betrayed us."
"You have no dignity, no shame, why are you still alive? You live so meaningless, why don't you die sooner?"
"As someone you have deceived, I sincerely wish you a speedy death."
@jordankdeleon/TikTok
Romarate wrote a response saying she was glad she didn't promote them and planned to report them on TikTok to get them banned.
Things escalated to the point where Romarate's family was being threatened.
@jordankdeleon/TikTok
This was all over a rug.
This one.
@jordankdeleon/TikTok
@jordankdeleon/TikTok
Romarate said her correspondence with Rugsstyle was "crazy" and "unprofessional" for any company.
TikTokers were stunned and shared their thoughts.
@jordankdeleon/TikTok
@jordankdeleon/TikTok
@jordankdeleon/TikTok
@jordankdeleon/TikTok
@jordankdeleon/TikTok
@jordankdeleon/TikTok
@jordankdeleon/TikTok
@jordankdeleon/TikTok
When Romarate's story went viral, she received an email from the company offering $400 in exchange for her to remove the content relating to their interaction from her page. She refused.
The PR disaster led to Rugsstyle's official founder, a person named "James," informing the public and partners of the company launching an internal investigation into the incident which led to the firing of the "irresponsible employee."
The spokesperson also said they will "publicly apologize to the blogger who was abused," compensate and communicate to her "in a timely manner."
They also said they will re-train their staff to prevent this incident from happening ever again.
Here is the statement.
@Rugsstyle_official
Romarate wanted to raise awareness about brand sponsorships by informing the public to, "Be careful and learn from me."
She urged influencers to do their research before fully committing to any agreement with a company they've been corresponding with through their social media pages.
