A TEENAGER is criticized online by viewers who refuse to believe she bought a brand new Tesla with her own money.
Most viewers suggested the $51,000 car was bought with her parents’ money.
2
Seventeen-year-old content creator and student Sophia Castiblanco from Illinois has received hate daily because she earns nearly $100K per year as an influencer.
In a video posted to her account (@sophia.castiblanco), she climbed into her car she reportedly paid for with her own money.
However, a majority of viewers accused her of using “daddy’s money” to buy it.
Comments from haters varied from ones like, “She makes me want to vomit”, to “I hope your battery fails and you have to take out a 25K loan for a new battery”.
Some even wrote, “Please shut the f*** up and stop using daddy’s money to buy stuff. It’s time to get a real job,” or, “You’re going to tell me that you can buy yourself a Tesla Model 3 at 17? Don’t even try to tell me yes.”
She responded to their comments, with her video slamming the haters going viral on TikTok with 5.9M views.
Despite the hate she receives for her car choice, Castiablanco is proud of how much she has achieved through her income.
She states that she was able to purchase the Tesla Model 3 through a payment plan and plans to buy even more luxurious cars in the future, such as a Porsche.
Though Castiblanco is extremely open and proud about her achievements, she does acknowledge that the hate comments made her cautious about what she posts.
“It wasn’t until I started to receive a massive amount of hate every day that it started to get to me a little bit,” said Castiblanco in a follow-up video.
“It isn’t so much of feeling bad about myself type of thing but more so I’m more careful about what I post. So instead of posting whatever I want, I search my videos for something that may trigger my audience now.”
The comments have different messages, but they all attack her character and choices.
“I receive all kinds of hate comments and messages, anything from telling me I’m a spoiled brat, I’m useless, to I’m ungrateful and that I’ll never succeed in life,” said Castiblanco.
She went on to say her haters tend to crop up when she talks about how she was resourceful with the money she makes from her social media following.
However, sometimes it doesn’t matter what she posts – they’ll be there in the comments.
Electric vehicles vs gas
Pros and cons of EVs vs gasoline-powered vehicles
EV PROS:
- Convenient (when charging at home)
- Cheaper (depending on state or city)
- Cheaper maintenance, due to lack of mechanical parts
- Great for commuting
- Reduced CO2 emissions
- Federal and state tax incentives
- More performance (speed, handling – depending on the make and model)
EV CONS:
- Higher initial cost
- Higher insurance rates
- More frequent tire and brake replacement intervals
- Higher curb weight (thus causing more rapid wear on crucial parts)
- Low resale value
- High depreciation rates
- Lack of charging infrastructure
- Unreliable public charging (related: slow charging times)
- Poor winter and summer performance
- Lack of clean energy alternatives means more “dirty energy” from coal and nuclear sources
- Range anxiety
GAS PROS:
- Highly developed refueling infrastructure
- Fast refueling
- Cheaper insurance rates, depending on make, model, and configuration
- Established repair industry
- Lower initial cost
- Higher range before refueling, especially with hybrids
- Many manufacturers produce nearly emission-less engines
- Cheaper refueling, depending on the location
GAS CONS:
- Finite resource (related: heavy dependence on petroleum)
- Carbon emissions/greenhouse gases
- Higher repair costs
- Higher insurance rates, depending on make, model, and configuration
- Varying costs at the pump, depending on state, city, and county
Source: Car & Driver, Perch Energy, AutoWeek
“I’ve noticed that haters will take any little thing from a light-hearted video and just find any way to turn it into something negative. “It’s frequent, usually on videos where I talk about my income or my car or my success in some ways that will trigger people.”
Sophia has aspired to be an influencer since a very young age and despite her peers telling her otherwise, she was able to achieve her dream from the age of 12 when she started a YouTube channel playing with and reviewing reborn dolls.
The channel is still up and has over 175K followers.
Following the success of the first channel, she started a second one focusing on lifestyle videos, which has over 30,000 subscribers.
However, Sophia makes most of her revenue through TikTok and brand deals associated with the app, where she has over 321.9K followers and racked up 9.2M likes.