Sabrina Carpenter ‘cosplayed’ working at coffee shop to promote Espresso and fans are mad

Sabrina Carpenter’s latest press move to promote the release of her recent single “Espresso” on Monday has divided people online. In a nod to the title of her first UK number one single, Sabrina Carpenter worked a barista shift at London Blank Street coffee shop, where she served free espressos to hundreds of fans who flocked to the Charlotte Street branch in Fitzrovia.

However, the campaign hasn’t been without its criticisms. People have accused the 25-year-old singer of “cosplaying” working a typically minimum wage job, only to return to her normal privileged lifestyle once her “shift” ended.

The star had a reported net worth of $12million in February this year , but with the release of two viral singles and an upcoming album in August, Sabrina is likely to be worth much more now. She’s far from living in the same situation as the reality of most customer service staff, many of whom work extremely long hours and whose customers are not adoring fans who have queued up to meet them.

The fact that Sabrina was surrounded by stressed-looking (actual) Blank Street workers, who were likely even more stressed than usual thanks to the very high volume of customers Sabrina’s surprise appearance attracted, has also left a sour taste in many mouths.

One X user pointed out: “Working as a barista in a multi-thousand dollar Fendi outfit is INSANE”.

The recent trend of celebrities dressing up as customer service workers for the day has faced plenty of backlash online: Charli D’Amelio became a Walmart employee for a day last year, and Trisha Paytas frequently posts cosplays of McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Burger King employees.

The whole thing seems very uncomfortable when you consider the fact that these people, most of whom are millionaires, will never have to actually work in customer service a day in their life.

Real workers, meanwhile, who are doing the exact same thing as these celebrities they’re working alongside, are often underpaid and just trying to put food on the table. In this economy it just seems incredibly out of touch.

Blank Street publicly supported the partnership with Sabrina, however, posting to its Instagram pictures of the singer in the branch with the caption: “She’s working late because she’s a baristaaaa.

Some fans have defended the move however, saying handing out free coffees to promote a song called Espresso isn’t that deep as she was “supporting small businesses”.

The particular example of Sabrina as a barista seems somewhat justifiable, since at least there’s a connection between the job and her most popular song, so it’s not like she’s just taken on the role for shits and gigs, but it definitely still feels icky.

Even if she is “just doing her job” by promoting her songs, surely there are other ways to go about marketing without making real worker’s jobs much harder?

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Featured images via @thegirlslovelpop and @jesswilliams5 on TikTok.