NEWS AND OPINION: Vinted is an app-based website through which you can de-clutter your wardrobe and get rid of those clothes you no longer want. In the modern world, clothes have quite a short lifespan. In the old days, days gone by, we kept clothes until they wore out and then we repaired them!
Nowadays they are bought and sold, recycled and thrown away at a rapid rate it seems to me although I am of the older generation and see this as alien.
Vinted has a strict policy about what can and can’t be sold on their website. They have “processes and procedures in place to make sure members have a safe and pleasant experience on the platform. Vinted reacts to reports of prohibited items being listed on the platforms as soon as we become aware, either through our own technology or through the reporting of members.”
And so it transpired that one anonymous member or a member that has not been named decided to sell her tortoiseshell cat on Vinted for £130.
The reason given for selling the cat was that they were looking for a new home as they were unable to take care of the cat any more. A very common and vague reason. The real reason is probably that they went off the idea of caring for a cat.
The advert was picked up by Zara McDermott, an English reality television personality and Love Island contestant among other celebrity television appearances.
She picked up on this cat being sold on Vinted and was left in tears according to The Independent newspaper.
We are told that she was “left fighting back tears after discovering a Vinted user appearing to sell their cat using the second-hand clothing site”.
The cat was advertised in the “collar category”. Zara wasn’t the only person who picked this up. It appears that a TikTok user also did and the advert was captured on a screenshot and shared on TikTok. Ironically TikTok has a reputation for fostering animal abuse because it is inadequately administered. It seems that TikTok and Vinted share similar problems.
Perhaps that is where Zara McDermott saw the criticism of this advert.
The tortoiseshell cat was stated as being neither spayed nor microchip and was one year and two months old in very good condition and available for collection only!
The Independent questions whether the person who placed the advert was serious. A fair question but it seems to have been serious.
The advert was removed immediately as soon as the administrators of Vinted were made aware of it. It received criticisms because in apparently treated a cat as an inanimate object to be bartered and sold online which, regrettably, is the way some people see pets. It’s quite rare but it does happen.
It appears to be a reflection on the throwaway culture of modern life. This concerns both inanimate and animate objects.
The picture comes from Zara McDermott’s Instagram account in which she expresses her strong views about the cat advert. Most people would agree with her.
Awful!! Karma will kick in!
Yep, karma does kick in eventually I am pleased to say. Thanks for sharing.