A Melbourne woman says she feels “dehumanized” after being filmed without consent for a “random act of kindness” TikTok that went viral.
The video shows TikTok creator Harrison Pawluk approaching the woman, Maree, in a public shopping mall. He asked her to hold a bouquet of flowers while he put on a jacket.
Before Maree could return the bouquet, Pawluk wished her a good day and walked away. Maree’s surprised reaction was caught on camera.
The video now has over 59 million views and 11 million likes.
Posted to the @LifeOfHarrison TikTok account several weeks ago with the caption, “Hope this made your day better,” it drew very supportive comments.
“Wow that was so beautiful I swear I would cry,” one user said.
Another wrote: “My heart! That made her feel so good and it seems like she could have needed it.”
However, Maree was cynical about Pawluk’s intentions after seeing that the video had been posted.
Maree, who did not reveal her last name, told ABC Radio Melbourne that “these artificial things are not random acts of kindness.”
Harrison Pawluk asked Maree to hold a bouquet of flowers while he put on a jacket, then left and filmed her reaction. Photograph: lifeofharrison/TikTok
“He interrupted my quiet time, filmed and uploaded a video without my consent, turning it into something it wasn’t… I feel like he’s making a lot of money on it.”
“It’s the condescending assumption that…older women will love it when a random stranger gives them flowers.”
She said she had asked if she was being filmed and was told “no”. She also said that she returned the flowers to Pawluk, whose TikTok account says she is 22 and from Melbourne.
“I didn’t want to take them home on the tram, to be honest,” Maree said.
“But they didn’t give me that chance.”
She added: “I think other women, especially older women, should be aware that if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.
“I don’t do anything on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, nothing, and yet it happened to me.”
A friend contacted Maree that night and shared the uploaded video. At the time, she Maree “didn’t think much of it.”
But after seeing the TikTok video in media reports describing her as an “old lady” with a “heartbreaking story”, she said she “felt dehumanized”.
“I feel like clickbait,” he said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Pawluk said the video was “designed to spread love and compassion.”
The statement noted that on Pawluk’s recent trip to Los Angeles, he witnessed “the extent of…poverty and homelessness in a city where that shouldn’t be the case,” and inspired him to create focused content. in “random acts of kindness”.
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“He delivers flowers and pays for purchases from complete strangers,” the statement says.
“So far, Harrison has only found gratitude for what he has done, however, it is clear that in this case someone is upset. He apologizes wholeheartedly to Maree if she was offended by what she made of her and urges her to contact him privately so she can personally apologize. If she asks him to remove the video, he will.”
Source: www.theguardian.com