Influencers have been barred from cafes, prevented from filming inside workout classes, and blamed for overwhelming picturesque towns. Now, a Nantucket craft store has condensed that years-long backlash into two words: "No influencers."
The sign hangs inside the Four Winds Craft Guild, which has sold handcrafted Nantucket baskets, purses, artwork, and carvings on the island since 1948. When the store shared a photo of it on Instagram over the weekend of July 26, the post revived a familiar debate over what businesses gain — and what customers, employees, and residents may lose — when creators turn physical spaces into content.
Influencers have become increasingly important in modern advertising. A single TikTok video or Instagram post can introduce an independent shop, restaurant, or destination to prospective customers without the business having to pay for a traditional ad campaign.
In a 2025 Sprout Social survey, 32 percent of consumers said they had purchased something through an influencer’s sponsored post within the previous year. That figure climbed to 53 percent among Gen Z and 48 percent among millennials. Businesses can easily track at least some of those purchases through personalized discount codes, affiliate links, and in-app storefronts.
But the attention creators generate can also lead to crowded rooms, tripods blocking walkways, customers recording strangers, and elaborate photo shoots unfolding while employees try to do their jobs. For businesses in small or already crowded destinations, an influx of visitors can create more disruption than revenue.
The sign quickly sparked reactions in Four Winds's Instagram comments, including from Paige Paul, the influencer and Dairy Boy founder formerly known as Paige Lorenze, who took her husband's surname after marrying tennis player Tommy Paul. Paul, who launched her own Nantucket storefront for Dairy Boy in May, pushed back against the sign, arguing that it dismissed an industry in which women have built businesses and gained economic independence.
"If you call yourself a feminist but proudly put up a 'No Influencers' sign, it’s worth asking who you are attempting to delegitimize, and why," Paul wrote. "Mocking women when they become powerful in a new industry isn’t new. It’s just a strange message coming from a store that celebrates a craft with such a rich history of women shaping the island and its economy."
“For those who don't know, the creator economy is overwhelmingly driven by women," she continued. "One woman with a loyal audience can successfully launch a business at a scale that would have once required corporate backing and massive advertising budgets. That’s a win. This sign isn’t."
Four Winds did not back down from the controversy. Although the store deleted its original Instagram post, it shared a notice indicating that its account had been reported and responded through its Instagram Story, according to Page Six.
"Imagine being so bored with life that you spend your pastime trying to report a photo on IG that makes you feel uncomfortable," the business clapped back.
Businesses are still setting boundaries around influencer filming
The disagreement did not begin on Nantucket. Businesses have spent years attempting to capture the benefits of social media exposure without allowing their spaces to become unrestricted sets.
In 2023, Mashable reported that Dae, a design shop and cafe in Brooklyn, had introduced a no-photo-shoot policy after creators began bringing tripods into the space and staging elaborate productions. Customers could still take quick pictures of their food and drinks, but larger shoots were no longer allowed.
"We love food and drink photos (clearly),” Dae wrote on Instagram at the time, "but the TikToks and Instagram photoshoots have gotten a bit out of control for us."
Similar conflicts have unfolded elsewhere. After an influencer requested a free stay in exchange for coverage, a hotel in Ireland banned all bloggers. A cafe in Taiwan prohibited influencers after customers began staging disruptive photo shoots. In Pomfret, Vermont, officials temporarily closed roads near popular fall foliage locations after residents complained about traffic, trespassing, property damage, and visitors blocking roads to take pictures.
As marketing director Sarah Blocksidge told Mashable at the time, "The reality is that some businesses just aren’t suited for the influx of people an influencer can attract, which can wind up hurting the business more than helping it."
2026 brought more of the same conversation. In May, Tracy Anderson Method studios began prohibiting drop-in visitors from filming during workouts. Monthly members, who reportedly pay around $900, could still record. Steven Beltrani, president of Tracy Anderson’s studios, said the policy was intended to reduce disruptions, preserve the studio environment, and protect members’ privacy, though some found it hypocritical and "insane."
Nantucket is already confronting the effects of online attention
Nantucket residents and officials are still grappling with how to manage the island’s growing number of visitors.
That debate surfaced again in May, when Paul opened Dairy Boy’s first permanent store on Nantucket over Memorial Day weekend. Videos and photos soon showed customers lining up outside, prompting residents on the r/Nantucket subreddit to debate whether businesses like Dairy Boy were capitalizing on the island’s social media appeal — and making it feel more “commercialized and trend-driven” in the process.
The island received another burst of buzz on July 9, when Peacock released The Five-Star Weekend, an adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s 2023 novel set on Nantucket.
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Even before filming began, members of the Nantucket Select Board worried that a major television production could disrupt the island and ultimately draw even more visitors during its already crowded summer season. The board approved the production but revised Nantucket’s filming policy after the shoot concluded.
Officials have also introduced restrictions at the Sconset Bluff Walk, a scenic public path that passes through the yards of privately owned homes. Residents have reported visitors leaving the path, trespassing, damaging landscaping, and gathering near homes for photo shoots. Influencers are not solely responsible for those problems, of course, but viral photos and videos shared online have introduced the location to a much larger audience.
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Enforcing boundaries around that attention is becoming more difficult. Producing content no longer requires a tripod or professional camera. A smartphone, or even camera-equipped smart glasses, can record an entire visit without attracting much notice.
Four Winds has not said whether the sign represents an actual ban, a rule against filming, or simply a joke about disruptive visitors. Without that explanation, the sign became the center of a much bigger debate over whether influencer attention helps businesses — or creates more problems for the people around them.
And in the process, Four Winds received exactly the kind of online attention its sign appeared to reject.
