Credit: Instagram @pamelaanderson

Yesterday, model, actress and television personality Pamela Anderson posted on Instagram before logging out for what she says will be the final time.

Known to most either as an icon of Playboy Magazine, Baywatch, or activist work (depending on how old you are), Anderson addressed her 1.2 million followers in a caption littered with enjambment, evocative of the many poems she has referenced in her past captions.

“This will be my last post on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook”, she writes. After explaining that she was never interested in social media and that she is now living a life that she is “genuinely inspired by, reading and being in nature. I am free.” She then goes on to wish her fans well in finding their purpose and escaping the clutches of online time-wasting. “That’s what THEY want and can use to make money. Control over your brain -”

The ‘they’ Anderson refers to is open to interpretation but the hashtag she uses at the end of her caption #thebewilderedherd is co-opted from the title of the 2004 book by Dr B. A. Taleb. The book delves into theories of the mass media’s manipulation of the public detailing why and how this occurs. This isn’t the first time Pamela Anderson has told her fans to wake up.

Credit: Instagram @pamelaanderson

Anderson’s long-running activist work has spanned various causes including HIV/AIDS. She is a supporter of economic justice internationally and has been a spokesperson for animal welfare. Her scantily clad PETA campaign was famously banned in Montreal, Canada to the outrage or commendation of many. In 2015 she joined the board of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in an effort to stop the hunting of whales and has since continued her activist pursuits internationally.

Pamela Anderson has been linked to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a friendship that many deemed slightly unexpected. In 2019 she appealed to Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison to assist in Assange’s release and has since continued advocating for his release from prison.

Long before she harnessed her star power for activism, Pamela Anderson was making her debut as a Playboy covergirl in 1989 and appearing on her first centrefold image *gasp* in 1990. Though it’s been years since she last featured in Playboy, she remains the most iconic model ever affiliated with the magazine.

Credit: Instagram @pamelaanderson

Anderson made her acting debut in Baywatch in 1992, a television series following several beach lifeguards as they navigated the drama of looking good while saving lives. It became the most-watched series of all time with 1.1 billion weekly viewers in 1995.

Anderson’s departure from social media may encourage her fans to also seek a life beyond the endless scroll, but the Anderson Effect isn’t bound to cyberspace, the television, or the centrefold. We will see you out there Pamela.