2016 gave us glam makeup, sponsored brand trips, and countless influencers who amassed large online followings from posting tutorials and relatable content. James Charles, Jaclyn Hill, and Nikkie Tutorials are all big names of this era. Fast forward a decade, and now people are starting to realize that these influencers aren’t actually that relatable anymore. While many American families are struggling to put food on the table, what’s relatable about someone receiving thousands of dollars of free product they won’t even use?
In December 2025, Jaclyn Hill posted a video to TikTok explaining to her followers that she was concerned she wasn’t getting enough engagement from them, stating that “[Content Creators] are in a weird place on social media, fighting and running through mud to connect with [her] followers.” She goes on to compare previous video views during her history on other social media platforms to her current engagement on TikTok. You can watch her full video below:
So is Jaclyn Hill just out of touch, or does this represent a trend in how viewers want to interact with their favorite creators and brands going forward?
Who is Jaclyn Hill?
Jaclyn Hill started her YouTube channel in 2011, where she posted her first video tutorial for a Kim K-inspired makeup look. She built her initial following through detailed makeup tutorials and tips, allowing viewers to flawlessly recreate her favorite looks. In 2013, she collaborated with Becca Cosmetics on their “Champagne Pop” highlighter, which became their best-selling product (before the brand went out of business in 2021), and her following grew as a result. A notable fan-favorite product was her collaboration with Morphe Cosmetics in 2017, where she formulated her own eyeshadow palette that sold out within hours of its launch.
She leveraged her fame and her audience’s trust in her previous collaborations to launch her own lipstick line in 2019, and subsequently caused a major scandal because of the poor quality (yet high price) of the lipstick tubes. She posted a video to YouTube following the backlash to explain the production, yet it didn’t help her case, as customers were still upset and didn’t understand how a beauty guru could release such a poor product.
Since that point, Jaclyn never fully regained trust from her audience, despite multiple somewhat-successful product launches in the following years. As her following grew, Jaclyn slowly moved away from makeup tutorials to post PR hauls and house tours, a big switch-up for her audience. It felt like she was trying to sell or promote something with her videos and hauls. While she has over 14 million followers across her platforms to date, she has been on a downward trend in recent years with her audience engagement and trust.
Why the Influencer shift?
Jaclyn Hill is certainly not the only account to be called out for this out-of-touch behavior. Similarly, fans of Mikayla Nogueira, another beauty guru with over 17 million followers on TikTok, have been noting her over-reliance on fake, branded content. In 2023, Mikayla posted a paid partnership with L’Oreal on TikTok to promote their new mascara that seemingly gives the look of false lashes. Fans were quick to point out a cut in the video where it appeared Mikayla had applied actual false lashes off-camera.
Since that video (and a brief period of Mikayla being “cancelled”), she has continued to grow her following and collaborate with a large portfolio of brands, even leveraging her wedding to do a product collaboration with e.l.f. Beauty. She has yet to earn back the trust of her audience from that previous video and her constant stream of ads, regardless of her growing follower count.
Additionally, Tarte Cosmetics has long been known to hold all-inclusive trips, called Trippin’ with Tarte, where they fly influencers and celebrities to destinations like Bora Bora to promote their products. In previous years, these trips were highly-regarded on Instagram, as viewers got an inside look into their favorite creators’ experiences. But in recent years, in line with the shifting perspective towards Jaclyn Hill and other influencers, people have begun to raise questions over how Tarte selects influencers for these trips. Accounts under their videos promoting these trips make comments like, “Why reward influencers who already get so much instead of essential workers?” or “The people they pay to take on these trips are the reason I won’t buy from Tarte anymore.” While it’s obvious why Tarte takes influencers and creators with a high follower count on these trips–for promotion and content of their products–it is no longer in line with what viewers desire to see from brands and influencers.
The future of “Influencing.”
In a world where most families are struggling for essentials and stretching food to last until their next paycheck, the tide is shifting on how viewers interact with and support “influencers” on social media. People, like Jaclyn Hill and Mikayla Nogueira, who started out making lo-fi tutorials sitting on their floor with actually affordable, drugstore routines, are now sitting in multi-million dollar mansions, promoting products their audience likely can’t justify purchasing.
These sentiments also fall at a time when overconsumption is “out,” and people online are looking for ways to use up what they have to be budget-friendly, environmentally conscious, or just generally live their best minimal life. A Forbes interview also suggests this shift towards minimal spending reflects our values of community and connection–places like Facebook Marketplace and Depop filling that need.
All of this to say: The lifestyle that influencers promote and brands try to sell just is not attainable and isn’t desired by audiences anymore. With a rise in popularity of second-hand shopping and having a minimal morning routine, it’s no shock that Jaclyn Hill has lost that connection with her audience. Viewers want to watch authentic everyday people show their authentic everyday life, which is why we are seeing a rise in micro-influencers and smaller creators again online.
So maybe the question isn’t why Jaclyn Hill is out of touch but, instead, why we expected her to stay relatable. When we, as audiences, prioritize the opinion of large creators and paid campaigns, large out-of-touch influencers are bound to happen as a result. But now that this gap between the experiences of creators and viewers widens, we have the power to make a choice: Who do we want to support through our views, likes, and comments? At the end of the day, the “downfall” of influencer culture isn’t just about creators losing relatability; it’s about audiences prioritizing viral content over authentic voices.