I remember spending hours on tiktok watching videos of comedy sketches, people lip-syncing, ASMR, or daily vlogs. I could put my phone down and feel perfectly comfortable with myself. Somewhere over the past seven or eight years, it’s started to feel like everything has turned into one long ad. Every other video is flashing lights, names, logos, and products in our faces, guaranteeing a life-changing experience at a discounted price (limited time only).
It’s not a coincidence that it began around the same time as the rise of influencers and content creators. Some might see it as an untapped market that people began to make livelihoods from, but it wasn’t discovered, it was created. The concept of paying celebrities huge sums of money to promote products already existed, but not everyone could afford this. When ‘normal people’ began to gain an audience by filming themselves on their phones and in their own homes, companies swooped in on the opportunity, and so began the influencer occupation.
influencers and consumerism
Consumerism is the increasing consumption of goods and services much beyond what is necessary, a term that has emerged fairly recently to describe a new trend of overconsumption. It’s driven by social media, giving us a glimpse into what the perfect life looks like. An aesthetic house, clear skin, working out, balanced meals. In looking for this for ourselves, we look towards the same influencers who seem to have it all together.
The parasocial relationships fans have with A-list celebrities and influencers vary on many different levels. Most celebrities acquire their fame through their skillset, whether it’s acting, singing, or comedy. Even when they try to appear relatable, there’s always a distance between them and their fans. On the other hand, it’s an influencer’s job to be relatable and build an audience based on this relatability. Through sharing intimate details of their lives and 30-second snippets of their day, it gives off a sense that they trust us, and in return, we trust them.
This is what corporations feed off of, using this fabricated trust to push product after product. Billboards on the side of the highway expose you to the idea of the product and can be easily brushed aside. However, social media makes you believe that you need this product, that your life would be ten times easier with it sitting in the back of your cabinet for the next five years, until you ultimately decide to throw it away. Phrases like ‘Run don’t walk’ and limited time sales are trying to establish a sense of urgency. Then once a product goes viral, you see it everywhere, which is exactly what advertising is.
i would never fall for that
You won’t always be able to tell if you’re being influenced. We’ve all seen the stacks of drawers. The first one filled with lip liners, the second with lip glosses, the third with mascaras. Is it even possible for a person to go through a cabinet full of facial cleansers in a lifetime? You didn’t even know your skin needed vitamin c until you saw influencers talking about how it brightened their dull skin. What does dull skin mean? Does your skin need to be brightened? Might as well get it just in case. They don’t tell you to, but you feel the compulsion anyway because you see it every time you open the app.
It’s a similar case with the restocking videos, where they decant products from the perfectly good container it came in, to a more ‘aesthetic’ container. They never explicitly tell you to do it, in fact the videos are usually silent or ASMR, but that final five-second clip of the fridge or the pantry, where everything is so perfectly organized, has you looking up pitchers and dispensers on amazon. Even when you know it most likely turned into a mess within a couple days.
who benefits?
One thing for sure is that the environment faces the brunt of it. Single-use plastics have been a concern for decades, but now we can find the use of it growing, just for sake of it. For example, mini restock videos include miniature, individually wrapped products that simply don’t need to be. The smaller plastics are harder to filter out from water bodies and other sites of pollution. They reach wildlife much faster and in easily consumable forms. Even manufacturing these products depletes already exploited natural resources. As urbanization and the standards of living grow, this demand is only going to get higher.
Corporations get the most out of this new trend in advertising. They pay smaller amounts to ‘influencers’ to gain just as much if not more trust and visibility for their products. They might not have to pay anything at all if they send free PR boxes. Companies know that even if they’re not paid, there’s a good chance influencers will still make content on it because they consider it their job. In fact, they may get more sales from a PR box rather than sponsorship as the viewers know the influencer has no obligation to praise the product. No matter which direction they choose, they get more business.
When it comes to it, we can’t blame content creators for making the most out of an opportunity. Especially an opportunity that gives them a flexible career that keeps them doing what they love. Corporations are the ones constantly reminding us about everything that we’re missing out on along with preventing us from appreciating what we already have. Customers are being manipulated so subconsciously, it’s hard to snap out of it even when we know it’s happening.
As the line between celebrity and influencer begins to blur, we have to wonder how far it can go before we decide that it’s better to give social media up altogether.