“Be vocal about what you truly believe in. Unless what you believe is wrong. In that case, shut up.
-Me, at age 10
Life has changed a lot in the past few years. I remember when the first iPhone came out, and when Instagram and Snapchat began ravaging our world. All sorts of tech-related issues and conundrums have since been born. But there’s one phenomenon in particular that has been stirring around my head for a while now.
I wanted to talk about the role that social media influencers play in selling the products of company sponsors. I first noticed this phenomenon occurring on the YouTube platform. It started out with YouTubers accepting sponsorships to be able to produce video content that required more funding, maybe in terms of expensive camera work, or access to particular locations. Over time, this idea of big companies sponsoring individuals with wide followings grew, and migrated over to the platform where it now predominantly resides – Instagram. These days, it’s so common for us to follow random strangers on the internet because they’re pretty and we want to be them, and this fact makes both the influencers and big companies a shit-ton of money. Influencer-led sales is now so mainstream, we don’t even blink twice when we see it or hear of it. YouTube makeup gurus create eyeshadow palettes with big makeup corporations all the time, people make their living off of modeling popular clothing brands on Instagram, and pretty much any type of product can be sold through a lifestyle blogger; skin care and beauty, food and kitchen, exercise services, genealogy tests – you name it.
The fact that this is our reality makes me highly uneasy. I’m not saying that this is 100% unethical, because there are actually, in my opinion, quite a few influencers that act very responsibly in informing the public of when they are receiving money to be spokespeople for Big Money. What I am saying is that I don’t think many people realize the serious repercussions of this kind of behavior.
Let’s examine this trend from the beginning. Influencer-based marketing actually isn’t new, although now it does seem to have gone on steroids. In the late 20th century, strategies to link celebrities irrevocably to the face of companies were on the rise (InfluencerDB). For example, here is Michael Jackson’s advertisement for Pepsi in 1984. This type of marketing, although essentially similar to what occurs today, used to be way easier to digest, simply because there was less information available. It was easy for consumers to be able to tell how celebrities were associated with companies, and the role they played in attracting consumers to the brand. However, with the explosion of the World Wide Web at the end of the 20th century, and its constant development into the 21st, the way the game is played has changed (Wikipedia). In the Information Age, consumers constantly have too much thrown at them, and it can be exhausting to wade through all the data in order to make an informed purchase. So, the consumers rely on influencers to help.
Influencers have an important role in the consumption process. Many influencers review company products and give their community their feedback, making it helpful for those members to make informed decisions. This system actually works well, because these influencers are often a sort-of expert in their field. They may not be officially educated, but their experience and their content make them knowledgeable enough to have their opinion considered.
Additionally, with the way social media has developed into the beast it is today, the type of influencer that we let inform us has largely changed. Basically, while we still consume based off of promotions by the mainstream celebrities, whose work is broadcasted through traditional media (magazines, TV, sports field, etc.), we now trust social media influencers a heck of a lot more. I believe this is because social media stars are closer to us peasants in a way that traditional celebrities can never be. Their job is to interact with us, create a community with us, and relate to us. We tend to see them as an extension of ourselves – as part of the hoi polloi – as opposed to above us in an untouchable way. In recent years, these people are starting to make an insane amount of money as well, and are starting to enter into that star-like lifestyle that we associate with mainstream celebrities. However, we know where they started off. Most of these influencers didn’t grow up grooming themselves to star in movies or win title championships; they didn’t have to train rigorously to acquire professional skills in order to succeed in life. They grew up fairly normal, like us, used their unique set of talents to play the game of the social media platforms, and made a lot of money. Essentially, we still see these stars as people just like us, and we trust them to influence our consumption.
There are built-in checks to this influencer-based marketing system that protects consumers from being swindled. Influencers are aware that their community is built on trust, and that a loss of trust could end their career. They aren’t going to risk that, so they’ll be very careful about what company they partner with (they’ll make sure that they really believe in that company and its product) and they are going to be very upfront with their followers over how they receive compensation.
This seems fair and it is – the rules and regulations of it all isn’t what bothers me. It’s the underlying psychological manipulation behind them. Let me explain.
In marketing, there is the concept of inspirational vs aspirational marketing. From my understanding, inspirational marketing involves inspiring the consumers to buy the product based off the qualities of the product itself. It’s seen as a short-term strategy because it pulls in consumers only for the time needed to make a purchase. Aspirational marketing is where the product is built up to be an irrevocable part of a lifestyle to which consumers aspire. Not only will that attract consumers who already have that lifestyle, but it also draws in the masses who wish they could live like that. It’s a long-term strategy because people lust after the product for a long time, before being able to obtain what they see as a ticket into their new life.
This lust is called consumer envy. Consumers want to have a certain lifestyle, and attribute the influencer and the product to such a lifestyle. When many of them save up enough money for a good and then make a purchase, they feel like they have made it one step closer to becoming who they want to be. Smarthosts.org describes aspirational marketing as a technique that makes consumers ”identify the . . . [product] as the missing piece of the puzzle . . . [of] the lifestyle they’re striving towards” .
Hmm . . . Okay . . .
Let me just take a second to fully digest that . . . because, WHAT THE HECK???!!!
What is stated so matter-of-factly on an online forum both horrifies and angers me. The underlying strategy of selling things is no longer about creating a good product and trusting consumers to realize the value of that product. Instead, it’s about instilling in consumers a dysmorphic desire for a different life that constantly eats at them. This desire to be someone else, or live someone else’s life can seriously damage people’s mental health, and it is casually inflicted upon the youth, all in the name of making a profit. These companies are fucking around with our psyche and our attitudes towards our life, and social media is the perfect medium for them to use. Countless studies continuously reiterate how social media disconnects us from reality and makes us compare ourselves to others. I have experienced firsthand how unhealthy comparing yourself to other individuals online is, and how detrimental wishing you could escape your own reality is. There are very serious malignant mental phenomena, such as body dysmorphia, anxiety, depression, anorexia and bulimia, and suicidal ideation and self-harm, that are linked very strongly to this kind of aspiration-based comparison that is bred on platforms like Instagram and Snapchat.
Frankly, this is highly irresponsible. No matter how legal and regulated, these companies are contributing to something that is a huge factor in the illnesses of millions of young people. And all for what? To make money? Well, Congratulations. You’ve pushed the new frontier of marketing – people’s sanity.
It’s not like these corporations don’t know what they’re doing either. There are actual business terms for the kind of impact they are having on young minds. They know that they are curating a culture of people who walk around constantly unsatisfied with their life, who are always looking around for the next best thing – the thing that will elevate their status more. [This ties in with the rise of “hype culture”, where in youngsters place increasing value on items and experiences because they are symbols of status. However, the symbols of status become increasingly more arbitrary, and the price of obtaining these symbols climb up higher and higher, all in the name of an elevated status.] The companies that participate in these trends that are rapidly grooming the next generation to see life in the wrong light. These young people (myself included) are being subconsciously conditioned to place value in money, fame, and status, and things – none of which will actually make our lives fulfilling.
I’ve seen this firsthand. I’ve seen models on Instagram wearing certain clothing items, parading around their jacuzzi and limousines and fancy locations, with an innocuous link to the clothing store in the caption. I’ve seen YouTubers paid to go on a beautiful beach vacation and publish vlogs about it so that their audience links that company with that kind of luxurious travel experience. Even people who are not major stars are approached by smaller companies, because their following holds a sway in their community, and so companies see that partnership as valuable. (This actually happened to one of my friends recently on Instagram.)
Additionally, this business model is highly beneficial for companies. Working with influencers through social media platforms is a lot cheaper than traditional broadcast media (because just 30 seconds of a TV ad can cost tens of thousands of dollars). In addition, influencers have huge followings (often bigger ones than traditional stars). These followings are amenable to considering the input of the influencer and can be reached more directly than other audiences. Also, like with what happened with my friend, people with influence at any scale can be approached, and all sorts of niche communities can be reached.
At some level, I understand all of this. Influencers just wanna benefit their community, while continuing to finance the content that their following loves. And there are some influencers that I feel have balanced all these conflicting interests of our digital age in a skillful manner, nurturing an online community where their followers can flourish in safety. However, there are some people who just amplify consumer envy, maybe even knowingly; who actively contribute in the creation of mental poison for the masses. And that is deplorable.
So, I know my anger and disgust can be harsh and off-putting, but this is how I feel, and it has affected how I live my life. I am no longer capable of trusting big companies. I think twice before deciding to buy something I’ve seen over social media. I certainly never buy something just because someone else has it and they’re someone I want to be. In fact, I’m working on not wanting to be other people in general, because that has caused me a lot of sorrow in my life.
There’s a reason why I wrote this. This whole marketing monster is not visible to many consumers, and that, in my humble opinion, is an injustice. People should know how our consumer psychology is being used against us. I’m not sure if influencers are aware of how selling themselves for money is to the detriment of so many people – I’d like to think they aren’t – but I hope they make more aware choices in the future. And as for Big Money – I have nothing to say. I expected this from them.
Coloring The Void 