The past couple of generations have grown up with the internet playing a huge part in their life, and this probably isn’t a good thing. Behind almost every well-known brand, there’s a team of influencers pushing the products to their audiences. You’ve probably noticed a few of the viral items on your ‘For You Page’ recently. One of the fan favourites has got to be the ‘Rare Beauty Blush’ used by many influencers, including creator Alix Earle. So you’re probably wondering why exactly ‘Anti-influencing or De-influencing’ is becoming a thing in this day and age where people are constantly scrolling through their phones and being influenced to spend money on microtrends. Well, creators, mainly in the beauty and lifestyle niche, are gaining millions of views by convincing their audiences to NOT purchase the newest trending items.
One of the biggest platforms that are fuelling overconsumption is Tiktok. Anyone and everyone can post short-form video content showing their favourite product for millions of users to see, not just influencers with a large following. Now while sharing is caring, and many of us love to try out new products, these new microtrends that are going viral every day of the week are really not doing us or the planet any good. Influencers are usually sent PR packages or gifts from brands wanting to be promoted across their social media. While some have said they donate the items they don’t use, so so much is going to waste because they simply get sent so many things on a weekly basis that it is overwhelming. Along with the free products, brands also pay influencers to go on glam trips and to exclusive events. Although after the drama that took place at Revolve Festival in 2022, they may think twice before signing the contracts. Revolve got a lot of backlash from influencers after leaving many of them stranded in the sun with no water for multiple hours, after being told to wait for the shuttle to collect them to take them to the festival site. The event was branded ‘disorganised’ and the issues got a lot of media coverage.
The majority of us have either a skincare or beauty routine that we stick to, using the same group of products each day that works for us. Who really needs 12 different brands of blush in near enough the same shade? Nobody… So why is this being normalised.
The creators that are strongly promoting the Anti-influencer movement have labeled the influencers as ‘glorified salespeople’ which does make sense. A lot of the time, they’re trying to sell you a product, whether they actually like and use the product themselves or not, and they most probably get a commission for every purchase made. One creator that is very open with his opinions is Jeffree Star. The Youtube makeup guru made his feelings known last week in a Tiktok video reviewing Hailey Biebers skincare line ‘Rhode’. He first points out that the products are boring and then goes on to say “So when you’re privileged and you use daddy’s money and you’ve never worked a day in your life, I guess this is what we’re doing.” We can really tell that the makeup mogul, Jeffree Star, is team Selena all the way.
Social media and influencing are such a huge part of young people’s lives now that it’s quite alarming actually. Kids used to want to grow up to be Astronauts or pop stars, but now they want to be influencers or Youtubers, they live and breathe technology. It’s a very oversaturated industry that has truly taken over people’s minds. Which concludes that the anti-influencer movement may have a positive impact after all. While we don’t think social media will be pushed away and deleted completely, we hope that people will limit their usage of technology and start living life in the moment, and of course, stop buying into the microtrends just because you saw someone pretty promoting it.
