How often is it that you open an influencer's story to find them promoting some product or other, and just when you are considering looking into purchasing said product, you notice a piece of writing in the corner with the word ‘AD’. These days this seems to happen almost all the time, as various products and services are splurged all over the Instagram pages of influencers. The problem is when it comes to influencers, the clue is in the name. Their whole career relies on influencing people, through fashion or travel or food. But, can we rely on them when almost all of their choices are based on being paid to promote these choices.
Before Instagram, the word influencer didn’t even exist. With Facebook being the primary social media, it was used to update people on their relationships, friendship and various holidays. But with the introduction of Instagram, social media was completely transformed. Suddenly the caption wasn’t the most important part of the post but the picture instead, as we spent hours editing and adjusting our photos.
With the explosion of Instagram, has come a surge of 20 something year olds, posting daily photos of their fabulous lives and making everyone jealous. But in order to make a living off this unusual profession, they have to make some money somewhere, and this is through ADs. Usually they will be paid to post a story or picture about a product, whether it be Gummy Bear Vitamins or Weight Loss Teas. Now I’m not saying that being an influencer is an easy job, it takes a lot of time and effort and means that they constantly have to stay ahead of the trends. What I do find problematic is that their job relies on them sharing their opinions and influencing others but all these opinions are ones that fuelled by money and product deals.
How can we even begin to trust influencers if they are being paid to say what they are saying. More often that not I will notice a product being promoted, only to realise that its a AD. It completely undercuts our belief in influencers as we now have no idea what their true opinions are.
At the forefront of this is medical products that are being promoted like ‘FitTea’ or ‘Sugar Bear Hair’, products that in reality have no medical backing but are said to give you longer and thicker hair or help you to lose weight. This becomes a huge issue when millions of teenagers spend their money on these products just because their favourite influencer says it’s a ‘must have product’. It is like influencers are filling their pockets with the wasted money of teenagers who are desperate to be a carbon copy of famous influencers like Kylie Jenner. No influencer tells them that these products are a scam and they should embrace who they are rather than spending their money on turning into someone else.
Actress, Jameela Jamil has been an outspoken critic of these so called ‘detox teas’, and regularly calls out the Kardashians and various influencers on their miss-use of Instagram advertising. Not only because it wastes millions of people’s money but because of the harmful rhetoric it sets for Instagram. It says that people aren’t good enough as they are but need to change and have to pay for this change too. Instead of pushing a healthier diet or doing more exercise, it basically says that you need to be thinner and that there is one magical product to do this for you.
Now teenagers aren’t known for having the best diet but we have been taught all about a healthy diet at school. So why do we throw that knowledge out the window just because an influencer who is being paid to say these things and do you know the most worrying aspect? The influencers undoubtedly don’t even use the products they are promoting.
We all know that Kim Kardashian pays a lot for a personal trainer and must follow a strict regime to look she way she does, so why is she pretending that a detox tea is the secret to her success? It is things like this that make me lose faith in influencers and the career as a whole. I mean it is impossible to believe an opinion when we know it is not a real one, and how do we even start to separate what they believe to what they are being paid to say. But can you blame them? Their whole career is based on image and not truth.
With the explosion of Instagram, has come a surge of 20 something-year-olds, posting daily photos of their fabulous lives and making everyone jealous. But to make a living off this unusual profession, they have to make some money somewhere, and this is through ADs. Usually, they will be paid to post a story or picture about a product, whether it is Gummy Bear Vitamins or Weight Loss Teas. Now I’m not saying that being an influencer is an easy job, it takes a lot of time and effort and means that they constantly have to stay ahead of the trends. What I do find problematic is that their job relies on them sharing their opinions and influencing others but all these opinions are ones that fuelled by money and product deals.
