Amy! This is so good. The amped-up outrage has baffled me. Influencing is work (with a lot of privilege and some problems, as you note). But brands are choosing to spend the marketing budgets this way because there’s a real ROI here. It’s how people shop today, these accounts move product and these trips raise awareness about a launch — in a very quantifiable way. Be mad about that!
Thank you! It is also telling to me that it seems to have originated from a dude who works at Barstool… I didn’t elaborate on Barstool’s POV here but that site’s coverage of women speaks for itself.
This is so true - remember all the stuff around WeWoreWhat!? Not saying Jr wasn’t shady but my god, the glee. Ditto Caroline Calloway (who lent - and still leans - into the grift, which I think is actually the answer.) Influencer culture is somehow way more scrutinized than other kinds of advertising - celebrities like Anya Taylor-Joy are the face of about 6 different luxury brands, probs millions of $ a pop, regularly Instagrams/ attends events, doesn’t always use an ‘ad’... but that’s way more offensive to ppl than an influencer going on an unpaid trip. Ditto magazines churning out advertorials, or their staff ‘picking’ products for their shopping pages that ‘just happen’ to be made by one of their luxury advertisers that season. Literally this kind of quid pro quo is everywhere in fashion publishing. Sponsorship and advertising is the foundation of celebrity culture/ retail - let’s at least appraise it with the wide-angle vision it deserves!
Cosmetics/haircare/bath&body are product categories that can be initially inspired by making up a product in your own kitchen (the start of the dream). Once you've got your concept, there are product development companies that can help you to make it into a legit product, for a price (enter the credit card). It happens all the time. Tarte is not a new brand, and has been very successful, allowing them to spend money on advertising. This does not take away from the founder's origin story. There is such a huge media market that has been built up around feeding into people's cynicism. Are people really that resentful of a young woman who turned her idea into a profitable business?
Wow -- I can't believe that fool referred to himself as doing “heroic journalisming”!!! I think people are always looking for something to hate these days. Great story.
Even if Tarte had worked with tourism boards, why would that have been a bad thing? If they had gotten discounts from Emirates or Ritz, so what? I believe they were also given free clothing, I'm sure those companies gladly joined in. I'm amused that no one is talking about the human rights issues involved with doing business in Dubai because they are so busy being outraged about money, though.
As far as Barstool, I do follow the Barstool account for my son's University because they post 'stupid human tricks' so at least I know what is going on on campus so I can text my son 'please don't get in a shopping cart and have your friend launch it down a stairwell in your dorm'. The sexism is not as apparent on the college level, or maybe it's just his school. There is also a female Barstool page for colleges under (the school nickname) Chicks. They do post gross texts boys send, etc.
Hi Amy! Great article, it really got me thinking (as most of them usually do):
I guess we could think about the fact that maybe, as influencers get the fame from "people", being therefore "people" their bosses (as we "the people", wanting it or not, make them more or less famous streaming their content), "people" (unconsciously) feel like they are entitle to get them down when they dislike something. This got me thinking about cancel culture too, and how maybe, people are so extreme these days, because they see themselves as the ones who help influencers get their platforms. And when you make something... well maybe... you just feel entitled to break it.
I'm not familiar with the Barstool podcast or that Tarte kerfuffle (perils of being mostly offline), but the minute I read the first line of what the guy was saying, it was obvious he had no idea about, well, anything to do with influencers or how their businesses operate. He sounds like the type who, twenty years ago, would have been huffing about clothes shown at Fashion Week "who even wears that, har har I like my women in jeans and a tshirt with no makeup" etc.
The reason why influencers piss people off so much has a lot to do with their nature - being famous for just existing, as you said, but also (and many people just miss out or ignore this) that many of them come across as wanting their cake and eating it too - positioning themselves as "relatable and just like everyone else" by virtue of their primary business outlet being social media every time they face any criticism, while being literally just another advertising channel.
It's not like fashion magazines haven't been criticised for the same thing, for decades - they lost credibility and eventually circulation over the links between advertising and editorial, but the difference is that a magazine's price of printing and the publishing schedule (weekly, monthly, whatever) or a tv channel paying whatever they do to go on air, at least demanded a certain level of commitment - monetary, organisational - in a level that someone posting once a week to instagram or tiktok will never have. And in the absence of that commitment or accountability or whatever you call it, it's led to a bizarre situation where - at least in fashion, anyway - the 'relatable' influencers who actually reach the masses, are dressed more bizarrely at Fashion Week than the actual celebrities. It's a far cry from 2006-08 when the people at fashion week weren't acting as walking advertisements for designers, not that I don't understand why it's done (money) but to pretend that this hasn't eroded their credibility or whatever relatability they traded on, or that it's only because people are jealous, would be disingenuous.
Amy! This is so good. The amped-up outrage has baffled me. Influencing is work (with a lot of privilege and some problems, as you note). But brands are choosing to spend the marketing budgets this way because there’s a real ROI here. It’s how people shop today, these accounts move product and these trips raise awareness about a launch — in a very quantifiable way. Be mad about that!
Thank you! It is also telling to me that it seems to have originated from a dude who works at Barstool… I didn’t elaborate on Barstool’s POV here but that site’s coverage of women speaks for itself.
This is so true - remember all the stuff around WeWoreWhat!? Not saying Jr wasn’t shady but my god, the glee. Ditto Caroline Calloway (who lent - and still leans - into the grift, which I think is actually the answer.) Influencer culture is somehow way more scrutinized than other kinds of advertising - celebrities like Anya Taylor-Joy are the face of about 6 different luxury brands, probs millions of $ a pop, regularly Instagrams/ attends events, doesn’t always use an ‘ad’... but that’s way more offensive to ppl than an influencer going on an unpaid trip. Ditto magazines churning out advertorials, or their staff ‘picking’ products for their shopping pages that ‘just happen’ to be made by one of their luxury advertisers that season. Literally this kind of quid pro quo is everywhere in fashion publishing. Sponsorship and advertising is the foundation of celebrity culture/ retail - let’s at least appraise it with the wide-angle vision it deserves!
Cosmetics/haircare/bath&body are product categories that can be initially inspired by making up a product in your own kitchen (the start of the dream). Once you've got your concept, there are product development companies that can help you to make it into a legit product, for a price (enter the credit card). It happens all the time. Tarte is not a new brand, and has been very successful, allowing them to spend money on advertising. This does not take away from the founder's origin story. There is such a huge media market that has been built up around feeding into people's cynicism. Are people really that resentful of a young woman who turned her idea into a profitable business?
Wow -- I can't believe that fool referred to himself as doing “heroic journalisming”!!! I think people are always looking for something to hate these days. Great story.
Even if Tarte had worked with tourism boards, why would that have been a bad thing? If they had gotten discounts from Emirates or Ritz, so what? I believe they were also given free clothing, I'm sure those companies gladly joined in. I'm amused that no one is talking about the human rights issues involved with doing business in Dubai because they are so busy being outraged about money, though.
As far as Barstool, I do follow the Barstool account for my son's University because they post 'stupid human tricks' so at least I know what is going on on campus so I can text my son 'please don't get in a shopping cart and have your friend launch it down a stairwell in your dorm'. The sexism is not as apparent on the college level, or maybe it's just his school. There is also a female Barstool page for colleges under (the school nickname) Chicks. They do post gross texts boys send, etc.
I was thinking the same thing about working with a tourism board. I'm not sure why that would have been a smoking gun.
Hi Amy! Great article, it really got me thinking (as most of them usually do):
I guess we could think about the fact that maybe, as influencers get the fame from "people", being therefore "people" their bosses (as we "the people", wanting it or not, make them more or less famous streaming their content), "people" (unconsciously) feel like they are entitle to get them down when they dislike something. This got me thinking about cancel culture too, and how maybe, people are so extreme these days, because they see themselves as the ones who help influencers get their platforms. And when you make something... well maybe... you just feel entitled to break it.
I'm not familiar with the Barstool podcast or that Tarte kerfuffle (perils of being mostly offline), but the minute I read the first line of what the guy was saying, it was obvious he had no idea about, well, anything to do with influencers or how their businesses operate. He sounds like the type who, twenty years ago, would have been huffing about clothes shown at Fashion Week "who even wears that, har har I like my women in jeans and a tshirt with no makeup" etc.
The reason why influencers piss people off so much has a lot to do with their nature - being famous for just existing, as you said, but also (and many people just miss out or ignore this) that many of them come across as wanting their cake and eating it too - positioning themselves as "relatable and just like everyone else" by virtue of their primary business outlet being social media every time they face any criticism, while being literally just another advertising channel.
It's not like fashion magazines haven't been criticised for the same thing, for decades - they lost credibility and eventually circulation over the links between advertising and editorial, but the difference is that a magazine's price of printing and the publishing schedule (weekly, monthly, whatever) or a tv channel paying whatever they do to go on air, at least demanded a certain level of commitment - monetary, organisational - in a level that someone posting once a week to instagram or tiktok will never have. And in the absence of that commitment or accountability or whatever you call it, it's led to a bizarre situation where - at least in fashion, anyway - the 'relatable' influencers who actually reach the masses, are dressed more bizarrely at Fashion Week than the actual celebrities. It's a far cry from 2006-08 when the people at fashion week weren't acting as walking advertisements for designers, not that I don't understand why it's done (money) but to pretend that this hasn't eroded their credibility or whatever relatability they traded on, or that it's only because people are jealous, would be disingenuous.
How ridiculous... Maureen started her successful business with a credit card, dreams, plus brains, hard work and an excellent product.
And the hatred of influencers astounds me, considering it’s just another way of marketing. This is the business world we live in right now.
What’s the difference in paying celebrities, models, and the Kardasian clan to “bend over and pout” in order to sell their products.
We all have the power to just not buy what we don’t like. Leave these entrepreneurs alone and stop the growth of the
Tic Toc mentality.