As Black Friday is approaching and has increased in popularity in The Netherlands, I thought it would be interesting to write about the impact of social media influencers on our consumer behaviour. When I open any social media app on my phone I do not only see my friends and some adds passing through, but I also see influencers continuously buying and receiving products and promoting these. The same happens when going on YouTube, I will see loads of vloggers showing off all the products they have spent their money on, and no we are not talking about small amounts. Has social media ever made you buy something?
I will admit: yes, social media has made me buy probably more than I have ever wanted to. Especially when I was a teen, I would look up towards social media influencers and wanted to be like them. Even now, when searching for clothing hauls online you will be spammed with tons of videos of people trying out all kinds of clothing and brands. I personally do not buy certain products without watching a review video about it first.
Social media, fast fashion and the ethical
For brands product promotion via social media is of course very beneficial: it promotes your brand and goods, influencers can leave positive comments which will reach tons of people and giving influencers affiliate links to give discounts to their followers will make viewers more likely to buy your products. However, at the same time it also has its less ethical consequences. Influencers easily spend up to hundreds, if not thousands, of money on online products, which might not even get used after a video is recorded. Also, large (clothing) hauls from brands that are known to have little care for ethical and sustainable production are being promoted as well. Think about the thousands of people watching clothing hauls from Primark, Wish or Shein. No care at all is being spend on how such products are produced. When I was younger I would watch videos of youtubers showing off all their clothes and make-up, making me think I had to buy more! It seems pretty logic here that social media contributes to consumerism. Nevertheless, by the time your package has arrived, your favourite influencers is already sharing a new product or brand.
Green influencers
A new type of influencers appears to be arising, let me introduce you to the green influencer. The green influencer is someone who raises awareness about climate change, gives out tips for being more eco-friendly and promotes products that fit their “green” lifestyle. This type of influencer does not care so much about product promotion, but rather educate their viewers about their personal environmental impact and aim to make a change. Nonetheless, this new influencer is still on the rise and probably mainly followed by an already environmentally aware group of people. Do you think that the green influencer could be the next thing?
We can ask ourselves why we care so much about what an influencer does and has to say. Despite wanting to be like an infuencer as a teen, I feel pretty confident saying I do not really care about online product promotion anymore. Did social media ever made you buy something or are you not that easily influenced?
Sources
How Does Social Media Influence Consumer Behavior? – Clootrack
Fast-Fashion Influencers and their Environmental Impact – One Green Planet
The ‘green influencers’ targeting the TikTok generation | Environmental activism | The Guardian
Very interesting blog post and the things you mention are also things I think about a lot.
I agree with your criticism on how influencer promote “bad” or rather products that are bad for the environment or cause a lot of pollution (transportation) or waste (the products never being used after the video or maybe even returned, again transportation). With climate change and its severe consequences one can wonder if influencers should be allowed to promote these products while they are in a position that sets an example to their viewer.
I think “green” influencers, as you call it, are already a thing. Many creators not only bring awareness to climate change and the cons of fast fashion or huge hauls but also actively promote products or brands that are eco-friendly.
I love this!
I’m reading this blog post literally a few hours after purchasing new clothes due to black friday/influencer sales… 🙂
I used to watch a lot of clothing hauls from my favorite youtubers, but have stopped doing so since a few years for no particular reason. I never actually thought about how much impact those videos truly have on the environment, so this blog was really an eye opener! I’ve also only known for a few years how much water is really needed to for example produce stuff such as jeans, which I think is really ridiculous.
I also never heard of ‘green influencers’ before, but I think the fact that they are becoming a thing might be a step in the right direction to create more awareness for climate change.
The clothes I bought today actually came from the store NA-KD, which claims their orders are ‘climate-neutral’. I haven’t done any research on their claim, but I’m glad to see that some stores are actively working towards becoming climate neutral as well!
I hope more influencers will become ‘green’, and maybe only accept promotions from stores working on becoming climate neutral.
I think this is a really important thing to consider when using the internet, seeing as there are algorithms and cookies in place that can analyze what we like and don’t like. When ads are so specifically catered to us that we are tempted by all of them, it’s a bit concerning. I think that green influencers may be a step in the right direction, but we’re definitely in need of a lot more than that to make the fashion industry stop being exploitative, environmentally harmful and unethical.
The ads on instagram and twitter and youtube always have interesting things, while most of it just doesn’t seem that interesting, some stuff does. However, I have often times bought makeup that beauty gurus recommended. On top of that I do get the pressure to buy fast fashion. Especially because sometimes I see influencers wear things that I think are very cute! However, how I got myself to stop buying fast fashion is through trying to go to thrift stores more and buying there instead of at new clothing stores or online shopping. I still occasionally buy stuff at regular stores but I make them last at least 5 years, or they are undergarments
Great post! I do think ‘green influencers’ have to be approached with caution.. Being environmentally friendly is hip and trendy right now, so claiming to live this lifestyle will undoubtedly bring these influencers more engagement. I’m obviously not saying all of them do it for monetary gain, but I do think some might not be completely genuine and just hop on the trend. Just like companies such as H&M ‘greenwashing’ to scrub up their image, and in doing so attract more customers that have sustainability as a priority when shopping for clothes. Not saying shopping fast fashion is inherently bad, but I definitely want to urge you to think before you buy and question how often you will wear a garment, and if you actually need it! And of course, the most sustainable option is to shop second hand. 🙂
I agree about the dangers of greenwashing in this context. It’s also so easy to justify purchasing ‘green’ products that you don’t necessarily need in the first place under the guise of supporting an ethical or grassroots business and at the end of the day you’re still feeding into the cycle of consumerism. I know I’ve definitely been guilty of this before! Also along with buying second-hand there are so many creative ways to repair and recycle clothing that’s coming to the end of its lifespan, although many of them won’t do much to save anything made from poor-quality materials. I guess at the end of the day the best thing you can hope to do is own a smaller assortment of high-quality pieces but on the other hand I understand that it can be so hard to justify the expense of doing so, so I can empathize with people who purchase fast-fashion.