How Influencers Perpetuate Consumerism

The majority of people I know are simultaneously experiencing some kind of financial hardship and buying frivolous things they do not actually need.  The current financial hardships are real problems.  Job loss, underemployment, rising healthcare costs, or preexisting debt are societal difficulties that negatively impact the financial situation of many.  I cannot fault anyone for struggling with these issues.  But why are so many people experiencing these financial difficulties still buying frivolous stuff?

They think they need frivolous purchases.  But they do not.  This is dangerous because the second a purchase moves from a want to a need, actions like going into debt to make the purchase become valid.  The line between wants and needs has never been blurrier, and influencers on social media are a big reason for that blurry line.

Social media gives us a window into the lives of others, but that window has a filter of happiness that blocks out the more challenging parts of life.  Only seeing the positive parts of influencers’ lives creates the perception that their lives are more consistently positive than our own, and we seek to follow their patterns to maximize happiness in our own lives.

This attempt at replicating happiness, along with the deceivingly personal feel of social media, leads individuals to trust influencers more than they should.  Social media influencers have become the most persuasive marketers of new products to consumers.  Their opinions paired with links to products facilitate quick online purchases since consumers are more likely to make a purchase if it is easy.  But influencers are impacting in-store purchases as well.  A Digital Marketing Institute survey found that, “3% of consumers would consider buying a product in-store if promoted by a celebrity, compared to 60% for an influencer.”  In other words, the misplaced trust consumers have for influencers increases both online and in-store purchases, perpetuating consumerism across the board.

What Influencers Make You Buy

We all need to buy some things.  If an influencer convinced us to switch brand loyalty to a new type of toilet paper, that would not necessarily perpetuate consumerism since we were going to buy toilet paper either way.  But most influencers are not focused on toilet paper or other routine household items.  Fashion, beauty, and gaming are the most popular categories advertised by influencers.  Non-essential items are everywhere.

What happens to non-essential items.

To make matters more confusing, many are non-essential items disguised as essential items.  I had never seen a handheld milk frother until I got an Instagram in 2023, but I swear every influencer on the planet has some kind of handheld milk frother and niche coffee routine that supposedly makes them significantly happier and more productive than a typical person.  While I recognize this is an easy one for me to poke fun at as a hot chocolate enthusiast, I also know many friends and family members have enjoyed coffee for decades without a handheld milk frother.

While we can generally acknowledge that fashion, beauty, and gaming products are non-essential luxuries, defining a handheld milk frother as a “kitchen appliance” makes it feel more necessary.  Stop, you do not need it.  And if you are so far down the influencer trust rabbit hole that you believe that you need that new jacket and face cream your favorite influencer has, consider that you probably do not need either of those items because you probably already have a jacket and basic sunscreen moisturizer to avoid getting skin cancer when you are in direct sunlight.  If you actually need a jacket or face cream right now, you probably do not need that jacket or face cream.  Less expensive products exist.  You are making frivolous purchases based on social media influencers.

Why You Are Buying Frivolous Stuff

There are two reasons why influencers convince consumers to buy more.  First, influencers blur the line between wants and needs by showing viewers how a particular product is a daily staple in their lives.  We start to think that if an influencer needs this product every day, maybe we do too.  But we do not.

Second, influencers show us positivity and happiness, and we equate this happiness with owning the products that they do.  We believe that we will be happier, like them, if we also buy the product they already have.  This is problematic for multiple reasons.  The portrayal of influencers on social media is a small piece of their reality, and it shows them only at their most positive.  Whether we realize it or not, that happiness filter can indirectly sway our opinions.  Additionally, buying stuff does not make us happier.  Purchases give us an ephemeral happiness boost that leaves us searching for the next boost a day later.  Instead of making you happier, that purchase may actually set you up to look for your next purchase to secure another fleeting moment of purchase joy.

Buying is addictive.  The more you buy, the more you will want to keep buying.  Living in a consumerist society means constantly hearing we deserve to buy something nice because we deserve to be happy by having a certain product.  Sure, you are free to buy whatever product you want, but you are trading hours of your life to buy it, so decide whether you want it badly enough to make that exchange.  If you are in debt, you are trading even more hours, possibly even days, to cover interest on top of the purchase price.

Defining Worthwhile Purchases

If you are fortunate enough to not be facing any financial hardships at the moment, you can afford to make some non-essential purchases.  While you are one of the lucky ones, it can still be difficult to assess whether a certain purchase will add value to your life as advertised.  To analyze whether a purchase is right for you, delay the purchase and research the value it will add to your life.  This does not mean that the product added value to a friend or influencer.  It must add value to you.

Buying slowly is most important.  I can sometimes take this to an extreme, like when I wear tank tops until they have actual holes in them, and then continue to wear them for another year.*  If your tank tops have holes in them, buy new ones.  However, if you are debating a non-essential purchase, do not make the purchase right away.  Absolutely do not click the link posted in an Instagram story and enter the limited-time purchase discount from an influencer to buy a product while there is a deal!  There will be other deals if you really want the product.

My most recent example of this kind of purchase was buying a Whoop.  For context, I do not receive the typical fashion, beauty, and gaming advertisements on my algorithm because social media knows that will not get me, but I do get suggestions related to health and fitness.  While the Instagram reel is not going to get me to purchase right away, I find that when I also hear my favorite podcasts talk about products, I get a little more interested in them and start doing some research about whether they are worthwhile.

Research is important!  Even if you are hearing about how perfect a product is from social media, your favorite podcasts, your friends, and people you admire, it does not mean it is right for you!  I thought about buying a Whoop for more than a year before making the purchase.  I actually listened to the Whoop podcast for an entire year to get a feel for what data Whoop had compared to other wearable devices so I could determine whether it added enough value over a basic FitBit.  In addition to that, I researched its wearability during full-contact rugby, a specific quality that I wanted any wearable I chose to have.  Wearability during rugby set Whoop apart from the Oura ring, a similar device I considered for its sleep statistics.

When I finally bought a Whoop a year ago, I knew what data it provided and that I valued that data.  I knew which additional accessory I would need to wear my Whoop during rugby.  Having all this knowledge upfront made the Whoop more valuable to me from day one.  I have talked to other rugby players who have tried Whoop for a short period but found the amount of data provided by Whoop overwhelming or did not know how they could wear Whoop during rugby.  The fact that I had studied Whoop before purchasing a Whoop gave it more value.

I am now a walking Whoop advertisement because if I buy something, I am enthusiastic about it.  When I make a purchase, especially when I buy something expensive and with a subscription, I have debated that purchase for quite some time and really decided that I want it in my life.

In contrast, a similar purchase I considered for a long time but ultimately rejected is Athletic Greens.  Athletic Greens is a green powder containing vitamins and nutrients to maximize health and athletic performance.  The simplicity of fast nutrition remains appealing, but I had too many questions about its value in my life.  I could add most of the value by trying to incorporate more plants into my diet, and I question whether the nutritional value outweighs the long-term impact of relying on synthetically produced vitamins and minerals.  It certainly may, but since Athletic Greens has only been around for 15 years, that has not been tested over a long period of time.

I provide this example to show that you can consider a product for years, do the research, and still decide not to make the purchase.  Athletic Greens would probably add value to my life, but it does not add enough value to justify the cost, so it is not an expense I incur.

Breaking Consumerism in Your Life

The practice of delaying purchase and doing your research on a product is enough to break the cycle of consumerism.  Buying recent innovations is not inherently falling to consumerism.  Steadily making more and more purchases with less thoughtful consideration is falling to consumerism.  By pausing and contemplating how a purchase adds value to your life, you become a responsible consumer rather than a consumerist.

Influencers work to make buying easy, and making buying easy speeds up the rate of purchases.  Accelerating the rate of purchases perpetuates consumerism.  We live in a consumerist society because most Americans believe they need to buy more than ever.  Each year new innovations become daily staples in the lives of thousands, and sometimes millions, of Americans.  By separating yourself from the habit of quick purchases, you break from consumerism.

Rather than trusting an influencer when it comes to valuing purchases, trust yourself.  Your life is unique and could benefit from a unique collection of purchases.  But most purchases will not have value.  Finding what is right for you rather than everyone else will lead to more joy—real joy, not the joy of a 20-second reel or the temporary happiness that comes from making a purchase.  Delay purchases, do the research, and say no to campaigns telling you to buy quickly.  Quickly means thoughtlessly, and you must be thoughtful to avoid succumbing to consumerism in a world with constant social media influence.

* I recently broke this crazy habit when I bought new tank tops for the first time in my adult life in 2023, and later actually bought a few more of them in other colors because I liked them so much.  If you struggle to buy new clothes, have holey tank tops, and need an inexpensive option that will hold up two years later, Target has these $10 tank tops (they used to be $8, sorry for the price hike) that are a perfect wardrobe staple.  First disclaimer: I am not an influencer and make no money off of sending you this link.  Second disclaimer: I bought mine before the Target boycott, which is definitely an admirable cause, so I would likely recommend searching if there are other places to buy A New Day tank tops.