There’s definitely been a time when we have all been fooled by influencers. Recently, TikTok influencers have thought of a genius and brutally honest idea… deinfluencing. Now, you’re probably thinking what is that? Well, today we are going to give you the inside scoop on exactly what this new trend is.
After years of brands partnering with influencers, no matter what the items or services are, we have always been influenced to buy these “amazing” things just because a group of social media stars said so. But do these items always meet expectations? Probably not.
Deinfluencing become popular earlier this year but has been low-key for a few years now. It was created to give more honesty to an audience and also avoid overconsumption of products.
False advertisement has definitely been used in the influencer communities. A perfect example of this was the ‘MascaraGate’ TikTok drama where a beauty influencer was gifted a mascara and she was accused of using false eyelashes to make their product look better. This caused backlash for the brand and the influencer too as her audience began to lose trust in her opinions. This can be just as damaging to a brand as deinfluencing products.
Deinfluencing can make more of a positive impact than false advertising that’s why content creators decided to do it. Buying expensive and brand-new launches can be damaging not only to your bank but also runs the risk of allergic reactions or a product not truly serving its purpose due to the lack of honesty.
There’s also been outrage about influence being showered in luxury gifts and trips away. There have also been concerns about the environment and wasted products through influencing whether it’s PR gifts that influencers no longer want or the wasted products through consumers.
The conversation is double-sided because people do have a choice to be influenced or to stick to their favourite products. There is definitely a stigma of feeling pressurised into buying the latest products to keep up with ever-changing trends, hopefully, this new trend will encourage influencers to do some research and choose their words carefully in order to avoid backlash and unnecessary purchases.