Is Influencer marketing conveying an idealistic standard for consumption?

Written by Kamilla Nydal

The development of social media has created new ways of consuming and made fashion much more acceptable for the consumer.

We are constantly being influenced and encouraged to buy new possessions through the constant stream of advertisements that floats on social media. Our new purchase is just one click away. The constant stream of ads, showing us new things, we could bye, has made it more challenging than ever to navigate and resist the urge to buy new clothes and things online.

What role does the use of influencer marketing play in the creation of wanting and needing `more´? This article will seek to investigate the dynamics of today’s consumption and how the use of influencer marketing contributes to and conveys an idealistic standard for consumption that is aligned with conspicuous consumption.

Conspicuous consumption

Let us first get an understanding of the concept of conspicuous consumption. The theory and concept of conspicuous consumption were first introduced by economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen in his book “the theory of the leisure class” published in 1899. According to Veblen, the human’s need for owning things that aren’t to cover one’s basic needs but to gain social status and signalize wealth is defined as conspicuous consumption. Veblen thereby argued that we consume to differentiate ourselves from other social classes and signalize one’s wealth. Conspicuous consumption is seen as an act where we through our possessions gain social status within society. From the perspective of this theory, it could help us to understand the importance of consumption and the role it plays in how social media and the use of influencer marketing can impact how we consume fashion.

How many times a day do you scroll through social media such as Instagram or Facebook? And how often has that led you to feel the need to buy something new? Maybe a difficult question to answer, because most of us aren’t aware of this when we use our phones or laptops throughout the day. Most likely we don’t pay attention to the stream of ads and how they influence us in our everyday lives. Advertisement is closely linked to conspicuous consumption. Because if a brand advertises its products as luxurious, then a person would more likely want to own a product from that brand to signalize wealth.

In that way, the way a company brand themselves have a huge impact on how it’s being conceived by the consumers. Furthermore, the values that are being linked to the brand, whether it’s being considered as a luxurious or a cheap brand. This is important because the consumer then buys products that reflect wealth and give them a high social status within their surroundings.

The difference between the need to have and nice to have

In addition to the concept of conspicuous consumption, we may ask ourselves the question of whether something is a need to have or nice to have before buying a new piece of clothing. Because how many shoes and pieces of clothes do, we ideally really need? And what is it that we are gaining from buying a new item of clothes if it is not something we really need?

Asking these questions may help us reflect upon our own idealistic ideas about consumption and understand why we consume things that are nice to have, and not a need. Maybe asking such questions will prevent us from buying a piece of clothes that will end up in the back of our clothes and which we would never use.

Influencer marketing

In connection to the role that advertisement plays in how we consume, it’s also interesting to investigate the growing industry of influencer marketing. Because these new ways of advertising through different social media platforms also influence the way we consume today.

(Danish Influencer and model, Mathilde Gøghler, advertisement for Ganni, located 20/11/2023 on: https://www.instagram.com/p/ClJOPMQIX49/?hl=da)

Companies pay influencers, which are influential people on social media to promote their products. An influencer is characterized by having the ability to influence and reach a bigger group of people, through their followers on social media. By promoting a specific product, they might influence their followers to then buy the same things. The companies then choose an influencer whom they think can reach their audience. This becomes an economic trade-off, where the companies pay the influencers to promote through sharing pictures or videos of the product, and in return, the company hopes to sell more products. As an example, the danish clothing brand Ganni used the model and influencer Mathilde Gøghler to advertise some of their clothes (image above). Mathilde Gøghler is as mentioned an influencer with more than 1 million followers on her Instagram. When Ganni is paying Mathilde Gøghler, to promote their product, the clothes as well as the brand then become associated with Mathilde Gøghler. As the images show, this kind of promotion makes the line between content and advertisement difficult to tell. The ad becomes hidden with the use of an influencer because the clothes are being shown as content on a private account and thereby not shown as an advertisement when scrolling through social media (image below).

(Danish Influencer and model, Mathilde Gøghler, Instagram account, screenshot taken the located 20/11/22 on: https://www.instagram.com/mathildegoehler/?hl=da)

The use of influencers is a new way for companies to advertise. This is done through the influencers staging a lifestyle, where they post pictures of themselves, what they eat and what they wear. This staging of a lifestyle and the follower’s access to see what they are purging creates the urge for the followers to purge whatever that person is wearing or owning. Following an influencer can also be seen as a way to seek inspiration, but from the perspective of Veblen’s theory of conspicuous consumption, it reflects a way to show wealth and gain social status. Where’s, the influencers become role models and are representing and signalizing the class and wealth that the consumers aim to belong to.

Conclusion

With the development of new media and new ways of advertising using influencers, we are constantly being induced and shown new things to buy. The fast flow of advertisements, in today’s society, creates a constant need to want new and different things. Their ability to move with the changing fashion trends then becomes an indicator of social class and wealth. Which is creating a never-ending circle of conspicuous consumption.

Bibliography

Dijck, J. V., & Poell, T. (2013). Understanding Social Media Logic. Media and Communication(1 (1)), s. 2-14.

Falk, P. (1994). Selling Good(s): On the Genealogy of Modern Advertising . In In The Consuming Body (pp. 151-185). Sage.

Perthuis, K. d., & Findlay, R. (2019). How Fashion Travels: The Fashionable Ideal in the Age of Instagram. Fashion Theory(23 (2)), pp. 219-242.

Veblen, T. (2007 [1899]). Conspicuous Consumption . In The Theory of the Leisure Class (pp. 49-69). Oxford University Press.