Research shows that a consumer continuously exposed to the same ad between six and ten times has a 4.5% less likely chance of purchasing the product than a consumer who has only seen the ad two or five times. This is the world of advertisement in which a customer can quickly love an ad and hate it depending on how many times they have seen it. With such unpredictable customer reactions, there has been an incorporation of social media due to the rise of technology to increase the customer base for the different products produced by companies. Attention is now a coveted currency when it comes to advertising, and the rise of influencer marketing has taken over how advertising is conducted, making it easier for companies to attract more customers due to the number of followers an influencer has. However, the continued rise of influencer marketing on social media platforms should be re-evaluated since it has been given so much power by companies eroding consumer choices.
First, the use of influencer marketing results in the manipulation of customers which causes them to indulge in impulse buying activities. The follower base of influencers highly values the opinions and recommendations offered by influencers as they consider them trustworthy and reliable. This can result in more danger to customers if the influencer is not authentic. When influencers are mainly driven by maintaining partnerships, they may prioritize quantity over quality, causing them to promote products without effectively evaluating them, alluring their followers to indulge in impulse buying as they have faith in the influencer’s words. For instance, Koay points out that “Only attractiveness and trustworthiness were found to
have a significant positive influence on online impulse buying” (22). Influencers are known for making products appear aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and through this, it becomes easy to manipulate the customers into buying what they are selling—impulse buying results from focusing on a commodity’s outward appearance rather than its quality. An example of a social media influencer who misled consumers was Brittany Dawn Davis, a health and fitness influencer with over one million followers on Instagram and TikTok, who made consumers spend over $300 for a fitness plan that did not work (Sanders 1-3). This highlights that influencers can manipulate consumers into believing everything they display on the internet, as most of them claim that it has worked for them. Therefore, consumers think that it will be effective for them, too. This kind of misguiding offered by influencers ruins the chance for people to believe in the products sold, even if they are authentic, particularly on social media platforms.
Similarly, research shows that 48% of social media users purchase a product after seeing its recommendation. However, 68% of them regret their choices. This indicates that influencers have a lot of influence on the type of choices that consumers make for themselves when it comes to the products they use, and this can come with enormous repercussions for the consumer who follows the influencer’s recommendations mindlessly. The statistics indicate that most consumers regret their choices, highlighting the angelfish fully trusting influencers to sell products to consumers, particularly if the consumers do not have a code of conduct and care for their followers. Also, the need for positive feedback and continuous engagement can override the influencer’s responsibility towards their followers, who will end up purchasing the products they recommend. Hence, consumers need to learn to trust their judgement regarding the products they choose to use to avoid being manipulated and losing faith in their choices and instincts.
Second, companies are handed negative publicity, which in turn affects their image and their overall performance. Companies have shifted their focus on integrating influencers when it comes to marketing their products, and the selection of influencers who are focused on making profits affects their image when they sell products that are not customer-friendly. When customers discover that influencers only recommend products for financial gain, they will quickly lose trust in both the company and the influencer. According to Singh and Melanie, “Consumers seem to resist crisis response messages reinforced by SMIs, as influencers are perceived to be driven by strategic, profit-seeking motives. Crisis response messages, however, are advantageous if the values-driven motives behind the influencer-brand partnership are actively communicated” (470). This underscores that consumers have learned of the tricks that many influencers use when marketing products to them and choose not to have such an association with them. The ideology that, as consumers, we base our trust on individuals who are only seeking profit is scary, and this affects the ability to have faith in a company that uses influencers for their marketing regardless of their authenticity. The customer base may distance themselves from the company and share such knowledge with those within their reach, affecting the company’s overall image. The loss of trust dramatically affects the company’s entire performance, causing a decline in customer loyalty and sales and damage to its brand reputation.
Furthermore, the authenticity of social media is greatly affected by influencer marketing, particularly when it comes to people relying on the products advertised on these platforms. With the rapid rise in technology, social media platforms have become the new normal advertising channels. Currently, 93% of marketers use social media platforms as an advertising tool, highlighting that many people are easily accessible on these platforms. However, the rise of influencer marketing tampers with this, and there is a skepticism developed due to the products recommended by influencers, given that 50% of millennials trust recommendations offered by influencers. This underscores that most of the population relies on influencers’ recommendations when it comes to product selection, and influencers’ recommendation of forfeit products affects how consumers rely on social media advertisement.
Additionally, when people discover that most of the recommendations are based on financial gain, it will be difficult for people to trust any product recommended on any social media platform. The social platform’s ethics and integrity will be question, affecting companies’ abilityes to use it as a marketing tool. Mariah Wellman states, “Media coverage of influencer marketing abounds with ethical questions about this emerging industry. Much of this coverage assumes influencers operate without an ethical framework and many social media personalities skirt around the edges of legal guidelines” (68). This implies that influencer marketing is not a fully developed industry, which shows that their way of handling matters differs, particularly regarding ethics and the morals they follow. This can cause a lot of skepticism among consumers, particularly those who have regretted following influencer choices and those who have witnessed the adverse outcomes other consumers have experienced due to such recommendations.
A controversial instance is the case of Balenciaga and the rumours about the brand promoting child pornography with their advertising. This affects how consumers view the company and the influencers who continue to endorse such companies as being authentic. It is vital to ensure that social media platforms have restrictions regarding the type of publicity influencers choose to display on their platform to avoid heavily affecting the overall credibility of the platforms when it comes to advertising genuine products to the public.
In conclusion, advertising is one of the most effective ways of creating vast awareness of a product to the public, and the main channel used by most companies is social media. It is important to ensure that the developing industry of influencers has code of ethics that govern how the advertise products and ensure that they prioritize consumer wellness over profitability. Companies must ensure that they associate with credible and reliable influencers while ensuring that their products are authentic and consumer friendly to maintain the customer base and their image. The larger percentage of consumers are people, and therefore, it is important to ensure that no advertisement is done at the cost of people’s well-being.
Works Cited
Koay, Kian Yeik, Chai Wen Teoh, and Patrick CH Soh. “Instagram influencer marketing:
Perceived social media marketing activities and online impulse buying.” First
Monday 26.9 (2021).
Sanders, John. “Influencer False Ad Settlement Shows Small Biz Is Fair Game.” Winston & Strawn, 2023.
Singh, Jaywant, Benedetta Crisafulli, and Melanie Tao Xue. “‘To trust or not to trust’: The
impact of social media influencers on the reputation of corporate brands in
crisis.” Journal of Business Research 119 (2020): 464-480.
Wellman, Mariah L., et al. “Ethics of Authenticity: Social Media Influencers and the Production
of Sponsored Content.” Journal of Media Ethics, vol. 35, no. 2, Apr. 2020, pp. 68–
- EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.lbcc.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/23736992.2020.1736078.
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