'Influencers': Will the tide ever turn?

[InAMess2023]

Just that really. Apologies in advance for the rant...

Latest all over my news feed (I don't actively seek these things out). Is Molly-Mae sunning herself in the Maldives in a ridiculously expensive over water villa after flying business class. All the comments are 'omg boss babe' or 'she works so hard', etc. etc. etc. Even saw that apparently she was at one point running PrettyLittleThing! (Rather than being given the token role of 'Creative Director' and showing herself sat in meetings with her LV notebook). The girl would not know a day of hard work if it hit her on the photoshopped behind - a typical day is getting up late, filming herself in Starbucks, having a few photos with her baby before she hands her back to the nanny, watching Shrek or Harry Potter and doing a quick video talking about her boring day.

I know that I will get comments to say that I'm jealous, and you know what, yes I am? Imagine becoming that rich and that famous (not that I have any desire to be famous whatsoever) just from applying to a reality TV show and having sex on said show. To me it's everything that's wrong with today's society - will it ever change?

I slogged my guts out for six years at uni (with a further six now ahead of me) and yes I have a pretty nice life, I go nice places and I buy nice things, and I have a lot of earning potential in my future but difference is I will always have to work hard. I don't have children and I've made the decision not to but if I had a daughter I'd be gutted if this was her role and career model rather than a doctor, lawyer, or hell even a politician (though they've let the side down a fair bit lately - Liz I'm looking at you).

This isn't a rant about Molly-Mae specifically by the way just using a good example from today. It's the whole culture that seems to be everywhere and I genuinely cannot wait for the bubble to burst - I'm just not sure when/if it will...

Thank you for coming to my TED talk 😂wow felt good to get that off my chest!

Nothing wrong with escapism, what I am concerned with is that people who if they worked a bit could achieve a lot, don't bother.

Yes I don’t know the people in the op but do do IG, I like art, nature, comedians that kind of thing

Nothing makes me rage and if someone earns a living from their content then fine, I’m enabling it by choice

Some get away with a lot I don’t agree with, no staying ADs, filtering make up advertising videos, just filtering themselves in general, most lie all the time. I don’t follow them now

Just to add... I don't follow them!

She has found a way to monetise her life, or the bits she wants to show. Good luck to her. I am sure she does work hard. I know somebody that does social media for an SME and it is real pressure where she has to come up with engaging ideas, do the videos, edit etc and then hope there is engagement on it.

Most people think they work harder than everybody else.

Not being on Instagram or TikTok helps massively in not knowing who these people are.

This! Parenting channels should be banned.

You sound very jealous and I just can't agree. In life you create your own luck and you clearly may have worked hard but life isn't just about that - it's about taking risks and not everyone is willing to do that.

The reason it is infuriating is because it’s undeserved wealth earned by uneducated people who are vain enough to try their luck. I’m horrified that this is what young girls are aspiring to. Vacuous, cosmetically-enhanced chancers with no wisdom or real advice to give just flaunting their assets and people are loving it off for some reason x

Insta is fine - by far the least toxic of the main platforms. I’m on it. I couldn’t name an influencer either.

My friend's brother is an influencer (apparently, no idea as don't use insta etc) my understanding is that for most influencers (bar the molly mays) it's over by age 19 because the new crowd has already taken over.

I'm sure it has always been like this though. Charles Dickens was probably fighting for column space with "Mr Upstart, 19 who looks fabulous in this new top hat you can buy at Mr Willows Hat Emporium"

I worked alongside someone whose partner was a low level influencer.
In reality it took several years of the main wage earner bankrolling this hobby business till they got enough followers and connections to call it a job. And even then the pay was often ‘choose a free lamp/microwave/barbecue if you promote it to your followers’. They were constantly remodelling their house to accommodate items from sponsors-doors, carpets, toilets(!)
The house/kids/cars are insta-ready at all times for photos and all outings/meals/family occasions/holidays are meticulously documented.
Occasionally they get an invite to the opening of a salon/bar but the real success story is the partner who spent an inordinate amount of their own working day for years, giving advice, pricing strategy and direction.

Not really influencers, but IG generally. There are a few comedians whom I find genuinely funny, put a lot into it, have grown a following and subsequently taken to world wide tours

All good. It’s more meritocratic. If people find them funny they can be paid well

The algorithm pushes this stuff at you because you click on it. It doesn't come up for me, I barely know who she is. If you stop engaging, it will find something else to push you. Mine currently thinks I like seeing people on rollercoasters, because I clicked on one video 🤦 (I do not.)

She has sold her privacy - and that of her children, by the sound of it - for some level of fame and fortune. It's unlikely to last when she's no longer attractive or interesting to young people, unless she has talent to back it up.

And no, Insta isn't all Molly Mae type influencers. Mine is gardening, skincare, comedy, interiors, a bit of fashion, and parenting from people I don't find irritating. I unfollow people who annoy me or make me feel bad about myself. I love it, it's my favourite social media... but that's because I curate it very carefully so it's enjoyable.

They wouldn't be in this position if people didn't follow / 'be influenced' by them

Whilst I know they put out a huge false reality, I don't doubt it isn't hard work they are putting into this and an all consuming role taking on. I've watched a few documentaries about some and it seems intense.
I do think if you are using face app to change your own photos then there's limited judgement you can pass here though

Yes, it’s always been thus. A group of random humans that are held above all others for not very much talent. Royalty, pop stars, actors, reality tv stars, IT girls, children of rich famous people, WAGs and now influencers. For all of my life, half a century, it’s been like this. Paris Hilton, Coleen Rooney (though I bloody love her after seeing that wagatha Christie docu, and to be fair I don’t think she ever wanted any of this, she was being chased by paps as a schoolgirl), the kardashians, Jade Goody, Diana. All famous, privileged and influential for nothing ‘real’.

@YourDiscoNeedsYou Yes, it has always been the case that people are easily influenced by public figures. One of the more ludicrous examples of this was what was known as the ‘Alexandra limp.’

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-28357269

I hope the tide will turn. I read Tattle and have had my eyes opened to the grifters begging, most already wealthy, for freebies. The children whose privacy is disregarded too.

I have heard of Molly Mae. Apparently she's one of those people who heavily edits her photos, so that if you see a photo of her taken by someone else at an event she's almost unrecognisable. She sounds utterly dim and vacuous, and she named her daughter Bambi, which is ridiculous.

I've never ever heard of her 🙄. Mine is full of runners, trees, mountains and dogs. You get what you look for and your general interest range.

And still…. If the influencers are the ‘instamodel’ type - what you have just described as ‘hard work’ is still nowhere near as hard as the work a real model has to put in. And I say that as an ex model myself

I remember being at a photo shoot for a brand where they also brought in an (I was getting paid, she wasn’t) but the absolute fakeness of the content she was filming was ridiculous. Like going outside of the building and started filming herself saying “Hi guys just got here now blah blah”. She hadn’t just got there at all, in fact she had been there hours lol! Then she started asking me for my makeup and asked if she could ‘pretend’ to apply some of it on me for her ‘video content’ trying to make everyone believe she was a makeup artist and that she had done my makeup for the shoot, trying to pass my makeup off as her own makeup artistry! If that’s what you call ’thinking’ of content and editing it then I feel sorry for her!

Honestly I don’t think people have an issue with realistic content such as gardening and skincare. What most people are sick and tired of is the fakeness and literally hundreds and hundreds of girls who all look exactly the same (long blonde hair, lip fillers, skimpy outfits) and shallowness that comes with it

The reason it is infuriating is because it’s undeserved wealth earned by uneducated people who are vain enough to try their luck

That's really nasty and snobby.

Imagine an "uneducated" person earning money, they should know their station 🙄

I was just about to write something similar. As I have said above I’m an ex model myself. It does make me laugh how these influencers seem to go to this ridiculous huge effort you have just described just for the sake of a few freebies! They don’t realise those companies are actually exploiting them by making them create their own content, edit it, post it and drive all the sales in for the company (from their content) and the influencer doesn’t get paid a penny from those sales, even though that product will have been sold over and over just from the content the influencer created for it! Then you look at real models are actually getting paid (usually by the same brands) to go in for proper photo shoots, the company will have also paid to have a hair/ makeup artist present and photographer and videographer too. But the influencer is doing the work of all those people for the sake of a freebie! Just so they can get a bit of ‘fame’!

I know one. I worked with her in the past.
YouTube has made her more shallow.
People (not me) talk about her on Tattle. They really have the measure of her.