Companies are paying influencers on social media to promote their products to followers so they will purchase items they don’t need. A recent influencer that has made a severe impact on social media is Alix Earle. Her videos on TikTok started out with “get ready with me” videos and then turned into more and more content as her audience grew. In these videos, she talks about the event she is getting ready for while putting on her makeup.
One of the products she uses in almost all of her videos are the Drunk Elephant D-Bronzi Drops. After viewers saw how good the product worked, making Alix’s skin more glowy and bronzed, the drops were almost impossible to not buy. For months, the product has been sold out. Those wanting it bad enough had to wait for websites to restock the product while others paid a steep price, buying the product from resellers.
However, his craze over one product isn’t rare. Influencers, true to their name, have had an effect on the supply and demand of certain products for years. More recently though, the power of influencers has grown quickly over the years with TikTok. It is important to note, we aren’t only influenced by what we see on social media.
Students at school have been influencing each other, whether it is the shoes they are wearing, the hairstyle someone has, or the water bottle they are carrying. Most recently, the Stanley water bottle has been one of the hottest trends in 2023.
At NDB, you can not turn a corner without seeing one either idle on a desk or being swung around in the halls.
NDB Senior, Daniella DeMera is one of the many victims of this water bottle trend, “I originally bought my Stanley because all of my friends had it, but I found it to be useful since it made me drink more water.” DeMera said.
There are clear advantages and disadvantages to buying items that you bought without second thought. DeMera was lucky and was benefited by peer pressure while others might have thought the Stanley cup would not make them drink more water and was actually a complete waste of money. Would you buy something just because everyone else has it?
