PARIS — For better or worse, we all know about influencers— those who post online and accumulate a following that trusts their opinion. However, suddenly the new trend online is “deinfluencing.” Influencers advertise products to their many followers, often pushing the idea that you can achieve a certain result or status by buying what they promote. Deinfluencers, on the other hand, advise their followers not to consume things to reduce excessive purchasing habits and avoid useless or overhyped products.
In the past year, the hashtag #deinfluencing has amassed over 584 million views on the video-sharing platform Tiktok.
Like influencer videos, the most popular deinfluencing videos are made by thin and attractive women talking directly and passionately into the camera.
Mythbusting bad products
Many deinfluencers share their experiences about products that they consider overhyped or inefficient to discourage people from buying them. Deinfluencers react negatively to trending brands and products that have seen an uptick in sales after going viral on social media platforms.
Italian beauty influencer @elisabettabari.makeup has videos in which she gives negative reviews to products, often makeup products that have been backed by multiple influencers. By showing that she has tested the products herself and was disappointed in them, Elisabetta helps mythbust the selling points of the hot new item.
While deinfluencing people from certain products, they are becoming influencers promoting their opinion.
Speaking truthfully about these negative experiences or products that have not worked for them helps deinfluencers gain trust from their audience, who feel their honesty is a selling point. In a sense, while deinfluencing people from certain products, they are becoming influencers promoting their opinion.
Deinfluencing for the environment
In an age where the news regularly reports on natural disasters impacted by climate change, some Tiktokers have taken up the deinfluencing trend for environmental reasons.
Mari Teran @marianateranr stresses that she is a lawyer and environmental activist in her profile. Many of her videos tackle topics such as pollution, global warming and modern consumer habits. In one video, she lays out “tips for conscious and responsible consumption,” deinfluencing by discouraging unnecessary consumption. She suggests buying just what you need instead of following trends, buying locally and ethically and repairing or reusing things you already own.
This kind of deinfluencing works well on the TikTok platform, whose users tend to be millennials or Gen Z, which are more environmentally conscious than older generations.
Other Tiktokers use deinfluencing to fight back against other trends promoted by social media. Haul culture — all the things someone buys on an occasion when they go shopping — has become a key part of fashion and beauty influencers’ content.
Some content creators will buy hauls of hundreds of items to create content with. Unboxing videos do particularly well, where influencers open up their (often Amazon or Shein) packages in front of the camera, extolling the virtues of what they have bought and capturing their reaction to seeing their purchases in real life for the first time.
French content creator @alextrt8 lists the excuses people make when criticized for this hyperconsumerism, especially with hauls from unsustainable polluters like Shein. Another user, @jordxn.simone, highlights that the rhetoric “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism” does not excuse people when they consume in such an unsustainable manner.
Organization-tok
Meanwhile British deinfluncer @shabazsays criticizes organization trends on Tiktok, ridiculing the unnecessary items needed to create the hyper aesthetic videos and showroom-like homes portrayed by many content creators. The videos romanticize and promote hyperconsumption, often by unpacking things from their perfectly functional packaging into containers deemed more “aesthetic” — a type of content called “restocking.”
Shabaz instead insists on addressing the “povvos” – poor people like himself
To counter such videos’ aspirational messaging, Shabaz instead insists on addressing the “povvos” – poor people like himself – of Tiktok.
Another criticism of organization-tok is given by @livekindly, who uses scientific knowledge about the products being unpacked to denounce the whole trend. In one video, she reacts to a popular restocking video with 1.5 million views, laying out why such a move is or even hazardous to your health.
Deinfluencing to make money
Not every deinfluencer is in it for benevolent reasons. Most TikTokers with any clout know how to manipulate the app’s algorithm to their advantage, tailoring their videos to their audiences. So, certain influencers used the deinfluencer trend to push their own or their sponsors’ products.
Many content creators get a commission for pushing productions, so by saying “don’t buy this, buy that instead,” they can play into the trustworthy nature of deinfluencing to generate views and money.
