Gen Zs push “de-influence”

Culture Moment:

De-influencing videos have flooded TikTok since the beginning of the year, as content creators post videos telling their followers what not to buy. The videos name and shame brands from, high-end makeup to shapewear, for being low-quality, high-priced, and unsustainable, among other complaints. The #deinfluencing hashtag has been viewed over 150 million times on TikTok.?

How will this play out?

While social media influencers have historically pushed product recommendations — fueling their own brand ambassadorships and spon con — de-influencers are gaining followers by encouraging people not to buy.

• Trust is paramount to Zs, and helping consumers save money and avoid less-than-awesome products is one way de-influencers are earning followers’ confidence. Expect new influencer personalities to become fan favorites with big followings coming out of this social media movement.
• Zs love dupes and less-expensive alternatives so, in many ways, de-influencing is scratching the same content itch as influencer content.
• Previous generations are familiar with a similar type of content, but may have called it something else: bad reviews. The difference in today’s social media ecosystem is that negative reviews that would have been buried on a product site or Yelp are now more likely to go viral.
• Content creators always need more fuel for the fire — e.g. content to talk about and share — and outrage is always good for clicks.
• Advice around what not to spend money on is especially resonant in a moment when recession looms.

So, does de-influence signal the end of influence??

Definitely not! While some de-influence videos are being positioned as anti-influence, we see the movement as influence by another name. That said, with content creators struggling to break through a cluttered and overhyped media landscape, expect influencer videos to get more raw, real, and authentic — and that means contrarian content will increasingly rise to the top. To win the hearts and minds of Zs, brands will need to evolve with the changing influencer landscape.

• Gen Z consumers are more aware than ever of disingenuous spon con, so influencer partnerships need to be authentic. Especially now, brands should go the extra mile to connect with real brand fans to avoid videos that smell phony.
• Brands that have gone too viral on TikTok (or viral in an unauthentic way) are more likely to get called out — so be aware of over-exposure. Take it from TikTok favorites, such as Stanley, Lululemon, Bloom Nutrition, Charlotte Tilbury, Drunk Elephant, and Olaplex, who are receiving backlash via the de-influence trend, according to Ad Age.
• Gen Z consumers are actively looking for places to tighten their budgets, so brands will earn trust by proactively providing more affordable options. Zs want to feel smart and in-the-know, and that’s becoming more important than ever in today’s call out culture.

Overconsumption, overspending, and sustainability has always been top of mind among Zs, and the economic downturn is putting these issues even more in the spotlight. Brands should strategically rethink product lifecycles, from manufacturing to shipping to packaging, and highlight to Zs all the ways their business is becoming more sustainable.