Understanding ‘deinfluencing’: How, amid a sea of promoted products, influencers are empowering the audience about ‘what not to buy’

As you may have noticed, the proportion of positive product reviews far outweighs the negative ones on social media, giving viewers the impression that all viral products are fit for consumption. But the ‘deinfluencing’ trend, which has garnered over 200 million views on TikTok, has emerged as a powerful response to this issue. But, what is it? A series of videos has begun circulating on TikTok and Instagram featuring social media influencers talking about the products they wouldn’t recommend buying.

Elucidating further, Simran Sadh, a lifestyle and beauty content creator, said, “Deinfluencing is sharing with your audience the products you do not like or do not recommend them to buy because the audience gets influenced by advertisements or videos on the internet that often over-hype the product.”

She added that it is the creator’s duty to inform viewers about the products that didn’t work for them to help them make wise decisions. “It’s very important to be authentic and true to your audience because if it doesn’t work out, they are not going to hate the product, they are going to hate you for recommending the product to them,” she said.

 

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A post shared by Simran Sadh (@makemeupsimran) 

Agreeing, Disha Batra, a beauty content creator, said that while the term ‘deinfluencing’ is new, these videos are being made for some time now. “A lot of viewers love and respect us for our recommendation and ask us if it’s worth their money. So, it is our responsibility to not say ‘yes’ to every product. When a product goes viral, every creator tries and talks about it. But, some of these products don’t really work. So, influencers, who actually respect their viewers and their money, tell them that they have tried this product and it didn’t work for them. This is what deinfluencing is,” she said.

This trend, however, isn’t a complete rejection of influencing. On the contrary, it intends to reinforce honesty and ethics among influencers. “I personally would not call ‘deinfluencing’ a trend. For me, transparency and honesty have always been key focal points while working with brands,” Sakshi Keswani, a digital content creator, said, adding that deinfluencing is an important tool for healthy influencer marketing and needs to be a rule of thumb in order to build a loyal audience base.

Nisha, 22, a self-admitted ‘shopaholic’, told indianexpress.com that she would always prefer influencers who also talk about things they don’t like, rather than just praising everything. “I am guilty of getting ‘influenced’ to try out new products if a lot of content creators are talking about it on Instagram. However, over time, I have realised that some just endorse everything. So, I trust those people who regularly share things they don’t like, too.”

Poorva, 24, on the other hand, learned this the hard way. “I ended up buying this K-beauty product everyone was raving about on social media. Within just a couple of weeks of using it, my skin broke out. It took me more than 2-3 months and several trips to the dermatologist to get rid of the marks. I wish influencers were more honest about the possible side-effects of products they are endorsing, especially for skin types different from theirs. I think deinfluencing is the step in the right direction,” she said.

Considering influencers partake in several paid partnerships to sustain themselves, it led us to wonder — would they ever be truly honest about a brand/product they are paid to promote? And, if yes, does it not hamper their relationship with the respective brand?

Batra explained that what you see on the feed is not the complete picture and influencers don’t collaborate with every brand they are approached by. “Most brands give us a certain time to try and review it. If something didn’t work for us, they respect us and accept the criticism. And, we don’t endorse such products to the viewers, else, it ruins the goodwill we built with them over the years. I do a series called, ‘Products that I regret buying’, in which I show products that just didn’t work with us. It also involved products from the brand I have worked with. And, they do understand, take that into consideration, and improvise their products,” she said.

 

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A post shared by DISHA BATRA |BEAUTY INFLUENCER (@dishabatra08) 

Sharing the flip side, Sadh said that this factor varies from brand to brand. “I have been in a situation where a brand was once rude to me because I stated my honest opinion. On the other hand, there were a few brands that take such constructive criticism and try to improve their product,” she said.

In a bid to make users aware of an influencer’s paid partnership/collaboration and curb misleading promotions on social media, the Consumer Affairs Ministry in January released endorsement guidelines, making it mandatory for celebrities, influencers, and virtual influencers to disclose their paid partnerships with brands while promoting them on social media or else face legal implications.

Emphasising the significance of the same, Meghna Kaur, a fashion and lifestyle content creator, said that with the rise in influencer marketing and campaigns, most people will look at an ad and think that the influencer is buying something out of their own pocket, which can be misleading. “While I have worked hard to get where I am, some of these fancy products or travel trips have been sponsored and the audience does deserve to know this,” Kaur said.

Influencers, however, also highlighted that audiences shouldn’t confuse ‘paid partnership’ with ‘dishonesty’. “Audiences don’t engage much on paid partnership as compared to organic content. So, they need to understand this and be more supportive,” Sadh said. Agreeing, Batra added that consumers believe a paid partnership has absolutely no credibility. “Brands don’t pay us to say certain things; they pay us for the hard work, expertise, and the heavy-duty production we undertake,” she said.

The rise in influencer marketing has led to not just a risk of buying products based on bogus claims, but also overconsumption, in general. Talking about the same, Kaur said, “We cannot deny that the rise of social media advertising plays a big role too, but I think in general the rise in social media is leading to overconsumption. Even if it is not a paid ad, everyone on social media now has the power to influence people. Not just influencers but also your friends, family, acquaintances and everyone else is posting every detail about their life which makes you want to have that experience, too.”

Other content creators echoed similar sentiments, adding that factors like the pandemic, Instagram’s business tools, and influencers being careful about the products they talk about have begun to change this trend. “The audience has understood how to dissect the difference between a testimonial and an ad. They know what they want now more than ever,” Keswani.

While influencers should resort to deinfluencing to mitigate overconsumption, what can consumers do? “Consumers should also not just buy the product based on the hype, instead, buy it by the creator’s opinion who they trust,” Sadh said. Batra asked consumers to ask some questions before blindly buying something based on any influencers’ recommendation – Do I need it? Does my pocket allow it? Do I have a similar product/alternative?

Concluding, Kaur said that the audience must not shy away from sharing their opinion and calling brands and influencers out when needed. “That is how we will find room for growth. When my audience engages back, it helps me understand them better,” she said.

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