Ethics, Wellness, and Influencers

Alli B. Westbrook

aw263116@ohio.edu 

                                                       

Beauty has been effectively branded as wellness through the strategic use of social media. But, the two remain distinctly different. Media professionals, specifically those who work in PR and advertising have an obligation to be transparent about products. Journalists have an obligation to come forward about the practices that skew our perceptions when transparency fails. 

The false correlation between beauty and wellness has been made through association fallacy. To generalize something you may have heard before, we see images of beautiful individuals as they discuss how they plan to achieve their "best self" while holding up a bottle of supplements that are made to "balance your hormones","increase the length of lashes" and do other amazing things. 

But behind the photo, the things that stand out as beautiful are perfectly curated. Everything down to the eyelashes that are most likely a result of eyelash extensions and not a cure all supplement. Which has a negative impact on self-image and mental health. A study by the National Institutes of Health stated that Depression for young women after viewing social media is much higher for young women because of this. 

Picture source: Whitney Lauritsen Afluencer.com & @rootandrevel

 

Wellness has become a new marker of the upper class and the beauty that comes with it does not align with reality. Leaving the standards to become almost impossible to reach, what people can reach for are the products they are holding which is what makes influencer marketing so effective.

Professor and author Elizabeth Currid-Halkett defined the wellness promoting new elites of our society as the "aspirational class". The two most important themes that become skewed as influencers do their best to endorse and advertise are health and beauty. Her article in MarketWatch states that this class is defined by its cultural collateral and not by the size of their diamonds. This cultural collateral is something the followers want to emulate. They are called "followers" for a reason. Which then creates an outlet where things that were once defined as niche marketing can become mainstream. 

Companies seek out influencers because people simply no longer trust ads. Journalists and other communication professionals despite working by codes of ethics, are also no longer trusted. Influencers, who work under no code of ethics besides their personal ones and have hardly any regulations are as Forbes described in 2015, "the most powerful way to place a brands message...through a voice they trust". 

When it comes to influencer marketing, advertisers find individuals from the aspirational class who can best promote the Three R's: relevance, reach, and resonance. The most powerful way to advertise has a chink in its armor and it directly targets resonance. If Influencers are not careful, they will brand themselves into being just another idea and image.  People will no longer trust them for their inherent humaneness because what they represent it is most likely unattainable. Their followers could easily stop reaching for the products they hold.

Journalist have an ethical obligation to call out the entire practice example by example as influencers begin to brand themselves into oblivion if they do not find sustainable and healthy ways to mass market. Advertisers and P.R. professionals have an ethical responsibility to maintain a healthy relationship between influencers and their followers as well as influencers and the brands they work for. If advertising and P.R. professionals jump into action soon and a code of ethics for influencers is embraced then the one "trustworthy" marketing tool that is left can flourish.