While influencers serve brands by promoting their products, there is a category of “reverse” influencers who denounce the abusive practices of certain companies…
In 2022, we saw the appearance of a new hashtag on TikTok: #desinfluencing. You will have understood from their name, the “disinfluencers”, a phenomenon which still remains, it must be admitted, rather marginal, aim to convince you not to buy this product, generally with an objective in mind. rather ecological and “anti-waste” (also with in mind, perhaps, the preservation of your bank account against impulsive purchases).
A position which is in direct reaction to the incitement to consumption by influencers. As explained by the Belgian newspaper Le Vif, which cites a statement by Quentin Van Donghen, lecturer at ULB, certain influencers will push people to spend sometimes frankly significant sums: up to $800 in a single video. . Enough to empty your bank account very, very quickly, and which undoubtedly explains the new popularity of disinfluencers.
They often analyze the advertisements found in the content of other influencers to dismantle them, particularly tracking down small, useless gadgets, and warning about the production conditions of the products… when it is not quite simply to denounce the scams which also flourish on social networks. A position that can in a sense be compared to the debunk videos that we also find on the platform (and which, for their part, attack fake news).
Sometimes, the message is not exactly as imbued with idealism: it can simply be limited to warning against false advertising, but more often, there is still a desire to lead to de-consumption.
Like any movement, deconsumption is not immune to criticism. Some see it simply as another form of influence. And it is true that in terms of form, “deinfluencers” remain first and foremost… influencers. Some will criticize them for selling an ideology, or even full-fledged products (we can thus make a comparison with “minimalist influencers”), while others see it rather as a way for influencers to reinvent themselves in the face of a kind of fed-upness and distrust on the part of the public. For some, it would even be a way to appear authentic again, where influencers are often criticized for their artificiality.
A question that is ultimately quite complex and nuanced, therefore, between a substance that goes completely against the incentive to consume and a more ambiguous form. The “disinfluencers” are also a diverse and varied group, and it would be difficult to draw a general and absolute portrait of them. As with influencers, it is probably up to the public to choose the content they want to, or not, watch and thus, since the algorithms are powerful, to highlight…
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