Cancel Culture and Influencers in 2020
Image Source: beebyclarkmeyler.com
The events of 2020 have forced many of us to reevaluate our actions, decisions, priorities, and… our social media feeds. In light of the growing Black Lives Matter movement, many users of social media are posting helpful resources, diverse content, or simply choosing to knock down their screen time altogether. Others are becoming quick to unfollow high profile accounts due to their reaction, or lack of, regarding any of the many controversies or tragedies that have transpired this year.
While some followers quietly choose to unfollow influencers or celebrities who are no longer in line with their own views, or have committed some controversial act, another group is not being so discreet. InfluencersTruth is an Instagram account dedicated to calling out influencers for a variety of reasons, from Photoshop fails to refusal to cooperate with pandemic distancing rules. And the account is not the first of its kind — popular Instagram account, InfluencersInTheWild hilariously exposes influencers doing whatever it takes for the perfect photo for its 3.4 million followers, while Diet_Prada calls out fashion fails on the daily.
In an anonymous interview with Refinery29, the creator of InfluencersTruth explains how she does not intend to monetize the account, which has over 70k followers, in any way. She created the account due to an emotional reaction she felt watching high-profile influencers continuously disregarding the reality of the pandemic for their own benefit. Influencers have been put under a microscope by many other outlets this past year. Marie Claire published the article, “Is This The End Of The Influencer?” last month after a string of influencer mishaps, including the saga of Arielle Charnas and her COVID diagnosis.
It seems that, as time spent critiquing social media personalities increases, so does time spent scrolling. eMarketer predicted adult users’ social media time would increase by just six seconds in 2020, which was later revised to seven minutes in the midst of COVID. Social media has become seamlessly intertwined with business promotions, marketing schemes and content creation. Despite the criticism of many users, social media is not going anywhere soon, and cancel culture may just be drawing more people to the accounts of personalities who have been called out.
The lesson to be learned from all of this? Be careful what you post on social, especially if you have a large following. You never know when you’ll be the next victim of cancel culture!
Posted by Michaela