Issue #4: Mrs Hinch, futuristic Insta filters and the problem with being an influencer
Every month, you'll find a download of the top three things taking up my brain space right now, as well as other stuff piquing my interest from around the internet:
1. Mrs Hinch demonstrates the selling power of useful influencers
@MrsHinchHomeisn’t my usual flavour of Instagrammer, but I can’t lie, I am FASCINATED by her rapid rise to fame. Over the course of six months, she went from 1,000 followers to one million – now having surpassed 1.8 million – andshe’s got a book in the pipelinefor later this year. But despite the 28-year-old hairdresser’s Instagram-friendly aesthetic (plumped lips, lengthy extensions, etc.), it’s not selfies that have gotten her her fame – in fact you’d be hard pressed to find one on her feed.
Instead, Mrs Hinch – real name, Sophie Hinchliffe – cleans. Cleaning tips and tricks are delivered via Stories that follow her as she tirelessly hoovers, scrubs and polishes her home into a highly sanitary oblivion, occasionally punctuated by interactions with her husband and her dog. Having recently announced her pregnancy, the Hinchliffe household seems set to become something of an Instagram-based reality show, which just so happens to help you get your house sparkling as you watch.
Why should brands care?
Plenty of controversy has swirled around her account – especially when it comes to notions of gender.‘Mrs Hinch and her cleaning obsession is dragging women back to the 1950s’reads one headline. But while it’s true that Hinch does imply a certain old-school femininity – the use of ‘Mrs’ in her handle, for example – the desire for a clean home exceeds some of her more gender-normative behaviours.
Between Mrs Hinch and Marie Kondo – who’s net worth is said tostand at around $8 million– the pop cultural landscape would suggest that a fair few of us are looking to keep things spick and span right now. And with Hinch regularly discussing how cleaning calms her anxiety, it’s not difficult to see the role cleaning rituals can play in wider culture, too. With mental health issues, and awareness, on the rise – in the UK,two-thirds of us know someoneaffected by mental illness – people are seeking ways to ease the strain. If cleaning can restore a sense of comfort and control, then who is anyone else to judge?
Mrs Hinch has become so popular that cleaning products she recommends regularly sell out – dubbed‘the Hinch effect’– while her favourite products are being sold across the internet inHinch bundles. Stepping away from mental health issues, on a basic level, she is a reminder that influencers aren’t simply there to look nice. They’re the next level up from a customer review – and their purpose as tangible information providers is often forgotten by marketers and consumers alike. Amid a growing e-commerce landscape, this is what influencers were initially intended for. And whether we like it or not, Hinch is killing it in that game.
TL;DR: Influencers aren’t just there to look nice. There’s a tangible benefit of following or interacting with them – understanding how to use a product, or which product to use.
2. Futuristic Instagram filters are an active dissociation from ‘real’ beauty
Filters that use AR to manipulate photos – and more specifically, selfies – have been a core element of social media since Snapchat. But a new wave of digital filters that are a departure from the cutesy animal ear-touting, skin smoothing filters that defined the early Snapchat-era internet are taking over. Upcoming digital artists likeJohanna JaskowskaandInès Mazatare creating futuristic Instagram filters that enable users to create gorgeously inhuman digital portraits – mostly of ourselves, obviously. And people are going crazy for them.
Why should brands care?
On the one hand, this is a clear backlash against a beauty landscape that peddles fakery as natural – whether brands on billboards or heavily edited social content. Apps like Facetune – which enables its 10 million+ users to heavily doctor their images – have normalised this unrealistic beauty standard among the everyperson. “The idea of a plastic, artificial beauty is especially relevant in today’s society,”confirms Jaskowskain an interview withDazed Digital. “When I was creating [my filter] Beauty3000, all I could think of was, ‘you want plastic? I’ll give you the real plastic’.”
But this isn’t just a beauty backlash. Among younger audiences, it’s also in line with the preferences of an age group who love being creative with their appearance, and using it to signify who they are to others in their peer group. That insight isn't new news – it’s a universal human truth of being a young person in contemporary society.
But while older generations might remember preening for their peers at gig venues or in shopping centres, among this generation – Gen Z and young Gen Y – this also happens in digital spaces. And online, self-expression isn’t limited to clothes, hair and make-up. The sheer number of creative tools this group has at their disposal – these filters being yet another in their belt – mean the routes to self-expression have evolved. One survey from digital agency The Digital Fairy showed that67% of its followers disagreedwith the statement ‘beauty must be authentic to be beautiful’.
TL;DR: In response to a beauty landscape where what constitutes real or natural is already so unclear, obvious fakery – whether via make-up or digital manipulations – provide a channel for self-expression and, in turn, self-acceptance.
3. Diesel’s ‘Be A Follower’ ads are an almost-landed attempt to champion self-acceptance
Diesel’s freshly-launched ‘Be A Follower’ ads take aim at influencers, by reminding people that being an influencer isn’t all it's cracked up to be. The vignettes – each of which ironically star an influencer – point out that these online stars‘have a hard time eating’,‘take too long to undress’and‘spend a lot of time doing laundry’. In a nutshell, Be A Follower reminds people that while influencers may look cool, there are a tonne of perks to not being an influencer, too.
Why should brands care?
Rising insecurity and mental health issuesamong avid social media users is well-documented, especially among teens and young adults who constantly find themselves comparing themselves to influencers who are perceived to be cooler, thinner, wealthier and more stylish than the rest of us. Against this backdrop, Diesel’s latest ads position it as a champion of the everyman. Its message is, in not so many words: be yourself, it’s way cooler than being an influencer.
It follows Diesel’sHate Coutureads – which encourage people to reclaim the derogatory terms haters use against them – similarly championing a message of self-acceptance in a world where that can be ever more difficult to achieve. There's just one down side. While Be A Follower is an innovative take on a well-trodden narrative, the fact that it pairs a gritty aesthetic with a line-up of envy-inducing influencers means the message doesn’t quite land.
TL;DR: Diesel may have missed the mark, but the insight rings true; many influencers have become a symbol of all the things we’ll never be. Insecurity is an inescapable part of the digital human condition – but there's room to change that.
Some other interesting internet finds:
‘Netflix says Fortnite is bigger competition than HBO or Hulu’
This may be old news (by internet standards, anyway), but it is important news. While the world freaks out over an impending Netflix competitor from Apple, it’s interesting that Netflix is being realistic about the fact that it’s not just other video content that it’s gotta watch out for.
Polygon (January 17th)‘Apocalypse is now a chronic condition’
Amazing article outlining the role of creativity and comedy in coping with society-wide anxiety. Given that the Dutch government has literally just launched a campaign featuring a Brexit monster to deal with political upheaval, this seems fitting. It’s safe to say that people have always enjoyed bitching about how it might be the end of times, but this piece is an apt commentary on the current flavour of that conversation.
The Atlantic (February 1st)'The 2019 SuperBowl ads are a case study in technological dread'
I was toying with the idea of highlighting a few of my favourite themes and case studies from the 2019 Super Bowl ads, but then I found this article and decided to just stick it in here instead. It perfectly ties up a few examples of how brands poked fun at anxieties around tech and AI during the big game. Even though the tone was light-hearted, I can’t help but wonder if the upshot of these ads will be a further decrease in trust and uptick in concern, around the role tech plays in our lives.
The New Yorker (February 2nd)'How the tobacco industry targets young people with social media influencers'
In some ways, this is a totally unsurprising revelation – big tobacco has a reputation for playing outside of legal restrictions when it comes to marketing. All the same, there’s something unnerving about their creeping presence on the platforms we spend much of our lives. And even if we put it all down to big tobacco getting up to its old tricks, what’s more creepy is that these influencers are co-conspirators in the narrative. Bleak.
Dazed Digital (February 13th)'ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com uses AI to generate endless fake faces'
Artificial intelligence has gotten really really good at generating fake images. And while I’d like to intellectualise this as I do so many of the guilty, pointless pleasures I enjoy from around the internet, mostly this is just a very excellent shortcut to feeling quite weird and anxious about developments in tech. You’re welcome!
The Verge (February 15th)‘Olivia Colman’s 2019 Oscar acceptance speech for best actress’
There were a million and one amazing things about the Oscars; Spike Lee finally won an Oscar and there was that weird-but-sexy duet of Shallow from Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. But as with most things in life, the best thing was Olivia Colman. Her tearful, humble acceptance speech – despite being genuine to its core – rings true against a cultural backdrop where people need to believe anything is possible if they try hard enough. “Any little girl who’s practicing their speech on the telly,” she weeps, “you never know!”
YouTube (February 24th) | Shout out to Emily for bringing this to my attention, tho