Hype ain’t a business plan, Babe!

The trend of influencer businesses being called out!

Avani

Feb 07, 2025

Heyy my marketing buddies welcome back 💗
Before starting today’s topic, first, let’s talk about…

Hot on Social Media🔥

A section where I talk about the Social Media Gossip! Let’s start.

Glow Recipe showed every skincare brand how to transition into makeup. The brand just launched the skincare blushes, & their strategy was so smart! They did the Apple style conference, where they invited the press, influencers & their best customers❗️They announced the new product & gave a PR package to everyone there. Ofc. everyone was gonna post that on their socials & which would give Glow Recipe millions of views & promotions. 🙌🏽
Glow Recipe’s blush launch event (Images don’t belong to me)
Balmain Beauty Drops Red Hot Fragrance 👀 I mean, the perfect time to launch a perfume. Since Valentine’s Day is almost here, I loved the brand’s move. It’s “Rouge” & is packaged in a stunning red bottle❤️ Retails for $230 USD.
The Next-Gen Event Planning App for 2025 by Apple.📱 Apple introduced Apple Invites, a brand-new iOS app for creating personalized event invitations. It allows users to design custom invites for any event, manage RSVPs, and even integrate shared photo albums or Apple Music playlists.
Starbucks is celebrating Valentine’s Day with new and returning limited-time drinks. They’ve introduced the Blackberry Sage Refresher, which combines blackberries with sage, and the Blackberry Sage Lemonade Refresher and Midnight Drink.🥤
Vacation has launched its new "Classic Whip Glow SPF 50," a lightweight, dessert-inspired sunscreen that offers both sun protection and a radiant glow. Honestly, the packaging is everything. And it’s getting everyone’s attention. I really loved their magazine-style posts on Instagram & how they actually kept the upcoming magazine trend in mind.
Credit: Vacation
Starface has just teased the exciting expansion (& return) of their beloved Hello Kitty partnership, which will include a new lineup of compacts and patches, bringing fresh additions to their skincare collection. And I think these are super cute.💗 Alongside these, they’re also launching a brand-new flavor of their popular lip balm, "Apple Star Balm."

The Real Talk 👀

For a very long time, I’ve wanted to talk about the rising trend of influencer brands. Well, you see what’s going on? Anyone who gets famous comes up with a new brand sooner or later❗️
This trend is quite common in the US (Brands like Unwell by Alex Cooper) & Europe (like OddMuse by Aimee Smale or Gisou by Negin Mirsalehi).

But recently, the internet’s been calling out influencer brands, even though this business model’s been thriving for years and has seen a lot of success.

So, the problem with influencer fashion brands is that they try to position themselves differently from fast fashion, but they have the same principles.
If we look into it, they have a lot of similarities & questionable actions that often go unnoticed just because they’re backed by a well-known face with millions of followers.

Influencer Brand Controversies❗️

📌 What got my attention was the recent controversy with two influencer brands.-

“Maebe” by Molly Mae
When she launched her brand last year in September, there was quite a lot of controversy about the quality of her products, the price & the overall transparency. People started posting on TikTok how the products started ripping off just after a single wear.
After this, Molly did an interview with Vogue addressing the backlashes. (read it here). She responded to people calling her brand a fast fashion brand & how she’s not worn fast fashion for a really long time.
in her interview with Vogue
But while promoting the brand, they tagged other fast fashion brands on their posts & even collaborated with PrettyLittleThings, which again is known for its fast fashion.
“Djerf Avenue” by Matilda Djerf
So recently, there was a Swedish documentary released on Matilda Djerf on how she has a toxic work culture at her place. How she doesn't treat her employees nicely & also bullies them. Not only this but about Fatfobia, & even about not letting the employees use toilets. She later posted on this & mentioned that she’ll look into it.
Since it came out about Matilda’s behavior, people also talked about how the products she sells are not of good quality, even though they’re more expensive than the fast fashion brands.

And these are just two brands I talked about. There are many others similar to these that are being called out.

What’s the Actual Problem❓

Let me try to explain to you about the actual problem.
Since these brands are launched by famous influencers with an already huge following, they’re popular from the start. And by popular, I mean having a cult following.

These influencers have a very big privilege over anyone starting from scratch. They can literally launch anything & it would become famous in some time.

They don’t even need to put in much effort to market their products. Just posting pictures in them on social media is enough.
And yeah, that’s the point of influencer marketing, but we need to understand how crazy the audience is about it. They don’t even realize what’s really going on behind the scenes. This is because people are so much into Parasocial Relationships.
So the question is, can you literally sell anything at an overpriced rate❓

The time Maebe launched its products, they were sold out within just 24 mins of launching❗️

They show their audience a lifestyle that people want to live, and I think most buy their products to experience that lifestyle or to be like the influencer, rather than to actually support them.

These brands are pushing products like crazy, creating this non-stop cycle of "buy now, or you’ll lose it." The amazing use of FOMO marketing. And let's be real, these products are often marketed to people who already have more than enough. I mean, we don’t even need them & still end up buying!

Would you call it brainwashing❓

Where are Influencer Brands headed❓

Okay, so the question is, what is the future of these brands?

I don’t think they’re going anywhere. The moment an influencer sees a profit in selling a product or launching a brand, they’re gonna jump on it (ofc.).

📌 There’s no one to stop them from doing it or tell them ‘We don’t need this’.

I’m not upset about anything, but the overconsumption it is promoting!! I believe after a point, the influencers are just taking advantage of the followers & I’m not ok with it❗️

Let me know what you think about it.