In today’s digital capitalism, influencers have become powerful cultural figures. They don’t just promote products — they sell lifestyles, symbols, and identities. This connects to Jean Baudrillard’s idea of sign-value, where products are consumed less for their practical use and more for what they represent. For example, a handbag may not just be for carrying items; it signals status, taste, or belonging.
Baudrillard also introduced the concept of hyperreality — a state where the line between reality and representation collapses, and the image feels more real than the reality it is meant to reflect. In influencer culture, this plays out when a carefully staged “morning routine” video feels authentic, even though it is curated. Followers may then buy the same coffee, skincare, or tech gadgets, not for their actual function, but to participate in the image of the lifestyle.
This dynamic is further reinforced by planted reviews, loyal fanbases, and algorithms, which amplify certain products and blur the line between authentic choice and manufactured popularity. The central question is whether influencer capitalism empowers consumers to express themselves or manipulates them into chasing illusions.
Questions for discussion:
- What makes influencer recommendations feel more authentic than expert advice, and how does this change who we trust?
- How do fan communities turn individual influencer purchases into mass buying rituals, and what does this reveal about consumer culture?
- In what ways do algorithms shape what products trend online, and do they give us choice or just the illusion of choice?
- Why do people buy products as a way of expressing identity, and is that identity authentic or manufactured by marketing?
- How do curated “authentic” influencer lifestyles (like “day in my life” vlogs) distort our sense of what is normal?
- In your opinion, do you think consumers are victims of influencer manipulation, or do we willingly participate in sustaining hyperreality through our choices?
- From your understanding in thd philosophical lens of hyperreality, what are the dangers arise from planted reviews and staged authenticity, and how do they affect long-term trust in digital markets?
- From the economical and social aspects, who should be held responsible for the effects of influencer marketing — influencers, brands, platforms, or consumers themselves?
References:
Jean Baudrillard's System of Objects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkhaBDY3nz4
An introduction to Baudrillard: https://youtu.be/1Yxg2_6_YLs?si=DdrUajP06pAvgaTV
The Spectacle 2.0, Reading Debord in the Context of Digital Capitalism (PDF download): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326539295_The_Spectacle_20_Reading_Debord_in_the_Context_of_Digital_Capitalism
The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception : https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1944/culture-industry.htm
Tiktok and Beauty in the Age of Gen Z: A Baudrillard’s Economic Sociological Analysis: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381088984_Tiktok_and_Beauty_in_the_Age_of_Gen_Z_A_Baudrillard%27s_Economic_Sociological_Analysis
Baudrillard, J. (1981). For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign. Telos Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/3102913
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The Forms of Capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (pp. 241-258). Greenwood Press. https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/bourdieu-forms-capital.htm
Veblen, T. (1899). The Theory of the Leisure Class. Macmillan. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/833/833-h/833-h.htm
