De-influencers Ring the Alarm on the Environmental Impacts of Overconsumption

Consider This from NPR

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🗓️ 25 February 2024

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

In the last few years, a new trend has emerged on social media: de-influencing.

Instead of selling, de-influencers encourage their followers to stop buying things they don't need. De-influencers are also using this trend as an opportunity to raise awareness about the negative impact of overconsumption on the environment.

From plastic packaging to useless gadgets that end up in landfills, overconsumption doesn't just have a negative effect on our wallets, but also on our planet and climate change.

We look at what role de-influencers can play in helping to address climate change and spreading the message of sustainable living.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Even if you're not the kind of person who spends a lot of time scrolling through social media, and if you are, hey, no judgment, you probably know what an influencer is.
0:09.2	Influencers are people who influence you. All right, all right, that wasn't super helpful.
0:13.4	Influencers, what they do is they sell. Their goal is to get you to buy.
0:17.3	I'm going to put a link in the description for you guys so you can shop all the
0:22.4	looks that I'm showing.
0:23.4	It's super easy to sign up and get matched with a therapist.
0:26.6	All you need to do is click the link down to my description or go to better help
0:30.3	dot com.
0:31.0	Now we'll add in our protein powder. Today I'm using
0:35.0	Gorilla Mine, Code Beef.
0:38.0	They partner with brands from Amazon to Louis Vuitton to promote goods and services to their followers.
0:44.0	They do it kind of more in the guise of being your friend
0:48.0	or being relatable.
0:50.0	Diana Webe is 30 and lives in Columbus, Ohio.
0:53.0	Webe is not an influencer, but she does use social media.
0:57.0	And she says even though she knows how influencers work
1:00.0	to convince their followers to buy, it is a lure that is hard to escape.
1:04.7	For me, I got influenced mostly by like skin care stuff and I watch an influencer and I'd be like,
1:11.2	okay, yeah, this worked for them. I trust their opinion, add to cart. I started to really
1:16.6	realize how much I was spending because of being influenced by someone on Tik-Tock.
1:21.8	And we be then noticed the trend of
1:23.5	Come Shopping with me videos popping up on TikTok.
	...

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