Influencer Marketing: Efficient for Brands Today but Is It Healthy for Society?
Unilever’s bold decision to lean heavily into influencers has done what bold decisions do – it has made the marketing and advertising folks sit up, spill their coffee and take sides. What marketers have recognized is real enough; people discover, decide and discuss products through creators. In that the influencer economy is very efficient.
But efficiency is a tricky thing. Plenty of things are efficient without being healthy.
The real question is whether a system built on monetized recommendation will remain healthy over time – for brands, for trust for society.
Why does it seem right today
Influencers make products feel like advice not advertising. Instead of seeming interrupted, polished or artificial, the message is casual and glides smoothly into everyday life.
That is gold.
For marketers it is irresistible.
What could get complicated tomorrow
1. Creators stop being creators
The moment incomes become steady and easy; creators stop creating. They start operating like little ad and media agencies armed with mobile phones, ring lights and AI tools.
It’s not moral failure. It’s plain economics.
Audiences may think they are hearing a recommendation when they may be watching something machine assisted or loosely human.
2. Science takes a beating in a world of vibes
For decades, many major brands built their credibility not just through endorsements, but through research, testing, and building body of evidence. Claims were shaped by scientific validation, legal scrutiny and disciplined messaging.
In categories like health, skincare, hygiene, nutrition and personal care, that rigor is not a luxury. It is the basis of trust.
Where influencer content is casual, science is careful. And this is where the tension becomes serious. Influencer content is casual; science is careful. Science hesitates. Science qualifies. Science rarely says, “This changed my life forever.”
3. Trust is the foundation in beauty and wellness. It cannot be a concealer.
Claims around scalp, gut, skin, and weight must be deeply rooted in science and responsibility. Consumers may be buying a colour or a fragrance believing that everything else that should be safe and sacrosanct has been taken care of. That reassurance when coming from a charismatic face, good lighting and filters may be ephemeral.
Ownership rests with brands, not with promoters.
Some influencers are thoughtful and responsible. But creators are not, by default, scientists, dermatologists, toxicologists or public health experts. They are entertainers, travelers, beauticians, mothers.
4. Society starts sounding like one long product plug
How to eat 6 times a day, how to hold chopsticks, how to lose belly fat in 1 week, bridal make up, make up for grief – ordinary life is starting to turn into a stream of endless tips and sponsored hacks.
The issue is not volume of advice, but who is giving it.
Much of it may be coming from people who are themselves anxious, impressionable, fighting to stay relevant with content, overexposed. It’s not hard for them to cross the lines of responsibility for popularity.
That is the strange comedy of the influencer age: deeply vulnerable people confidently instructing other vulnerable people on how to become their best selves, one paid partnership at a time.
5. Influencer becoming a commodity
If Unilever can buy influencers, so can everyone else. And they will.
Strategic edge today could become table stakes tomorrow. Rates skyrocket. Influencer work with competing brands. Audiences begin to see though the creator curtains when they know that their likes and fandom are paying creators’ rent.
What must not be lost
Algorithms may reward excitement, but bodies still respond to chemistry, biology and evidence. Science behind it keeps the brands believable.
Handing too much brand meaning over to the creators may be risky. Brands still own the truth of what they stand for – Keep creators for demonstration, not claim-making. Use them to show usage, context and relatability.
Match creator type to category risk.
A snack can survive banter. A skincare serum, supplement or hygiene product needs much tighter guardrails.
Claims stay responsible.
And everyone remembers that trust is hard to build and very easy to turn into content.