It’s the End of Influencer Culture as We Know It
The classic Instagram influencer model — never speak out, focus on image over substance — doesn’t work in today’s world.
Last week, Russian-born Instagram influencer Kris Schatzel went viral after video footage of her posing for a photo shoot at a Black Lives Matter protest was posted on Twitter. The video, which shows Kris fixing her outfit and hair to get the perfect photo while blocking actual protesters from marching, represented everything that people love to hate about influencer culture: the unabashed materialism, the clueless narcissism, the focus on image over substance. Not to mention the fact that the influencer industry is dominated by thin, conventionally attractive white women, many of whom have used FaceTune and plastic surgery to create “a look of rootless exoticism,” as Jia Tolentino described it in her brilliant New Yorker article on “Instagram face.”
Kris wasn’t the only influencer to get called out for performative behavior last week. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd…
