Influencer Fatigue and Gen Z's Declining Beauty Buying 💄

This week we explore the emerging narrative on influencer fatigue, "underconsumption core" and if Gen Z walks the social talk.

This week on 24/Z the focus is on the continuing narrative of influencer fatigue, and its effect on Gen Z, creators, and buying habits. We reveal a key stat that shows a stark shift in purchasing habits in the beauty category.

📈 New Research on Influencer Fatigue

Research from earlier this year points to influencer fatigue bubbling up to the surface for Gen Z’ers.

'Influencer fatigue' is real (Yahoo News)

• According to data from a YPulse study shared with Yahoo News, 45% of people between the ages of 13 and 22 say influencers just don’t have the same power that they used to.

• 44% of Gen Z say the cash-rich lifestyles of influencers amidst the cost-of-living crisis infuriates them, according to data from Room Unlocked, a platform focused on authentic relationships between brands and influencers.

• 44% also say that comparing their lives to the unrepresentative lives of content creators has a negative effect on their mental health.

In Their “Deinfluencing” Era - Gen Zs Becoming More Skeptical of Influencers (Rival x Reach 3)

• Nearly 50% of Gen Zs are “not very likely” or “not likely at all” to buy something influencers recommend. Many Gen Z’ers who participated in the study described paid influencer partnerships as “very insincere” or “annoying.”

The research on influencer fatigue paints a clear picture. But how is this affecting influencers and Gen Z alike?

🧐 The Effect on Influencers

The ‘Glow Down’ Is the New Glow Up (The Cut)

This article unpacks a new movement amongst influencers to document the reversals of their hyper-consumption hyper-self-growth ideologies. Years of promoting the good life has resulted in some influencers going in the other direction:

“After years of being bombarded with videos on ten-step skin-care routines, optimized morning-wellness rituals, life-changing StairMaster hacks, and viral plastic-surgery procedures, [creators] are retiring from the chase. They’re posting their glow-up regrets and documenting the reversals of the procedures or habits that garnered their following count to begin with — accepting their ultimate “glow down.”

🧐 The Effect on Gen Z

Tired of Influencers, TikTok Users Try ‘Underconsumption Core’ to Cut Costs (NYT)

Underconsumption core - the latest Gen Z trend - results from this building resentment. The Times describes this phenomenon:

“After years of being told what to buy, TikTok users are trying something new: buying and using only what they need. They’re calling it “underconsumption core,” the latest move away from influencer culture. Instead of pristine fridge shelves, makeup bags with the latest products and fashion fads, users are posting simplified closets, secondhand clothes that have lasted for years and minimal makeup and skin care collections.”

From worn-out shoes to expired makeup - underconsumption is an extension of the ‘de-influencing trend’ that emerged in 2023. Gen Z’ers are reacting to their fatigue, and posting about their resistance to overconsumption. But how lasting is this trend? Well, it is already dying…

An analysis of daily views of the mention or hashtag of underconsumption core shows a sharp rise this summer, but a more recent decline:

Daily views on “underconsumption” or “underconsumption core” related user-generated content, via Tubular Labs

With plenty of data pointing to how Gen Z is tired of influencers - we seek to explore how this translates to buying habits. Does influencer fatigue correlate with a decline in willingness to buy? Is there a link between getting tired of influencers and getting tired of buying from brands?

To understand this relationship, we look at the beauty industry - a category that trailblazed the evolution of the influencer and has saw a boom in influencer marketing in a post-pandemic, TikTok-dominated landscape.

🙂‍↕️ dcdx research on Gen Z beauty buying habits

We polled Gen Z’ers from our peer-to-peer network of 300,000+ Gen Z’ers to understand if their beauty buying habits shifted in the last year and this is what we found:

More than 2 in 3 Gen Z’ers are buying either fewer beauty products or being more selective in their beauty purchases.

68% of Gen Z’ers are either buying fewer products or being more selective with their beauty purchases, 20% of them are buying more beauty products and 12% haven’t noticed any shift in their beauty buying decisions.

🧠 what we’re thinking

The underconsumption trend might be losing steam, but it was more than just a passing phase. Gen Z is feeling exhausted from their online consumption around brands, fed up with the constant barrage of sales pitches every other scroll.

The beauty industry, once at a post-pandemic forefront of influencer marketing, is now witnessing a shift in real influence—away from polished, curated personas and towards more relatable peers who share genuine experiences, whether they are raving, recommending, or ranting about products.

With the upcoming launch of our Q3 2024 Gen Z’s Top 50 Beauty Brands Report, we’re seeing a distinct decline in content from traditional influencers (or wannabe influencers), with only a handful of viral hits standing out, while user-generated content from regular people is flourishing, bringing back a sense of unrehearsed authenticity to beauty recommendations. As Gen Z beauty buyers become more deliberate in their choices, influencers seem to be losing their grip on the market.

📦 More on Gen Z, Beauty, and Influencer Fatigue

Champagne. Caviar. Bora Bora. Are You Not Entertained? (NYT)

• Tarte Cosmetics' lavish Bora Bora trip has captivated social media but also fueled "influencer fatigue." Viewers are increasingly weary of these over-the-top promotions, yet Tarte remains committed to using them for brand visibility.

“Rachel Ferraro, a 25-year-old law student at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., described the Tarte campaign as “tone deaf,” adding that it was off-putting to “normal people like me who are still in school, who have a lot of debt.” She added that she had followed a few of the influencers who went to Bora Bora and had been excited to see what happened on the trip, only to find herself disheartened by the conspicuous displays of copious swag.”