Influencers have gone off the deep end.
What in the world would Oprah Winfrey know about espresso machines and coffee makers? Yet here we have it, in a Yahoo Life blast out article, Oprah’s Favorite Coffee Maker Will Make You Feel Like a Barista, is just a bunch of complete bullshit. I don’t use that word lightly (and had to get editorial approval for it), but it is what it is.
Oprah has relaunched her “Favorite Things”… thing and it has one purpose, and one purpose only: to generate income. Its purpose is not to give you actual good advice on what to buy based on actual real world use by experts in the field. It’s designed to generate Oprah Inc. income. Income from the product manufacturers she promotes, and income from the links you click to buy said products. She cleans up on both ends.
And she’s not alone.
Influencer marketing is completely off the rails. You see it everywhere, from your typical “look at my awesome life!” Instagram “celebrity” to the “hey, I can smile and look good while giving you the wink wink, nudge nudge” YouTube “celebrity” to the “hey, I’m funny and I can dance and use emoji!” Tik Tok “celebrity”. Almost to a one, they are taking payments from companies to hawk products to you, the consumers of their influencing. In many cases, they are also taking a cut on the purchases you make as well, cleaning up on both ends, just like Oprah does.
Here’s the thing. There’s no value there. There’s no actual expertise there. There’s no knowledge, experience or trust. There’s no ethics, either. It’s all about the money. Using their fame and audience reach to suck coins out of your pocket.
Wouldn’t it be great if actual “influencers” actually, you know, knew something about the products they are talking about? Have as their primary motivation the intent to inform you in an ethical, balanced way about a product? We used to have that on the Internet, before social media took over and YouTube allowed videos of longer than 10 minutes. We used to have that before all consumer-written product reviews went to vendor websites like Amazon, or ad-revenue websites like Google. Do you trust any review you read on Google? I sure don’t. As for Amazon, I’ve been approached by companies for products I’ve bought on Amazon to write a 5 star review in return for some token gifts. That’s how their game works.
Fortunately, good, trustworthy information is still around, if you look hard enough. They aren’t marketers using Facebook as their only venue; they aren’t using Instagram or YouTube as their entire platforms, and they are not taking payments to talk nice about a product. In fact, you’re reading a website right now that has — as its primary motivation — to inform and educate you about your hard earned dollar purchase decisions for coffee. You can make use of this resource when trying to make an informed coffee equipment purchase, and you should encourage your friends and family to do so as well.
Other resources for other fields of interest exist as well. I love photography, and the grand daddy site of them all — Digital Photography Review — remains and entirely trusted resource if you want to make an informed camera purchase. I’m also into good audio, and that’s an industry absolutely rife with paid-for reviews and “influencer style” promoted products. Yet there still are very trustworthy (and trust-earned) websites like Headfonics, Audiobacon, and Audio Science Review, to name a few, if you want actual reviews by experts.
When you read about Oprah telling you a Nespresso capsule machine is the best thing ever for coffee, you aren’t getting an informed opinion. You aren’t hearing from someone who actually knows what they are talking about with regards to coffee and espresso. You are reading a bought and paid for opinion from a person with massive reach, and in return are clicking their links which generate even more income for a person who already has more income than many developing countries.
Stop it. Stop the influencer madness. Come back to sanity and reality, and find sources you can actually trust to inform you on products these people actually know a thing or two about. And be part of the movement to push back against dollar-driven “influencers” by promoting the websites and people who really do try to provide you with a real, informed opinion to help you spend your dollars wisely.
Natia loves coffee and relishes at the chance to write about it. She's competed in regional barista competitions in the past, and while no longer a Barista as a profession, she says espresso runs through her veins.
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Natia Simmonshttps://coffeegeek.com/author/natia_sees/
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Natia Simmonshttps://coffeegeek.com/author/natia_sees/
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Natia Simmonshttps://coffeegeek.com/author/natia_sees/
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Natia Simmonshttps://coffeegeek.com/author/natia_sees/
