By Lindsey Schmidt, Eco-Journalism and Blogging Intern
These days, the world is plagued by overproduction and overconsumption. Overproduction is “the production of goods that exceeds the needs of the consumers who are consuming them” and overconsumption is “what happens when an ecosystem can no longer sustain the use of its resources.” This problem is especially apparent in America, which is responsible for the consumption of 17% of the world’s energy. Social media sites such as TikTok promote overconsumption by “influencing” viewers to purchase unnecessary items or pieces of clothing in order to be “trendy.”
How does overconsumption impact the environment?
In an interview with NPR, J. B. MacKinnon, author of The Day the World Stops Shopping, discusses the impact of shopping on the environment. MacKinnon states that multiple environmental issues are tied to overconsumption, including deforestation, toxic pollution, climate change, and the extinction of species. One surprising impact on the environment that MacKinnon describes is consumerism’s impact on whales. Whales’ ability to communicate with each other can be hindered by the noise pollution caused by searching for materials on the seafloor, and whales can be struck and killed by cargo ships hauling goods overseas.
Additionally, a large portion of products purchased nowadays are purchased via online retailers such as Amazon. Online shopping has additional environmental impacts caused by the amount of packaging used and the transportation of products directly to consumers’ homes. Annually, 86 million tons of plastic packaging are produced and three billion trees are pulped to make 241 million tons of shipping cartons. The production of the packaging used to ship goods contributes largely to CO2 emissions, and only a small portion of it is recycled. In terms of shipment, the distribution and return of goods is responsible for a large fraction of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2020, shipment and return of goods accounted for 37% of all GHG emissions. Social media sites such as TikTok have only exacerbated the issue by encouraging consumers to buy unnecessary items and to take advantage of many companies’ new online return policies.
How does TikTok encourage overconsumption?
TikTok is a popular social media platform that has the ability to reach large numbers of people all over the world. Recently, videos that tout Amazon “must-haves” have risen in popularity, garnering hundreds of thousands of likes each. In these videos, creators will display recent purchases they have made on Amazon and encourage their followers to buy those items as well, claiming they have made their lives easier or more enjoyable in some way. A lot of these videos will also stick to cheap items, with some videos boasting Amazon finds for $10 or less. Cheap items increase consumption even more as they are more accessible to the average viewer.
On TikTok, aesthetics and microtrends run rampant. Aesthetics such as “clean girl,” “vanilla girl,” and “cottagecore” appeal to viewers as ways that they can stay on trend and fit in with a group. Consumers will buy makeup products, accessories, and more in order to fit in to their desired aesthetic. Unfortunately, the internet moves so quickly now that these trends come and go in a heartbeat. Viewers will spend money trying to conform to a clean girl, minimalist aesthetic only to desire a new, more maximalist aesthetic in just a couple of months. In this way, aesthetics and microtrends on TikTok encourage rapid consumption and subsequent trashing of unnecessary items.
If that isn’t bad enough, viewers’ “For You” pages (FYP) are customized based on users’ past likes and search histories using a technique called neuromarketing. Neuromarketing allows social media platforms to tailor their content and advertisements to their viewers’ tastes and preferences, showing them products they are more likely to purchase without using more obvious techniques like surveys. Users’ TikTok algorithms are customized based on their activity; thus, videos that encourage consumption of unnecessary goods will advertise products that users seem interested in. Neuromarketing increases the likelihood of rapid purchases being made by consumers, contributing to overconsumption.
What is “de-influencing” and does it work to decrease consumption?
In response to the overconsumption promoted by TikTok, some influencers have started what’s now become known as “de-influencing.” De-influencing videos typically involve creators duetting videos that promote overconsumption and explaining why each item shown in the video is unnecessary. In some cases, de-influencers might even make fun of the item a bit so that a consumer may feel embarrassed about purchasing said item. One example is user Hannah 2.0 (@hellohellohannah). In one video, Hannah duets a TikTok that promotes a cutting board with extra spots for food containers and an iPad, a handheld butter cutter, and an ice cream scoop that heats up for easier scooping. Hannah responds to these items by saying “why would you want your counter to look like the local Subway” as well as pointing out the lack of need for an iPad stand in a cutting board, “you mean a knife” (in response to the handheld butter cutter), and “just let the ice cream sit on the counter for a minute.” Another de-influencing TikToker is Michelle (@michelleskidelsky), who posts similar videos.
Oftentimes, the comments on these videos claim that the user did what they intended to do and convinced the consumer to avoid buying the products advertised. The types of de-influencing videos as posted by Hannah and Michelle often provide alternatives that the viewer most likely already has in their home, such as using a butter knife instead of a handheld butter cutter. However, there is a problem with de-influencing: some users have started using the trend as a way to promote other products instead. In other words, users will explain why one product is useless and then promote another product that the viewer can purchase instead, which does not reduce the promotion of consumption. As such, viewers should learn to be wary of products that are promoted on TikTok, thinking through the practicalities of an item, if and when they’d actually use it, whether or not it’s in their budget, and if they already own an item that can easily do the job of the product promoted on TikTok. If consumers can learn how to evaluate and think critically about an item’s usefulness, we may begin to see a decrease in overconsumption and the environmental problems associated with it.
