There has never been as much attention paid to a brand’s values than in this day and age. According to research by WP Engine, reported in Newsweek, “72% of Gen-Z shoppers are more likely to buy from a company that contributes to a social cause. And they claim they’re willing to spend a bit more for that product, too.” The same thinking applies to influencers.

More than a decade into the influencer economy and we now understand that our follows, likes, shares and clicks on links in bios are powerful tools that dictate the success of creators.

So when a decision with as serious and dangerous implications as last Friday’s overturning of Roe v. Wade is made, today’s consumers want to know where the brands they buy from and the influencers they follow stand. In the past week, I’ve saved 108 Instagram grid posts from fashion, beauty and wellness brands, some stating their disgust with the decision and support for the people it impacts, some announcing donations, and some announcing the ways they’ll be supporting their employees in receiving reproductive health care and access to abortions, when needed. I’ve also been closely watching the ways in which influencers have, or have not, responded and have spoken to a number of influencers about their decisions to speak out and the way such decisions play out in the current digital landscape.

It got interesting, and quite meta, as a number of influencers have now made TikToks about why they think speaking out or, at the least, making your stance known is a non-negotiable. I spoke to a number of influencers who not only chose to make their stance clear, but also to talk about why doing so, as someone with a platform, was important.

Speaking out was never a question for the influencers I spoke to. They’re not concerned about losing potential brand deals because they don’t want to work with brands who don’t share their values on choice and access to abortion. Dana Patterson, 29 (237,000 TikTok followers), feels it’s an influencer’s responsibility to make their followers feel that their page is a safe space for them.

“The reality is that people who follow us come from all walks of life, and they all deserve to feel safe on our page,” Patterson told me via Zoom. For her, that means speaking out and providing resources for information about abortion. This is not a question of “‘Do you like vanilla ice cream?’ [Instead] it’s like, ‘Do you want to have rights?’”

Meghan Rienks, a long-time YouTuber (over 2 million followers on YouTube and 164,000 on TikTok), posted to TikTok to criticize a since-deleted Instagram post made by religious influencer Jackie Hill Perry. In the post, Perry expressed her distaste for “social pressure” to “add commentary to every current event.” Rienks has posted at least eight TikToks about influencer responses …read more

Source:: Digiday