A new BBC documentary, Bad Influencer: The Great Insta Con, explores the downfall of Belle Gibson, an Australian known as the bad influencer who lied about having cancer. Belle Gibson’s online presence told the story of how, after being told she only had four months to live, she ‘cured’ her inoperable brain cancer through healthy eating, according to the BBC. Around her the wellness industry, which is now worth £2.8 trillion worldwide, was booming. The general public now knew that avocados were ‘superfoods’, many people were trying to emulate the shiny epitome of health that bloggers were posting and there was little to no scrutiny of the claims being made. Influencers work by persuading their audience to purchase a product. Photos/Net In March 2015, an Australian publication exposed that Gibson had been falsely claiming to followers that she was donating a portion of her book and app sales to charity. Soon, journalists began to question and look into whether Gibson was also deceiving people about her health. In September 2017, Gibson was fined £240,000 by the Australian government for misleading readers about donating money to charity, after she was found guilty of five breaches of consumer law. Influencers have taken off and are trending for their ability to influence their followers to adapt to certain lifestyles or purchase particular services or products. Social media influencers, are known as users who have established credibility in a specific industry, have access to a huge audience and can persuade others to act based on their recommendations. However, going by the Gibson story, among other scenarios of course, should the public consider how much trust they should give to influencers? To influence is to persuade, according to Winnie Umuhoza, a businesswoman. She says, since these people are paid for their services, it’s very likely for them to do what it takes to be good at what they do. They want to be famous and want to earn money. It takes a lot of integrity for one to be genuine with their followers since it’s hard to verify whether what they are sharing is indeed based on facts or not, she says. Influencers work by persuading their audience to purchase a product or to consider an idea. On the popular social media platform Instagram, for example, successful influencers “have an established credibility and audience; who can persuade others by virtue of their trustworthiness and authenticity,” notes Frank Baker, a writer. He adds that, in the 21st century, it’s increasingly difficult to know when someone is trying to convince you to buy something. And because social media is so pervasive and popular with young people, it becomes easier for someone to spread the marketing message super-fast using that medium. With this, Brenda Umutesi an ardent social media user, advises the public to be vigilant when it comes to trusting influencers. “The internet is an awesome tool if used in the right way but one thing we need to understand is that it is totally not a safe space, especially social media. Influencers want more followers, because this means more chances for endorsement deals. Hence, they can do anything in order to attract bigger audiences, even when it means being insincere with what they do.”
