"link in bio" & affiliate culture | Internet Analysis
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- Опубликовано: 28 июн 2024
- let's discuss... AFFILIATE LINKS! // Download Two Dots here: twodots.onelink.me/8e55/0704t...
PATREON: / tiffanyferg
Full video episodes of Internet Analysis are available to watch/listen on SPOTIFY! Follow the show here: open.spotify.com/show/1lec8eA...
♥ Instagram: / tferg__
♥ Vlog / Second Channel: bit.ly/tfergvlogs
TIME STAMPS:
0:00 - intro
1:05 - affiliate marketing??
3:02 - thanks to today's sponsor!
4:06 - "gatekeeping" products
5:32 - "pretty girls don't gatekeep"
8:59 - Amazon Storefronts
11:34 - tiktok made me buy it
12:48 - trust in influencers & ad disclosures
17:59 - some of this has MLM vibes...
19:28 - my recent major purchase regret...
21:50 - shopping is hard these days
RESOURCES & REFERENCES:
"How the Great Recession paved the way for influencers to inherit the earth" by Rebecca Jennings - www.vox.com/the-goods/2361895...
Gatekeeping As a Mechanism of Systemic Racism: Bipoc Student Perspectives - sswr.confex.com/sswr/2022/web...
How to Do a Reverse Image Search From Your Phone - www.pcmag.com/index.php/how-t...
"Leaked emails reveal what Amazon offers to pay influencers to post shoppable livestreams, and its requirements" by Amanda Perelli - www.businessinsider.com/leake...
"The FTC's endorsement guides: what people are asking" - www.ftc.gov/business-guidance...
Tiffany Ferguson (she/her), 27 years old. #internetanalysis #affiliatemarketing #linkinbio
Business Inquiries: tiffanyferguson@select.co
This episode was co-written by Sheriden Smith!
Captions / video transcription by: / slowxmoxpanda (She is looking for more caption work, so feel free to reach out to her on Twitter!)
FTC: This video is sponsored by Two Dots. Links with * are affiliate, meaning I am compensated monetarily if you join or make a purchase. 
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hello again!! let's explore affiliate culture... // Download Two Dots here: twodots.onelink.me/8e55/0704tiffanyferg
Hey, could you link Hannah's tiktok? (At 16:43 .) I'd really like to follow them, I could use some de-influencing. If you did and I missed it, I'm sorry! I did look, promise.
I've been playing two dots for around 7 years!!!! I love it so much! Even thousands of levels in haha it is still challenging!
After seeing your video about games I was left wondering if you played two dots, I've been playing since 2019, I'm on level 3020 and have not spent any money on it
Actually playing this game, seriously love it! Always falling back to it when I’m feeling overwhelmed.
Literally been playing Two Dots since the beginning (and Dots before that lol). This was a very unexpected sponsorship but way way better than a Raid one.
someone pointed out to me the other day that the slogan starts with REDUCE first. then reuse and recycle. we all need to stop over consuming! it’s so hard tho
Yes!! People think its okay to constantly buy cheap stuff cause they can "just donate it" like that cancels how their actions affect the planet when most of the stuff in thrift stores end up in landfills anyways especially when they are bad quality.
@@goldenapple3952 it’s also lately people buying 10 stanley cups in different colors because “they’re reusable” but it’s like did you need 10?? no. you’re still contributing to the problem… 😞
In the beginning it may seem hard to reduce, but after a while it's the easiest thing to do. Especially when you see the money starting to pile (slowly but surely). You just need to switch on that voice inside you that asks: what does this really serve?; and Do I already have something that does the same? Be more sceptic and remember, those videos exist so that some other people make money off of you buying them. That's why they are so enticing.
@@byyrd806 I also think that context and our age helps a lot as well. When I was in my mid twenties, living in a foreign country and making a good wage, I got into a lot of debt as I was consuming a lot. I was very exposed to shopping and felt like I needed to play the part, so I got in a lot of debt. When I came back to my home country, I had little savings, debt, and not such great perspectives on making such a good salary. Whilst it was very hard, I forced myself to stop overspending, payed off my debt and started to save. It was very difficult, but almost 10 years later I am very proud of what I am able to do today: I don't have any personal debt (only on my business), I have enough to buy things if I need them and I don't feel like I am missing out if I don't buy something I see online. And I watch and enjoy videos like "tiktok made me buy it", I just watch them as a way of entertainment. Every now and again I may put some object on my cart, but usually they stay there for a month or so before I decide to buy them. The important thing is to stop impulse buying, I guess.
Way more enticing and easy to buy a cheap crappy version or replace(instead of pay for repair)
An aspect I feel like ive been succeeding in is shoes, i only keep shoes that are really comfortable and I like, and try to get those repaired or buy new laces. And only bought new work out shoes cause my old ones were being repaired and still wanted to go to the gym haha(but still use the old ones regularly)
Tldr, focus on one category and try making more sustainable decisions 😊
Could you do a deep dive on the take over of third party sellers? I am honestly so tired of going onto Amazon, target, Walmart, basically any site and being bombarded with a ton of 3rd party options - seeing the same exact item being sold by 8 different brands and the only difference is the logo they slapped onto it. I feel like it’s also created an issue of finding products that are actually good quality.
Salem Tovar actually released a similar video today going over this very topic of third party sellers (especially on TikTok), and also covers a lot of the points that Tiffany makes in this video!
YES!!! This is a huge problem on Etsy too! Which is…. incredibly ironic lol
Yes!! This is soooo incredibly frustrating. I never know what kind of product I am going to be receiving, it's like a complete gamble!
i was just complaining about this yesterday, how etsy has let their website turn into another amazon essentially and it’s really frustrating. i go to etsy, the small business online store, to buy something from a small business and am hit with 20 ads from shops with 40k reviews the first 30 seconds of scrolling. so frustrating
@@cybersucia omg yes.. i go to Etsy to find stuff from small businesses and independent artists and it’s so sad to see those stores drowned out by shein third party sellers :/
the “worst products i’ve ever bought” or “what i regret buying” filled with things that were actually ~too perfect drives me INSANE.
It's called preference.
@@pearlybeautthe issue isn’t with preference, the issue is with when you are searching for bad reviews of a product to learn what specific flaws it has,
and all the “bad reviews” say it’s too perfect
and have no actual criticism
Tiffany, I know you're hard on yourself for the content you produce and your youtubing capabilities but I just wanted to say that your topics of choice are always so in touch, and fitting to current internet trends whilst also being niche and unique. You should definitely pride yourself more on highlighting these online trends and creating an analysis about something that floats around a lot of our minds that we never actually address ourselves, or think to address. I was just telling my boyfriend now that your uploads never miss, they're always perfect timing in line with the continual internet culture evolution despite how long it must take to analyse, refine, write, create and film these videos. It's like you're always several steps ahead. I have to give credit where credit is due and I don't think you get told this enough! Lots of love and admiration x
This is so kind, thank you!! Might have to print this out and leave it by my desk LMAO but seriously thanks again 💛💛💛
Preach! Seriously, love her vids and that green shirt with her eyes is fire. Keep it up!
So true!!
In touch to what fat yt women have to worry about. Fixed that for you
Came here to say like the same thing. Every one feels like a paper I wanna read but it's better because it's a great video I get to watch!
hearing gatekeeping used in this context gives the same energy as when I was sitting in a pep rally, as a high school sophomore, and watching a freshman (a white, middle-class rich girl) shouting "this is segregation! you can't segregate me! there are laws!" at a group of seniors who wouldn't let her sit with them at the front of the bleachers
I got second hand embarrassment reading that yikes💀
Ugh
I’ve been getting so annoyed lately on social media because of THIS exact thing. Why can’t people watch a video without wanting exactly what that person has? No video can exist anymore without someone commenting asking where they bought something.
Do we really need more stuff?? All the time??
You're right, we don't need new stuff all the time. Who are these people that can afford this anyway? I was so excited I did a cartwheel that the price of eggs went down a few dimes.
Thank you!! This stuff really annoys me and before it used to be mostly on tiktok but now it’s everywhere. Someone will be wearing a boring white shirt and another person will be asking where’s that from! Like please step outside, you’ll see stuff. This just makes online shopping worse and people feel the need to leave their houses less and less and get in touch with reality and people/things around them. Whenever I see those comments I’m so tempted to respond but i just have to hold myself
😅 i watch art youtubers and definitely bought a few of the same items because i saw how they used it an went "oh hey i could try this" or "that's a nice style brush". though the one i watched it from just shows what they use on a daily basis. that set of brushes really was a good purchase for when i wanted to do line art.
When I think about how much ***stuff*** Amazon affiliate influencers must have in their houses I feel an anxiety attack coming on
They probably turn right around and return it all.
while i do agree that a content creator is never obligated to post the link to a product and that learning how to google something yourself is important, a flip side also exists where influencers will weaponize hiding a product name as a means of engagement. there are a few beauty influencers i used to follow who would often speak incredibly positively about products in a video, but never mention the specific product or even the brand, only showing themselves applying the product to the point where it was hard to even see details of the packaging. then, there would be dozens or even hundreds of comments asking about the product or complaining that the influencer never shared the item name, which just meant the withholding of information was just another method to boost engagement with the video.
OOOH fascinating! I actually wrote a line about thinking that was a strategy for feeding engagement but ended up cutting it - that’s wild! But I believe it definitely happens sometimes
It’s so true I hated that!
That reminds me of the TikTok influencer who blocks people that reply to comments saying where the items are from.
@@misslola145 people who do that are the worst. If you aren’t going to tell people, at least let others say it for you.
Can you make a video about drop shipping? I work as a TikTok content moderator, and the amount of videos i see of young guys and teenagers giving tips on how to resell products from aliexpress,a libaba pandashop etc to make profits is astounding. It's also very mlm-adjacent, bc they have "links to learn" idk very scammy and it fills websites like etsy, which used to be handmade crafts with trash that cost them 10 cents to resell.
THIS
I made a video a few years ago on scammy Twitter ads and it covered some of the dropshipping issue! But I am still fascinated
I’m so exhausted by the fact that etsy is now full of dropshippers and Amazon sellers, while Target and Walmart online stores have become copies of Amazon by including third party shippers and sellers. And Google hasn’t caught up because their shopping page will mark Walmart and Target as “trusted stores” when sure they are but the seller on their site selling that item isn’t necessarily trusted. I’ve found dropshippers on secondhand apps like Poshmark and Mercari too. As someone who shops almost exclusively online because of mobility reasons, I find it all overwhelming and frustrating.
Facebook marketplace is just flooded with drop shippers now too it makes me so sad.
It genuinely annoys me so much that tiktok will take a word that has a specific meaning, and then use it in a completely wrong way. Some of these words have significant meaning (gatekeep, gaslight), and using them incorrectly minimizes and trivializes the damage associated with them. Gatekeeping is often used to keep women and POC out of fields, and seeing spoiled brats saying someone is gatekeeping (in a mildly misogynistic way) because they won't name drop a brand is infuriating.
It's not just Tiktok. Even politicians using the word "woke" as a bad thing when POC communities have used it to mean being more aware of systemic issues.
This has happened repeatedly with the word racism imo. In other ways as well but specifically it’s been confused with other words such as xenophobia and ignorance which ties into racism but all apply to separate, a lot of times integrated but not always, categories or situations. Like people need to seriously understand what racism is and means before they just use it, whether intentionally or not, as a replacement word to describe a situation that may not be racism explicitly or a 1/3 or 2/3 of racism like what I listed, xenophobia or ignorance. It will honestly just look to others as if this person calling out racism is unintelligent and just saying it to accuse someone. Which just leads to more generalising of ppl who genuinely are trying to ya’know fight against the racism crap and all of that. But I suppose it isn’t that serious. Just sayin.
@@traplover6357black people existing in a movie typically invokes this response and it’s hilarious. Like imagine being mad because someone is brown.
@@traplover6357 True, but I think Republicans are deliberately distorting the word to use as propaganda, and they fully know that what they are doing is hurting people (like with "grooming"). I think the Tiktok thing is more people having absolutely no clue what they are saying. Obviously more trivial terms, but it makes me think of the whole "female gaze" thing or saying "flared leggings" when they've been called yoga pants for decades
@@remigal899 Agreed. Some words have more weight, and throwing them around undermines the severity and seriousness of the meanings attached to them. It harms legitimate causes or issues.
You know what’s crazy? When i was a kid I looked up to Hilary Duff sooo much. She was my idol- I wanted to dress like her, sing like her, heck I even got my first highlights because of her. But she wasn’t constantly trying to sell me something.. like sure she’s selling me her product of music/shows/movie, and maybe a brand deal in a commercial or two. But imagine if you’re a kid and preteen getting access to money and someone you look up to so much is giving you links to everything they’re being paid to promote. They’re being primed to over consume before they can even go to the mall by themselves. Idk maybe I’m off base but influencers are the new celebrities for this gen, and their job is literally to curate a life you want so you’ll buy want they sell. It’s very strange and i hope there a tipping point soon.
I used to be a “buy cute tiny things I don’t need just because I want to and I can” girlie until I looked around and realized I was surrounded in stupid sh*t that I don’t even like. Gave most of it away to neighbors and friends. Now I’m a hyper minimalist because my brain is cluttered enough as is.
Theres only one type of Amazon influencer: "blocked"
😭👌👌👌👌
Great analysis. This is very similar much of the online woodworking/maker content. So many channels have just become conduits for selling power tools.
A couple of creators I really admire have done videos lately that feel a lot like undisclosed sponsorships. It’s really bugging me.
I’m not sure enough to call them out, but at the same time the close up on the immaculate drill or rack of batteries that are “used all the time”, when the rest of the workshop is a hot mess?! Every single tool for that project is coincidentally the same brand… really?
My husband is a woodworker and complains about this exact thing
@@SousynedI’d call it out. I’m pretty sure there’s a law or platform policy to disclose sponsorships
Omg Steve Ramsey? Was so long ago I watched your channel!!
If I want tool recommendations I'd look to up myself and ask people I know who use those tools
I make a lot of my own clothing so the where did you get this convo often goes like this :
" I love your [item] where did you get it!"
"Oh, I made it!"
"Wow it's so cute, please make one for me!"
Like, no, this is a hobby, I don't want to. And I kind of like having stuff that's unique and just for me. But people really don't like that answer!
You could calculate how much they'd have to pay for a hand made object and I am sure they won't be interested anymore 😅
@@happytofu5 oh I've done that too but and it invariably leads down the road of "but then how are the clothes I buy so cheap" and we have to have a discussion about child unethucal/ unfair/ criminal labour practises 🫠
Anyone who crafts can relate 😭
calling it gatekeeping to not tell someone where you got something is insane to me. like i’ve got t shirts older than these kids, how tf am i gonna remember where i got every single thing in my 27 years or life
My mom has a pic of her preggers with ME wearing my favorite shirt (yes, i stole it from her closet). There is no link XD
@@ItBeThatWaySometimes What exactly is unbelievable about that? Aside from the fact that I liked buying baggy shirts when I was in middle school that still fit, you know hand me downs and thrift stores exist right?
@@grimmgoosegoose216 Damn I know I’m guilty of stealing t shirts my mom had before I was born lol it’s how I have so many FDNY t shirts
why do you feel obligated to tell where your items from even if you bought them 2 months ago?
Literally like half of my wardrobe used to be my older sisters clothes how am I supposed to know lol
My biggest tip about avoiding amazon is literally to just go without. So often I’ll want something and will look around for it and only be able to find it on Amazon. Because of that I’ll refuse to buy it. 99% of the time I forget I wanted it or I find it randomly in person. I’ve found there are very few things that will really improve my life how I thought and if I really needed it, I’ll remember when I see it in person.
Also, I friggin’ love two dots! I’ve been playing it for like 7 years and it is such a fun and pretty pocket game :)
I suffer from the same nightmare. And conventions/concerts/events where they hand out free ANYTHING is at the top of my list of things to avoid. Free tote bags, free pens, notebooks, stress balls. Total garbage that never needed to be produced is then handed out/passed down to me, so I am now responsible for its existence and inevitable disposal. I hate it.
Even birthday and Xmas gifts from ppl you don't know well. Please. Stop. Spend time with me, make/buy me a meal, or just give me money! But I beg, the LAST thing I want is a Slanket knockoff that I will never, ever, ever wear.
Honestly, I primarily buy used /secondhand clothes and all my furniture was "thrifted"- so much so that if someone asked me where I purchased something I likely wouldn't have a clue where they could get it too. I am now concerned someone will think I'm gatekeeping 😅
same
Same
Right? Like, don't get me wrong, I always hype up my thrift shop finds, but what if they think I'm just trying to throw them off finding the same shirt??
Nah you don’t need to worry about that. It’s super common to have thrifted clothes or maybe something that was a gift and you genuinely don’t know where it’s from. If someone asks and they’re really interested I’ll tell them they can look at the tag since usually they’re on your back and I can’t see back there lmao. The gatekeeping comes into play when the person knows and is very overtly not telling you the brand for some reason. There’s a kind of smugness that comes along with it and sometimes if they’re “gatekeeping” they’ll shut down other people trying to guess/say where it’s from
I was worried about coming off this way as well, but thankfully this sort of speak is more common online than in person. Rarely do I get a person commenting on the brand of my clothing in person vs online.
Thank you for explaining why a guy said that I was "gatekeeping" when I told him that I got my pants from goodwill and didn't know the brand name
90% of what i wear is thrifted, so when people compliment me i’ll say “thanks, i thrifted it!” to share my excitement with finding such a steal. recently i mentioned this to a friend and she said “i never say where something i’m wearing is from unless i know they can get it, bc i dont want people to think i’m withholding that from them.” it kinda surprised me…i was just sharing bc i think its fun to know, but now i wonder if people have thought i was intentionally being vague about my clothes…? its a very weird thing
I so *SO* appreciate that you upload videos with captions already live! It makes it so much easier to follow along with the great content you make! Thanks again 🤗
I agree! Also fantastic username
I stopped shopping on Amazon about 4 years ago and it is doable, but can be difficult. It can take a long time to find something I need in-person or at a different online shop.
Shopping in-person is also incredibly difficult if you are a larger size because they don’t always carry them at the store. I always get stuck buying something online that doesn’t fit anyway. I want to try things on! It’s even harder now that I am pregnant. No stores carry maternity clothes except Target.
I always hated shopping in person and I am an old. For example, if you want a white button-down you have to go from store to store to find one that meets your criteria and it probably won't be left in your size. Online shopping brings the opposite problem -- too many choices and it takes forever to make a decision.
I’ve tried to reduce my Amazon shopping since they gouged their grocery delivery fees in March. That was kind of the last straw. I still get most of my stuff from Amazon because of their free shipping and two-day delivery. But if I can find something offered cheaper or the same price elsewhere and can wait, I order from that other place. If it’s a brand, I sometimes check if they have their own website and compare prices. Sometimes it’s faster to do a Google search where you would’ve done an Amazon search, because Amazon results will show up in Google. Also Google Shopping will rank the prices including shipping which is handy.
When shopping for clothes, easy returns is always a requirement for me. Since I struggle to even do Amazon returns because I can’t drive, I make sure whoever I’m buying from offers free returns compatible with free pickup.
@@cathyl3526 I never buy clothes online because I’m always worried it won’t fit right. I once worked at an online shopping fulfillment center and I swear almost all the returns was because the size was off. Not to mention the inconsistencies in women’s sizing
It depends on your area (thrifting is really big in mine since there's a lot of people) but some of the really good thrift stores sell larger sized clothes without a markup. From what I've seen, it tends to be stores where the money goes to a cause like ones where the money goes to domestic abuse shelters. Ones that market more towards vintage and older adults tend to have more sizes too.
it's this stuff and the thrift store resellers who make me wonder how these people survive. i try genuinely selling stuff on ebay and don't see traction for months, but it isn't taking up as much space as, say, buying hauls of clothing to sell and it sitting around until somebody pays for something that would have been .75c at goodwill
I knew someone who did reselling through eBay , he would get sales everyday. It wasn’t nearly enough to make a genuine living , but he has rich parents who would fund everything for him so it’s probably the rich parent loophole for most people I assume
I used to do reselling, and did really well. I made about $4k profit one summer casually reselling vintage toys. But it is definitely not as easy as the youtubers like to make it out to be. I stopped once all my debts were paid off because doing it on top of a full-time job was tiring, and doing reselling full-time seemed too unstable in this recession-looming environment.
As a reseller it’s not a difficult job but the hardest part is advertising. I don’t buy at thrift stores a resell, but you have to really be on top of trends. Currently my y2k clothes sell super fast and some of my other stuff just doesn’t.
god that thing about gatekeeping drives me crazy. like, i don't use tiktok all that much anymore and i think a big part of it was this like culture of HAVING to have links and such. like even in real life i'm getting so much more "where did you buy that" questions and it's so strange. like i have platform docs, one time i was doing this painting thing and accidentally covered them in these flecks of white paint and accepted their fate, ever since people have been like expecting some sort of link or something. like... i'm very much into the sort of diy punk subculture so i feel like i'm like always gonna be heated about that sort of consumerism but it's like genuinely terrible. it's like a slap in the face when i get that question on something i've deliberately altered or something. consumerism is like, destroying individuality
I also alter my own stuff and if you just say "oh actually I altered this" and maybe tell them where the original item is from, people usually just compliment you on the item and sometimes it even inspires them to try altering something themselves. The products we buy are not what make us individuals and I don't understand why it would be a slap in the face for someone to openly admire something that you put work into.
@@rinesserin well not all people just compliment you, i have had people approach me to compliment me on something and when they asked where it was from and i explained i either thrifted or altered it, only for them to act like i was lying to try and “gatekeep”. It’s not the standard reaction but it does happen sometimes, also depends on your surroundings
most of the time it's young teenagers asking that who assume everything is something that a fast fashion brand recently released
I have a theory! People purposely don’t say where something is from in the caption do this to drive “please link” comments which in turn drives engagement with the post. When the creator is then satisfied with engagement, they will “post the link in stories” and comment back saying -“check my story”. This again drives more engagement. It’s all a calculated game 🤪.
…this makes so much sense. I am autistic and am 30. One of many reasons I stopped using TikTok was how stressful it could be that people would get mad at me when I said I couldn’t remember where I bought certain clothing I had since middle school.
Or- I’ve always been involved in alternative subcultures so I’ve been altering my own clothing since I was a preteen. This was the only way I could afford to wear goth/punk/misc japanese subculture fashion. It was also always part of subculture to be very DIY. So I was very confused when I got yelled at and called classist after I stated why I couldn’t provide a link.
Sometimes, I would buy clothing when I got the rare chance to visit family overseas. So if my reason for why I didn’t have a link for the item I had for over a decade was “I bought it in a consignment store while visiting family overseas years ago,” I would get yelled at even though I was just stating where I bought it since it was asked. Very confusing.
TLDR; Your video really demystified people’s reactions to me and I really appreciate it! Thank you
Tiffany please read the book “the cost of free shipping”. It’s about how Amazon functions and the work conditions of its staff- in the US and around the world. It’s mostly based on interviews with Amazon staff. I think it’s a great book but quite difficult to read. You are a great communicator so if you read it and brought some of the messages from it in a more understandable manner to your audience that could really give a voice to the people most affected by Amazon
not enough people talking about affiliate marketing. thanks for covering this tiff!
The hatred over not telling people where you got things from has always driven me mad bc I have severe adhd and I genuinely do forget. People love to act like it’s malicious but many people are just spacey, myself included. Inattentive people are never trying to be rude with forgetting things and I swear the steryotupe that it’s just mean girl behavior has fallen on forgetful people hard ash I am so scared of people complementing my outifits now
The lolita fashion community faced this "gatekeeping" issue for a while. We would try to educate people on the fashion and explain where to get it and where to not get it and we would be called elitist bitches, gatekeepers etc. It got to the point where lolitas just stopped answering questions about the fashion altogether.
oh this feels specifically targeted at me, even before tiktok existed I'd experienced someone getting mad at me for "hiding" where I got some random item. I genuinely might not remember until an hour later. Half my stuff was hand me downs. But now most of my closet is thrifted so I can just say that and they're just gonna have to be okay with it lol
I feel this. People accused me of not telling them about my hair dye back in 2014 with the redheah craze. Im a natural ginger😭
Lol they can stay mad
Sorry you had to experience that
@@neurotten2422
That lowkwy comedy I'm sorry xD. But for real that's ridiculous to accuse someone of hiding a product when someone can't instantly name the item
So hype Tiffany can make a living doing this!!!!!
VERY KIND 🥲
Very shocked to hear that. She's such a small creator in comparison. I love the content and I'm happy for her but jeez, we making people bloody rich for nothing.
@@abi7497 making a living vs making someone rich are two very different things. also, don’t look at small content creators for being rich. people like pewdiepie and mr beast exist.
@@abi7497 I'm not sure how you meant this to come across, but your comment really reads like a backhanded compliment. Like, you say you're happy for her, but then immediately compare her to people being made rich for doing nothing, when 1) she says that she can make a living doing this, not that it's made her wealthy and 2) it's clear how much time and effort goes into each of her videos.
It also comes across like you weren't fully listening to her, considering how many times that she pointed out that content creation *is* work, and that people deserve to be paid for said work.
Again, not sure if that's what you intended, just wanted to point it out so you're aware.
@@abi7497what do you mean for nothing? she clearly puts a lot of work into researching, writing, and overall creating her videos.
I think it's interesting that online influencers are required by law to be transparent about ads, however films and television shows often subtly advertise products. Product placement is so common and not at all transparent advertising.
Yeah they don't do it so much here anymore. I remember back in the 80s when the TV show had a commercial break and there was actually an announcer who said "And now a word from our sponsors". I also watch Korean dramas and they do a lot of product placement, but at the end of the episode they flash all the company's logos on the screen that they helped to endorse.
On the UK there has to be a 'P' in the corner at the start of a show with product placement
I guess it depends form place to place, but i dont think those laws are not enforced most of the time. Ive seen so many people online lying about products and about not being affiliated its not even funny
In my country they need to put a product placement warning at the start of a movie, but they don't disclose what product before or during. So I feel it's not as transparent as it could/should be.
This just reminded me of all the product placement in kdramas
5:24 I love this trend bc I happily say things like "dumpster diving" or "from a dorm once everyone left" or "I made it" and you can just tell it makes ppl think damn maybe there is a way to get clothes besides shopping!
I stopped trusting sponsored posts forever ago bc of all the horrendous reccs I got for specifically makeup products. And the Amazon affiliate thing is so annoying! The amount of stupid wasteful things especially for organizing kitchen and refrigerators is insane. All of them are a waste of time and money.
for me in-person stores are not only poorly stocked, but also often a mess! every target i've been to in the past year has looked like a hurricane went through, almost completely unorganized (and thus difficult to find my size)
I rarely ever go to a brick-and-mortar anymore. I like shopping from the comfort of my home. I like to easily search and scroll all the products without having to put up with crazy people in public. And wasting gas driving there, trying to find a parking space etc.
@@Yellow-Rose what crazy people?
I love shopping in person but I also only support places that pay their workers and staff adequately. The stores are messy because they refuse to hire and pay enough people
Oh! Fascinating topic, stoked to watch this!
Edit: Stellar video, great sentiments! Also this reminded of when I was accused of ‘gatekeeping’ my clothes because I told this girl that they were thrifted and she refused to believe me lol
Man. I cannot wait for that to become an issue for me when I start making my own clothes!
i dont like this new culture that is forming around clothes
Last time I went clothes shopping it was me in pj's sorting frantically while girls wearing name brand raced me to good stuff. 100% obvious resellers. All the time.
I rarely buy new clothes, and when I do, it's second-hand. Usually when someone asks me where I bought an item I genuinely can't recall, because I keep the same clothes for years upon years.
I didn't run to this notification, I SPRINTED
SUNDAY HANGOUT TIMEEEE
@@tiffanyferg really helps with the Sunday Scaries 🥺
"Everything leads back to Amazon" is totally engineered. They purposefully stock several options for everything, often as the same exact generic item with a different made up brand name. This is also part of the reason why you'll find expensive items significantly cheaper only on Amazon. Brick and mortar stores can't compete with the selection on Amazon so some rely on only stocking popular items to better utilize expensive retail real estate.
I'd say try to buy second hand. I got a treadmill second hand for 250 I think, it was practically brand new and a good make and model compared to the new ones it was worth about 600 to 900. Also ik this is probably too late but if anyone else sees this, if your treadmill is slipping make sure the belt is on tight enough (some recomend you tighten it even x times you use it) and just stick with it, mine was slipping cause the last owners didn't use it
I'm amazed that anyone can even _find_ a treadmill that isn't second hand. I was convinced that we've all been collectively passing around the only 100 treadmills in existence. She must have bought one created that year to replace those treadmills that finally croaked. You gotta maintain that global population somehow after all, or else there won't be enough genetic diversity to keep the gene belt moving (albeit, squeakily).
(I'm sorry for this comment)
So true, I think repair culture needs to make a comeback. It can actually be fun learning repair skills and satisfying when you get something working properly again - and can save something from landfill, save you money, and save the energy and materials that would have gone into replacing it with a brand new thing. I recently fixed something in my laptop, it took me hours and hours of googling and trying things but when I got it working I was so happy, and saved myself the money of replacing the laptop
@@JimiCanRead I wouldn't even call it a repair, I'd say it was just sticking with it to make sire it works
@@toffiet3347 there is only a limited time for refunds.
@Iamfukked that's true. With mine, it took less than a week to correct it but I know that's not always the case. I'd say before you run to return it try to fix it within reason, don't do anything that would void return policy
Oh my god I totally feel that responsibility for items I haven't been using. The guilt and the shameeee. I feel that.
Its so bizarre hearing people rely on Amazon for so many things and finding it difficult to escape from but here in New Zealand where thrifting and secondhand shopping is super common, I dont think ive ever had a moment where I even considered getting an item from Amazon, let alone 'being forced to use it'.
It's likely a lot of reasons. New Zealand as an island country pretty fair away from the rest of the world (aside from Australia ofc) isn't.....really used to the concept of 'same-day shipping' if you're buying packages from other parts of the world. There's a stronger sense of climage change conciousness among the general public, and people are very 'Function Over Fashion'.
yeah as an Australian I agree. I've never used Amazon probably never will, even the times I've looked at it the shipping cost has made it seriously not worth it. I remember recently someone from the US said something to me when I was talking about how bad tiktok amazon consumerism is like 'oh like you've never bought anything from amazon...' and it kinda made me laugh cos like, I literally haven't it's a Very US thing
The struggle of trying to research and sift through reviews for what the best item to buy is very relatable... Fantastic video!
Deleted my Amazon account in 2020, and honestly never give it a second thought. Makes me much more aware of what I really need/want. Would rather think about a product I want for months, do my research and be happy once I found the right one, then hastily buy items that pop into my mind, or get recommended countless times on social media. I’m not very likely to purchase something though a sponsored post, but I’ll give it a little engagement to support the creator I like. However, when I start to notice that all of their content revolves around their sponsorships and brand deals, I start to lose interest. I started supporting them for their content, not their advertising.
omg the "reasons NOT to buy..." "things i regret buying" etc. type of videos that are sarcastic or meaning the opposite of what they say in order to promote products are THE MOST INFURIATINGGG because they get me every time i'm genuinely like oh fr?? why not?? 👀 and it turns out i got bamboozled into watching an ad like!!!!!! and i never knew about the creator you included (hellohellohannah) who gives valid reasons to not impulse buy certain trendy items and THAT is what i want to see more of!! but i feel like people who are candidly making content like that are being drowned out by the aforementioned group :/
i saw a tiktok where somebody claimed a person was "gatekeeping" their crochet pattern because they wouldn't share it...for FREE. The pattern was available. It was for SALE. Some people are so entitled and throw "gatekeeping" around as if they are entitled to getting things for free and it's insane
i think its really interesting to talk about the way product placement has become part of daily content we consume even outside of big media like movies or ads on TV. "influencers" are people you can trust, they're just like you and me so OBVIOUSLY you should trust them when they say a product is good! (even if they're being paid to say it's good). it's like everything has to become an ad at some point and it's not really the fault of the creator that it's more sustainable for their income that way, but it feels like a weird branch of how everything in your life as a creator has the pressure to be monetized for it to be worth it. you play a game? it should be sponsored! you wear a cool outfit? affiliate link for the outfit! even making good tweets will have someone touting some weird scam, just because the act of making something popular feels like you're missing out if you're not benefitting from it outside of the good brain feel when numbers go up. that's not even the fault of people who promote the products, just that of the culture we live in and it's expectations online.
another different thing: if you're a creator with an audience who likes supporting you as well, some people are happy to go out of their way to by affiliate link q tips if they know their fav is getting a kickback from it as well. i've even asked friends if they're sponsored by brands or things i was thinking about buying cause i know even if i dont like the product im still supporting them somewhat. i dont know if there's a moral to that, it's just a thing i was thinking about lmao
anyway, it is always a good day when you upload. thank you for the consistently good content to listen to watch and listen to while i make dinner :)
As someone with ADHD & Autism, this stuff is both a blessing and a curse. I do have a policy of "investing" in products that make my life easier; either by saving spoons or removing forks (like cushions for my god awful office chair at work). But it's also super easy to get caught up in the impulsivity of a lot of these buys. Unless it's something I'm super sure I want I try to stick it in a wishlist and come back to it later when the dopamine rush has worn off and I can examine the items with a clearer head.
oh man the line about "does anyone else feel shame about owning an item you never use" line hit hard as I have like 3 bags of clothes behind me to donate. They aren't even out of style or anything, they just straight up do not fit me anymore (or my sister- I think a bag is hers too). I literally cannot wear them. And yet I have procrastinated taking them to a thrift store or something for MONTHS because I'm like... they're just going to be thrown away. And everyone says "just do a clothing swap with friends/sell them online!" which negates the sheer amount of time that takes to organize and coordinate if anyone is even interested in doing that at all... I don't even have a lot of clothes, I don't shop shein, I'm not a girlie who needs the latest trends, and I hang onto every item possible even if it's just a LITTLE bit tight on me. I'm wearing jeans right now my mom bought and just didn't like. But I can't figure out what to do with these literal garbage bags of old clothes. and I am like this with EVERYTHING
i recently was shopping for a beach vacation (and for the impending warm weather in general) and i have NEVER had such a hard time shopping for what felt like basic items. on top of everything you described, the current marketplace gives me so much buying fatigue because it’s so hard to tell what’s good quality and what not. literally scrolling through amazon gives me a headache i had to throw in the towel so many times
I remember when someone asked me where I got my pants from (which my friend purchased for me from a small business) and my mind went completely blank and said I didn’t know. They asked what store it was from and I literally didn’t know. It was an awkward back and forth. I felt so anxious in that moment because I thought they thought I was gatekeeping because of the the rise in “pretty girls don’t gatekeep”. Safe to say… I still don’t know where those pants are from (there is no brand tag oddly enough) and don’t wear sometimes to avoid interactions like that again.
I think its just your nerves getting to you there. Tell them straight up you honestly don't know and wish you did. Hell I'd even be looking for them online. It's okay to deny sometimes but generic pants? Just tell them you really don't know. That's okay
you didn't just say "my friend bought these for me and I'm not sure where they got it from"?
@@abi7497 honestly you’re right. I made it a bigger deal than it needed to be. To be fair they weren’t generic pants, that’s the problem. They have patterns throughout the entire design.😂 But yeah. Could have handled it better.
@@amentrison2794 I blanked so bad. It was my first time getting asked and I was thrown off guard.
@@jeness yeah, that's fair. just happens sometimes.
Omg this is a wormhole. I purposely have talked myself out of saying ‘thanks I got it from x for £y.’ because it minimised just taking the compliment and not needing to justify yourself or your decisions. #therapy
Oooh that’s an interesting angle too! That’s why I try not to interpret someone “not sharing” in bad faith - you never know exactly why they’re responding a certain way!
Yea I was deffo triggered by the gatekeeping segment for some reason 🫠😅 thinking ‘is this me?’ I’m not an influencer by any means. Just a Digital Aunty that works in and around this space. Was thinking in my personal interactions if ppl want to know where I got it from they can ask me. I try not to assume either 💗
Maybe it’s my Midwest attitude but saying I got X for $y is ingrained in me lol
@@Zelda00Gamer I was thinking that too haha I'm the same way. midwest and proud tho! lol
If someone says me drawing a blank on where I got my shirts is gatekeeping, Im going to chew their ankles :/
I have ADHD and depression induced brain damage! I can barely remember what I ate yesterday!
i've had these thoughts a lot and i feel like just trying to consume as little as possible is the only way... i completely stopped using amazon not because i found a way to consume locally but because i drastically reduced my consumptions in general...
being anti-capitalist as an influencer is all fine and good, but at the end of the day, the entire conceit of influencing as a career is wholesale capitalism, something that the industry will never shake off and why i can't really trust any of them. even youtubers, as much as i enjoy your content tiffany
What do you mean by influencer ? In my mind there is a difference between someone like tiffany (or Khadija Mbowe, Contrapoints, Jenny Nicholson even Rachel Maksy, etc. ), people who create creative, and researched content and a insta model or life style influencers who are clearly promoting products in their work. The first group use social media to create stuff, express ideas like you would with a book, a movie etc., the second creates a attractive platform to sell stuff. I think it's quite unfair to put them all in the same basket.
I think it's okay to enjoy a RUclipsr or influencer while coming to terms with their ads are like ones we see on TV, and that at the end of the day their job is funded by advertisements to the masses
We all gotta work
yes!!! same. even critiquing doesn't feel honest. making this your living feels hypocritical, especially because your livelihood depends on it, so it stops you from being 100%. i don't think that a youtuber or content creator can be anticapitalist, unless this is really their creative outlet and make a livelihood in some other place. i get that she has to defend what she does but lmao
@@cbnz2929 No one is saying that at all. It's simply an observation that on an anti-capitalist, anti-influencing video (and a really great one!) there is still an ad for you to buy or download something. it's a very fair observation and invites conversation, but whittling it down to "do you think tiffany should be doing this for free?" is unfair.
the video explores paid promotion, while having paid promotion inside of it - tiffany is endorsing a product in order for people to purchase it while also explaining that the culture around affiliate marketing and endorsements is negative. no one should trust an influencer, including tiffany, but that does not mean we do not think tiffany shouldn't earn a living wage, lol.
To the point of feeling super responsible for every item in your home, I deal with that one big time. However, the book "How To Keep House While Drowning" by KC Davis genuinely helped me fight that guilt and deal with the kind of paralysis those items give me really really well. I highly HIGHLY reccommend it, its only about 90 pages, 110-120 if you count the extras and the references and its one of the best books on taking care of yourself and your space I have ever read
I don't have a bookstore within 3 hours of my house, so I'd have to order it on...Amazon.
Okay I gotta get that book. I have big guilt over the space that all of my craft supplies take up. So much stuff doesn't get thrown out because I think I might be able to use it for something. Two weeks ago I fixed my cat's water fountain with a plastic straw that was sitting around for who know how long.
Nice!!! I am glad it came in handy! I keep So Many Boxes, mostly due to all of the moving I've done. I absolutely H A T E buying them cause moving boxes are rarely the right size for protecting my books when moving (i have a lot an a bunch are vintage editions :/) I've been in my current appartment for 2+ years and its the longest I've ever lived in one space XD I now have a dedicated closet for them and when they get a bit too messy, I "reset" the closet (which is a concept KC talks about!) And if there are any I need to toss, i get rid of them then :)
My crochet supplies tho? Thats never getting destashed XD
@@KittySheep ^^^ i forgot to reply to you in the comment its self XD
This book is honestly so good and gentle. 💕 I borrowed it from the library but I might need to get it myself just so I can read it when I'm working through my never-ending care tasks.
It feels like half of what I’m exposed to online are ads. It’s so much harder to suppress yourself when what’s supposed to be leisure time on the internet is constantly interrupted by ads, many that are curated to appeal to you.
I recommend turning off personalized ads (possible on at least on google, including youtube)! Adblockers are also a life saver and on instagtam it's possible to turn off ads on your feed for a month at a time. Ofc this doesn't work on sponsored content but it's still much better
Posting this to a fb group I manage. We have all screening on to suppress marketing (its a decor group) and ppl keep trying. It's exhausting. Keeps the group a million times better though.
also worth noting that mlm boss babes have now started calling themselves affiliate marketers to try and legitimize what they do, even though mlm marketing and affiliate marketing are two completely different things.
I find it interesting that influencers are often slated for not declaring advertising (rightly so), and yet magazines and TV have been doing it for years. I read a magazine the other day that had Chanel products used throughout, including an entire beauty feature where most of the products were listed as Chanel. That’s an advert. The clothes on the fashion pages are sourced and loaned; the ‘what I’m buying this month’ column; the back page ‘I’m a celebrity and these are my favourite things’, etc. Adverts.
You should do a video on why every influencer seems to be selling “courses” these days
Because it makes them a lot of money and it’s passive income.
I’m convinced Gen Z’s version of affiliated beauty content is more transparent than what we watched in 2016
another video of tiffany voicing concerns that I have in my BRAIN but cannot articulate out loud lol (also two dots is so fun I've played it for years xD)
5:21 I won't tell you because either:
- It's from shein and I'm actually kind of ashamed because I can only afford to buy my (very few) clothes from shein for like $50CAD combined as a treat to myself every few months. I have like 5+ year old shien clothes I still love and wear. All of my clothes are fast fashion, but I specifically buy pieces that will last, and repair my clothes if they don't.
- It's so old I forgot
- it was a gift
- It's a hand-me-down/trade with a friend so who knows where it's from
I feel like a baby bird being fed my worm guts for the day. This is the topic I needed, Tiffany. Tweet tweet chirp chirp 🐥
As someone who strives for living a lifestyle of intentional living and anti-consumption, I find the amazon affiliate link concept fascinating. Especially as you pointed out, people linking things as low as Q tips. Sometimes I do get sucked in and explore people's storefronts, but I rarely purchase anything. That will power has taken years to develop, so I could see why some people just simply can't resist a purchase.
Saving this to watch for when I'm breaking my fast 🤞
Ramadan Mubarak my friend!
@@reu2002 Thank you, Ramadan Mubarak to you too!
I totally feel your pain with the Amazon reviews. I try to avoid Amazon but in the rare cases that I have nowhere else to turn, it seems like low-quality items are just the standard. I've tried to mitigate this by sorting by 4 stars or above, and at first the items that come up look good, good reviews, etc. But I then sort the reviews by most recent--and almost invariably, tons of reviews come up talking about how the quality is garbage or that the product USED to be good but once it got established good reviews it was replaced by garbage later on.
another aspect of this that i thought you might mention is affiliate links under viral tweets! anytime a tweet has like 10k+ likes, it seems like there's a link for a vibrator, colorful lighting, cutesie pillows, etc.
it's definitely different than tiktok or youtube but i still find it interesting...
OK yes. The whole discussion about the treadmill and how hard it is to avoid the Big A is sooooo real. I just don't buy much stuff anymore because it's too overwhelming and stressful. I'm getting really comfortable with the question, "Is that a need or a want?" If it isn't an absolute need, then screw it. It's not worth the effort.
Trying to avoid all these big awful companies by reducing purchasing things in general, but there are always something you need, and the shipping and lower costs are so tempting. My most recent example: I needed a new pet carrier for my bunny because he bit through the zipper on the old one. The least expensive one in a regular pet store was $80. $80 for something I use once every couple months to get my bunny's nails trimmed. My old one was bought on Amazon, and was half that.
I didn't even know Amazon Storefronts were a thing... but then again I don't use tik tok or instagram. It seemed like there was a pretty decent wave of anti-Amazon sentiment especially among younger people the last few years, but it looks like influencers are doing their best to undo that
i havent watched this series in a while but i watched this whole episode and im gonna come back to it now! its very thoughtful and i appreciate it 💗
when i was in middle school some of the clothes i wore were from my mom’s closet or they were from budget stores, while the “cool” brands at the time were at the mall or the outlets.
anyway, when people asked me where i got something i’d usually tell them i didn’t remember, not because i was gatekeeping but because i desperately wanted to be cool and wouldn’t be caught dead admitting that i was wearing my MOM’S clothes.
this was like 2 years before thrifting became cool and i started bragging that half my stuff was my mom’s from the 80’s and 90’s. the biggest insult in the 2000’s was to tell someone their clothes looked like they were from goodwill, until macklemore changed everything.
These past weeks I've been in a rabbithole of watching your content and I gotta say I love how you present and discuss different topics.
I live in Europe and all my life I've gone to the local markets for everything cause my grandma is from a small village and its a big part of our culture. When I moved to the big city my first year I was so excited about the many stores there were but later realized that all those things I was buying there, I could have found in the local market and my money would have helped the person I'm buying it from, instead of giving it to already rich corporations that dont even take care of their workers.
When you talk to the person who owned/made something and buy it from them you make more connections with your items, it not just the new thing that you'll throw away when its not trendy anymore.
As a content creator who is a) in the sewing niche and b) mostly tries to shop secondhand whenever possible, it really does kind of suck when it comes to affiliate marketing. Like, I'd love to have that as an income stream, but unless I recommend products that I don't use, there's just not much there...
wonderful video, and thank you for including proper captions, especially since you included them from the get-go!!! i got a lot of rambly thoughts out of this video lol
this video made me think about my own shopping habits and where i get things from. i'm still in uni so i don't have much i need to purchase yet nor a lot of money with which to purchase it from, but i'm physically disabled and the majority of my purchases are related to that
i don't have a tiktok but i have noticed that i get really drawn in to RUclips shorts or blog posts that talk about things that work towards accessibility, without even stopping to consider "hey, i should probably try this thing out in person first, considering i'm broke and i'd be using it for a physical thing". it's just so easy to get enamoured by long lists of items, especially when they claim that they'll make it so i can do things abled people can like running more or sitting up for longer without assistance. a lot of the times these lists are by people that don't share my condition or just generally call themselves disabled without specifying, and while i absolutely don't think people are obligated to share their disabilities, we aren't a monolith of needs and it unsettles me to realize i've simply not considered before that what works for them may not for me
i can't really blame the people who make these lists for doing so, considering we've all got to buy food somehow and it's really hard to get a job when you're disabled, but it does kind of off to me when i realize that for some of these people, amazon links are the only way they can pay their bills. it feels almost predatory on amazon's side in a way. like you said, being an amazon influencer or whatnot requires that you just keep buying new stuff off of there, and it's not like these influencers get any benefits or healthcare. that's not specific to disabled amazon influencers, but it is a tangential thought that i thought was worth mentioning
yaaay yet another reason not to use tiktok 😌
edit: I know affiliate links exist on youtube too but I refer more towards the badgering "where did you get that shirt???" part. I have yet to see that on this site.
youre lidding right? that used to be half of youtube comments, especially i. the 2010s
I intentionally purchased a new bed set from Macy’s online because I didn’t want to support amazon or Walmart. And because I has fond memories of walking through Macy’s department store bedding section years ago. It was more expensive than other options on Amazon but I went with it. It still shipped from Amazon -.- and it was damaged.
The “gatekeep” thing reminds me of finding good recipes on Pinterest. The comments are almost always full of people DEMANDING what temperature you’re supposed to bake the thing at. How do so many people not understand how the internet works?
I'm consistently amazed by your ability to come up with new video ideas that are fascinating, that I haven't seen other people tackle before!!
Thank you Kathrin!! 💖💖
something that also comes to mind about shopping small stuff online is that sometimes its stuff you can definitely make yourself ! you can build your own e.g. dog gate with a hammer and some wood from the building store. or like, sew clothes, make jewelry etc etc etc and make it yourself, be independent and unique with local stuff. Ofc you cant always diy, but where you can, nothing speaks against it. I feel like our access to quick online shopping also took away from our creativity, capability, and just condones the cycle where we just sit while being lazy and miserable. (and then at the end consuming more to get out of misery.) Im a former arts and crafts student and our lack of creativity for material goods is starting to bore me.
I live in Canada and lately shopping has gotten more hard....Walmart really destroyed all our businesses that are local, so they all closed....now they are shutting walmarts. There's no where to shop but Amazon, bc shipping in Canada is generally a mess. There's a resurgence of local at farmers markets and buying from friends but certain things I have absolutely no idea where to get them besides Amazon. It feels so hard to make good buying decisions qnd I'm also plus size so clothes are hard to find. There's literally 2 plus size clothing companies here. Or really expensive handmade inclusive brands that I can't afford and don't fit my style.
I've been sewing clothes, growing food, and we made the bed I needed bc like what else to do lol.
I honestly think the main reason I've managed to fully boycott Amazon so far is that I live in a small country far from the US. Shipping to my country is often expensive and sometimes unavailable. Subsequently, Amazon is neither a convenient nor a cheap option, and the hurdle of it makes it a less attractive option, even if they have exactly the item I wanted. Shopping at local specialised retailers means I often have to spend a longer time looking - sometimes wait for trends to change - to find the specific item that I want, but for me that's alright. I've yet to find something that I urgently need that I *only* can get through Amazon. Though I've also noticed the trend of "what I want isn't available in-store, I have to buy it online" and it frustrates me so much
Oh no- not me going through the exact same issues looking for a walking pad 😩😩😩
I don’t even wanna think about how much time (and money) I’ve spent on this pursuit…
The MLM comparison reminded me of this girl I know who used to be big in one of the makeup MLMs but switched to Amazon influencing when it blew up on Tiktok lol. Same tactics!
you and Salem dropping videos about this today ... thank you universe
and by this I mean tik tok consumerism
When you started talking about getting anxious on amazon I so related. On occassion, maybe once a year I get so overwhelmed on the site I havet to take a break and have even ended up crying a few times.
I'm glad on one hand that Amazon isn't here in Aotearoa (New Zealand), but I also recognize it's so much more affordable shopping there for people. Things cost HEAPS here, and if we had Amazon, I can guarantee people would flock to shop there, and since most of our country is made up of small businesses, it'd crush them
Also from NZ and was going to say the same thing! Both lucky (and not lucky). Gotta stick to Kmart 😅
When you talked about a dog gate I related so hard- when we got a puppy I went to six stores in my city to find a gate that she couldn’t climb, and stores just didn’t have stock! I finally broke down in tears in the Walmart baby section (where there were none) and ordered one from Amazon while I was standing in the store.
I love this video and topic. I often think about - and get confused by - affiliate links/ marketing being the chicken or the egg?! Like… where do you (in general) draw the line between recommending things you genuinely already use and love (so therefore it’s more authentic) versus buying things just because you’ll end up recommending/ suggesting/ pushing them as long as you don’t *hate* them?!
Basically…. I wonder how much extra you (in general) end up buying just to feed the affiliate marketing machine vs things you would’ve bought naturally if affiliate marketing didn’t exist 🤔
interesting to think ab how it fuels capitalism/ consumerism for the creator too and not just the watcher
Years ago I started a fashion social media account. Just wanted to talk about styling and trends. Didn’t want to do hauls. The abuse I got from my audience for wearing items they could not buy was incredible. “Why are you showing me this if you can’t link it????” Um, because it’s from my wardrobe and I wear my clothes multiple times and keep them for years? My point is I think the audience is the main driver of all this marketing and consumption.
I used to make tiktoks about books and people were like this with BOOK EDITIONS it was insane. I was like 'I buy all my books in person in bookstores so idk where to get these specific editions or I've had them for years' and people would say I was displaying privilege because I got indie editions and not amazon ones I could link... insane
Tiffany, I haven't watched this video yet, but you post the most interesting content where I've been like thinking, "This is an issue" but thought i was only me. Excited to watch when I get the chance
I wonder if part of why people always ask for links or where a product is from is because they want attention from the creator and know that's more likely to get a response than "so cool!" or "omg I love your content."
I've been able to avoid shopping at Amazon for years, but I also don't make minimum wage. I understand why some people just HAVE to shop at Amazon and Walmart (they have no choice), but for those who definitely have the means, I give them the side eye, because while I don't make minimum wage, I definitely don't make six figures either, and if I can avoid amazon, so can others! It makes shopping harder for sure though, and often a research project T_T it's pretty awful.
As a disabled person who doesn't drive and lives in small town I hate how much I rely on Amazon but theres often no other way for me to get some of the things I need.
You’re not the person who’s being criticized, I promise! Whenever video essays about overconsumption and Amazon come up, most people agree that the issue is able-bodied people who can go to their supermarket, not disabled people, or people who might live in places like food deserts.
@@hazelsingh3887 Oh I know. I still feel guilty sometimes that I cant do more though. Like I feel like I should make more of an effort. I know logically Im doing my best to be responsible but still
Appreciated your insight that influencers needing to buy amazon product to promote their storefronts is similar to MLM sellers buying stock.
Also, I didn't realize influencers can receive a percentage from other items on the site after you click on their affiliate link. I am glad to know that now.
yeah, that point about receiving percentage for other items too makes me want to go out of my way to find links from people i like if i ever happen to be buying something from a site they have a link with
The ONLY things I've ever bought from Instagram ads (i don't have tiktok, I'm old) are a pair of ear hangers (for stretched lobes) in the shape of raven skulls, and an LED nightlight that looks like L from deathnote for my bf. Literally every other ad I'm like "don't presume to know what i like, you funky little algorithm". Same with influencers or youtubers i follow. If you run an ad, i will skip it. I never click affiliate links, on principle (plus 99% of the time i am not interested in like... dietary supplements). I do not trust basically anything i hear about products online. Maybe because I'm 33 and grew up poor.
Gotta agree though: shopping locally is hard, especially when you don't have a car. I tried to find one of those cassette to aux adapters for your car last year (because i was borrowing a car with only a cassette deck) and i could not find one anywhere in local stores. Meanwhile, amazon had it at my home within 24h. And then you consider that many people work 40h/week and don't have time to endlessly run around 4 different shops. I'm done feeling bad for this. It is what it is.