Whether it be entertainment or products, Consumption has been increasing at an exponential rate. A big part of this has been the growth of both social media platforms and online shopping, where much of the money made through social media is advertising for online shops. As we become more attached to our screens and the content within, we start to find ourselves in an echo chamber. The algorithm will continuously feed you content you’re interested in, and through that, thousands of advertisements. Many of these ads are traditional and contain videos, but more often than not, they come in the form of sponsorships.
Many of us have seen DJ Khalad’s viral TikToks. They typically center around Khalad’s life or a moment, but are memorable for his funny quotes and sometimes idiotic remarks. Oftentimes, though, when you look past his act, you’ll find a brand new pair of Jordans. You may know him as an artist, but he’s also a Nike brand ambassador. This means that he partners with Jordan brand to release signature shoes, and as a benefit, receives copious amounts of free sneakers from Nike. He often uses his platforms to showcase whatever his most recent pair is, but it flies under the radar because of his entertaining personality. This acts as both self-promotion and sponsorship, because he is being given free shoes and, in return, supplies promotion, but he also uses this to promote his We The Best collection released with Nike. I personally have 22 friends who follow Khalad on Instagram, showing how he does have a lot of reach with younger, more impressionable audiences. Even if you were already planning on getting a new pair of shoes, Khalad’s promotion advertises new releases that may have otherwise gone unnoticed, pushing your purchase to a new Nike product.
Advertisements can also come without the company even knowing it. Over the past year, monthly Clash Royale players have nearly doubled from 20 to 34 million, thanks to one man, Jynxi. Jynxi, a popular streamer known for playing video games, started playing Clash back in late 2024, and his un-sponsored streaming has influenced millions of people to play the game. From 2021 to 2023, yearly users and profits were at a steady and steep decline, but after Jynxi broadcast his entertaining gameplay to tens of millions of viewers, they began to rise to new heights. Because the game has lots of core mechanics centered around playing with friends, a domino effect has occurred, which has influenced millions of non-Jynxi viewers to play, and play, alongside their Jynxi-viewing friends.
The ultimate goal of companies’ “influencing” is to get you to spend money. As the holiday season comes around, so does the biggest spending event of the year: Black Friday. What once was a day for stores to clear shelves has evolved into an entire month of sales. Corporations have realised that the “Black Friday” name is incredibly marketable, and to the eyes of the consumer, it means deep discounts, which causes huge numbers of people to spend money. It has not just become a month of sales, but a month of marketing. November has quickly become the most manipulative month of the year, with tons of new monikers like “Black Friday Early Access,” “Cyber Monday,” “Flash Sale,” and “Lightning Deal,” all used to open your wallet. In reality, though, many of these Black Friday deals can be found throughout the year in late summer and the end of spring. Big companies don’t want you to save; they want you to spend.
