SugarBearHair: A Good Product or Taking Advantage?
May 2, 2020.
Finding an influencer
Do you have damaged hair and want luxurious locks? Well you’re just in luck, all you would have to do is eat one gummy bear every day! If that sounds too good to be true, then how do you explain the company SugarBearHair being “the #1 top best-selling brand of vitamins in its category on Amazon” (Tejeda, 2018)? The company sells a vitamin which is a gummy based product that is formulated to help with the overall quality of your hair. The increased use in social media has caused a unique way for brands to promote their products by using social media influencers (Finance One, 2019). After assessing some of their Instagram posts, I have made the observation that the company targets people in the age range of twelve to fifty years old; however, they focus on millennials, possibly because the company knows how swayable younger individuals are. This company is interesting because they focus on the underlying concept that self-image sells. Companies have realized this and have decided to rely heavily on social media influencers to market their products. My artifact is necessary to study because it reminds people that you can’t always trust your favorite influencer’s recommendations, considering they most likely have an underlying agenda. I plan on looking into how the company uses social media influencer marketing to break down the wall between the consumer, the brand, and followers through social media content” (Glucksman, 2017). Social media influencers are a new type of endorser, who shape audiences’ attitudes, through the use of blogs, tweets, and etc (Freberg, 2010). In this paper, I will be focusing on how social media influencers are rhetoricians in disguise, they use underlying techniques of “persuadience,” (a technique social media influencer’s use to network and gain credentials/credibility) in order to market companies like SugarBearHair, so they can both profit from each other.
Relaying your message
The Rise of Social Media Influencer Marketing on Lifestyle Branding: A Case Study of Lucie Fink is a case study that focus’ on what makes a social media influencer successful, and if companies believe social media influencers are positive or negative. This relates to my argument because it explains how social media influencers help businesses market themselves. The article, The Kylie Jenner Phenomenon: Emerging Female Celebrity on Social Media, focuses on how Kylie Jenner has a successful marketing image, and has the ability to capitalize on her image to create a successful business. In relations, celebrities like Kylie are the influencers that use their image to help businesses profit. “Kylie Jenner is considered a ‘representative character, her choices and actions impact the world of social media and young women.” Individuals look up to Kylie Jenner, they will listen to her even if she doesn’t have the credentials to prescribe products to people. The Who are the social media influencers? A study of public perceptions of personality article looks into how “Social media influencers represent a new type of independent third-party endorser who shape audience attitudes through blogs, tweets, and the use of other social media.” As well as, how social media influencers have a persuasive power, in which technologies are used to help identify and record which social media influencers are used for a specific brand or organization. This is important to my article because I am looking at this persuasive power that these influencers have.
The article, “#HealthFreak – How Social Media is Causing Disordered Eating” written by Phillips Toria is a non-academic article which refers to how individuals imagine influencers. This article led me to an academic article titled, “A Review of the Use of Biotin for Hair Loss,” which concentrates on how hair nutrition products contain ingredients that don’t necessarily improve hair quality. If individuals aren’t lacking certain vitamins, they won’t see a guaranteed change. SugarBearHair was called out for being one of the companies that claims to help with hair growth, but they do not explain how deficiencies play a role in the effects; that being said, I am using this article to help explain how the brand is deceiving to its customers by using influencers to persuade followers into buying their products. Although the company can help individuals with rare deficiencies grow hair; they’re misleading people who do not have deficiencies. They are able to sell the product as hair growth vitamins, but in reality, they’re not helping the average individual with hair growth. This tactic is able to be done by the use of persuadience by the influencer, in which I will refer to later in the text. Even though an ad may be a scam, social media influencers are able to get paid for the ad, profit off the ad, and then still be trustable and creditable to their followers (Dhanesh, 2019).
Lastly, the article Relationship management through social media influencers: Effects of followers’ awareness of paid endorsement relates to my paper because I am explaining how social media influencers use persuadience in order to construct credibility and gain credentials. Even though an ad may be a scam, social media influencers are able to get paid for the ad, profit off the ad, and then still be trustable and credible to their followers. This means they can out right promote a product that doesn’t work, by telling their followers to buy it, and then still have them believe what they say. The results of this paper also confirmed that when respondents are aware of the paid endorsement, they are more likely to trust and be satisfied with the relationship they have with the social media influencers. For my paper, this article will help sell the point that social media influencers use their image and network by persuading their followers that they are more than a marketing scheme. I will be able to better analyze how social media influencers use the bond they form with their followers in a way that is revolutionary.
They promote to their networks
SugarBearHair is a brand owned by Besweet Creations LLC which was founded in 2015 (SugarBearHair). SugarBearHair vitamins are their most popular product, which are gummy based, and formulated to help with the overall quality of your hair (SugarBearHair, 2020). Their products are filled with Biotin and Vitamin D (SugarBearHair, 2020), which supposedly promotes hair growth. Although this may be true, this is only the case for individuals that have deficiencies with these vitamins (Doan, 2020). This means in most cases, it does not work for the average person; perhaps, this would make one wonder how they still are able to sell products if it rarely works? The answer to this question is simply, great marketing.
After analyzing their brand over the last couple years, I can concur that they primarily promote their products through the social media app, “Instagram,” with the help of social media influencers. By posting, interacting, and being transparent with their followers, influencers are able to be categorized with a sense of inferred trustworthiness and authenticity (Tejeda, 2018); however, the use of these influencers becomes questionable when the product is not the main thing being sold. After observing accounts during my everyday use of social media over the years, I agree that companies like SugarBearHair are not just selling their product, but the influencer as well. While SugarBearHair has celebrities like Kylie Jenner endorse their products and profit off it, can you tell she actually uses these products? Typically, no, but she makes her audience believe so. “Followers trust and admire these influencers, and thus they become interested in buying the products they see influencers using” (Tejeda, 2018); using a huge influencer like Kylie Jenner, can bring in a huge market for a company, and that is exactly what this company is doing.
Influencers create a bond with their followers who then want to replicate their everyday patterns as if they were the influencer. For example, Kylie Jenner lives this lavish lifestyle, so why would she use a product that is affordable for the common person, when she can buy top brand products? The answer to this question is exactly why persuadience is necessary to study. It reminds people that you can’t always trust your favorite influencer’s recommendations, considering they most likely are biased and swayed because they are getting paid to promote the products they are endorsing. Kylie Jenner seems to have very healthy hair, but does her hair actually have any benefits from the gummies she supposedly eats? Well, I would suggest looking into her actual hair quality. Kylie posts many selfies on Instagram, but the truth is that in most instances, it is not her real hair.
Kylie Jenner posted both of these selfies on her Instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/kyliejenner/). The one on the left showcases her real hair length, and the one on the right is what people think her hair looks like because she wears a wig or extensions.
Kylie and SugarBearHair have been capitalizing on the use of rhetoric and how they persuade the general public by using her image. Over the years, I have analyzed Kylie and her followers and can almost guarantee that most of her followers are millennials, which makes sense considering she is the youngest of all her siblings. Kylie has created this view without her realizing that you can spend money to become pretty. She is very well known for her beauty transformation. There are YouTube videos that explain how Kylie has completely changed the way she looks, courtesy to being from the upper class. Not only does Kylie wear wigs to increase her image, but she also augments her body. A twitter user who goes by “Luc,” with the handle, “@ellkay,” posted these two pictures of Kylie on May fourteenth twenty-seventeen, which are side by side comparison photos of her during twenty-thirteen and twenty-sixteen.
As pictured, Kylie looks drastically different in the two. In the twenty-sixteen image, she looks very grown up and matured in just three years. If you look carefully, you’ll realize her lips are extremely large, which many people questioned possible surgery. She endorses a product that supposedly helps with the growth of your hair, but in reality, she is just enforcing the idea that money can buy your looks. Kylie has positioned herself as someone who has a large network, therefore, she is viewed as a credible source, which stems from the use of persuadience. Persuadience is a coined term to define the pairing of persuasion and audience. Knowing that twenty-two percent of people between the ages eighteen to thirty-four have made large purchases after seeing just one post by an influencer, proves that influencers persuade their audience to purchase items just because they promote it (Finance One, 2019).
I find it very vital to study this marketing tactic to help prevent individuals from getting taken advantage of. Bitzer created the concept that rhetorical situations (artifacts) always have exigences, meaning what is the reasoning for the artifact, audiences being a set of individuals that are being persuaded, and constraints representing the complications they may face (Bitzer, 2019). My artifact is studied to showcase there are two exigences, one being for both the company and the influencer to grow in popularity, and the other to make an income doing so. The audience of my artifact is mainly focused on the idea that “90% of users on millennials Instagram are under the age of 35,” and considering the majority of the influencers are, it makes sense that influencers enjoy using the new medium, Instagram, according to Social Media Today. Lastly, the constraints being the influencer not wanting to ruin their bond that they have created with their followers.
Reach a new audience
Conceptually oriented criticism is the method which looks at case studies in order to find a deeper meaning as well as, aims at learning more about a specific concept that is often opposed to many (Jasinski, 2001). I am analyzing the term “Icon,” which is defined on Gideon Burton’s Silva Rhetoricae in the “flowers” section, as a “figure which paints the likeness of a person by imagery, or a figure of comparison in which a person is held up against the explicit image of another” (Bede, 2018). This frame of rhetorical analysis focuses on finding a term that can apply to an artifact, which then allows the artifact to create learning moments for the researcher. This method allows the rhetorician to broaden their knowledge on the nature of rhetorical concepts. Analyzing the term icon and understanding how it applies in other scenarios can enhance my research. This is accomplished by understanding how someone may be viewed as a symbol even if most people do not realize it.
When analyzing an artifact, looking at it from a classical approach can help you learn more about the artifact by analyzing it from a certain perspective. This approach has you explore different categories, by determining what type of genre the artifact falls under. The different types of genres are deliberative, epideictic, forensic, you should look at the three types of appeals: ethos, pathos, logos, and the five canons: invention, delivery, arrangement, style, memory (Ryan, 1992.) For my artifact, my piece falls under deliberative, which is the genre which looks at messages that deal with what is best for the future (Ryan, 1992). It also falls under the forensic approach, which is looking at what has occurred before and remaking it again (Ryan, 1992). Ethos is the morals and values aspect when looking at messages (Ryan, 1992). Pathos looks at emotion and its influences on a message (Ryan, 1992). Logos is the reason of a message (Ryan, 1992). Delivery is how a message is introduced (Ryan, 1992). Invention deals with the purpose of the message (Ryan, 1992). Arrangement looks at how the message is designed (Ryan, 1992). Style looks at how a message is created (Ryan, 1992). Memory looks at how a message will be remembered (Ryan, 1992). This method is perfect when analyzing a post from a social media account, or when looking at a speech that was given. The categories you look for in an artifact digs deep into the meaning behind the artifact. For example, if you are analyzing a speech, you could realize that the speech pulls on the heart strings of the audience by looking deep into the pathos.
Influencer grows persuadience
Conceptually oriented criticism resonates with my artifact because I have the ability to find a coined term that I can associate with my artifact. Considering my artifact has to do with social media influencers, the word, “Icon” perfectly fits into the case I am studying. When looking for a representation of a social media influencer, “reality star Kylie Jenner is one of the most followed users on Instagram, with 110 million followers,” (Tejeda, 2018) and is a perfect example of popularism because she uses persuadience to capitalize on the purchases made by her followers.
It is estimated that she has made about eighteen million dollars in social media endorsements, and each of her posts would cost a company upwards of two-hundred thousand dollars (Tejeda, 2018). She is looked at as an Icon for the company SugarBearHair, and has made them thousands of dollars. The concept of beauty has been reshaped by the empire Kylie Jenner has created. She is considered a “representative character, meaning her choices and actions impact the world of social media and young women (Frangos, 2018).” She has become an icon and role model for many girls, her body augmentations have led to millions of girls trying to achieve the same image. According to “The Kylie Jenner Phenomenon: Emerging Female Celebrity on Social Media” article, there was a forty-three percent increase in female lip alterations since the year two-thousand; this percentage conveys how social media has played a chief part in that trend, especially when celebrities like Kylie Jenner discloses using lip fillers (Frangos, 2018). Although she is known for her lips, she has become the spitting image of SugarBearHairs nutrient product.
My study looks upon the three appeals in a unique way. For logos, my artifact looks at how companies have realized that there is a huge platform on Instagram for marketing. For pathos, the social media influencers can develop an emotional “bond,” with their followers. This bond is based on trust and reliability that enables them to get their followers to purchase the products they’re paid to promote. Lastly, my artifact appeals to Ethos by it depending on social media influencers to develop a credibility with their followers. This credibility allows them to be able to persuade their followers to purchase the products that they’re trying to sell. These three concepts interact and are all formed into one big ad campaign to profit from. This is important because there is a lot more thought that goes into each ad that is released into the world, which many people do not realize.
When looking at invention for my artifact, the sources used are social media influencers to sell a nutrient. Delivery is represented through the medium Instagram. When looking at arrangement, the ads that these companies create are less worried about the physical message, but instead more interested in the image they’re showcasing. The element of style comes into play when looking at the way the company organizes their ads. These ads are hoping that the company gains a desirable image that makes people want to buy their product. The public’s memory is used to help correlate the product with a subliminal memory of the product in the future. The company hopes that when you see an influencer post a photo, you remember that they have promoted the ad in the past and think about buying the product. All of these elements work together to create an ad that is effective; which leads to the company achieving their goal by becoming the top of their category on Amazon, from this you can assume their marketing tactics are effective. Genre focuses on the type of message trying to be portrayed; the appeals refer to how the speaker is trying to appeal to an audience, and the canons are the different components of communication, which are supposedly “rules to follow in acts of persuasion” (Ryan, 1992). My artifacts genre, appeals, and canons all work together to get the consumer to feel a way about the ads they see on Instagram.
Grow your business
In conclusion, the company SugarBearHair has been selling a plethora of products with the help of social media influencers through the use of persuadience. We learned that we didn’t know enough about the use of persuadience. This was concluded by doing a rhetorical analysis shaped by a conceptually oriented criticism, in which we learned that these influencers can market brands without any repercussions, which leads to both the company and the influencer profiting; this method has been working over the last few years and I assume it will become even more popular, and specifically Kylie Jenner is able to sell a vitamin pill not because she is a credible source but instead because we perceive her as an influencer that leads a large network. Great marketing and the use of persuadience is the reason that they can sell so many products that show very little results.
Works Cited
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Acknowledgments:
Toria Phillips. (2018, August 21). #HealthFreak – How Social Media is Causing Disordered Eating. Retrieved from https://toriaphillipswrites.wordpress.com/2018/08/11/healthfreak-how-social-media-is-causing-disordered-eating/
