TikTok: The App of Overconsumption
SYEDA SAFDAR // FLAT HAT MAGAZINE
It’s why the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag has over 50 billion views. TikTok might be a video entertainment platform, but it is also a booming marketplace thanks to its infamous TikTok Shop. TikTok was the first non-game mobile app to hit the $10 billion mark in consumer spending and amassed $6 billion in customer spending in 2023 alone. Javier Irigoyen, TikTok’s former Head of Product for TikTok Shopping, described it as “an end-to-end shopping experience,” as users can buy products directly on the app rather than through a third-party online store. Plus, it only takes 10% commission from its sellers, making TikTok Shop an ideal platform for creators looking for a side hustle.
TikTok’s “Everything App” strategy offers the chance to profit off of content creation through influencer marketing. As a result, TikTok has become the prime example of “social commerce,” influencing social media apps like YouTube Shorts and Instagram, with Instagram containing over 100,000 posts and reels with the hashtags #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt or #TikTokMadeMeDoIt.
“On average, Shein produces 100,000 items and releases as many as 2,000 new pieces per day.”
As you scroll through TikTok, it is impossible not to notice the affiliate marketing ads with the rise of user-generated content, particularly among Gen Z creators. This form of content involves buying and personally promoting a product in exchange for followers. TikTok Shop has only two requirements for users to become commission-eligible: you must be over 18, and have at least 5,000 followers. Despite the entrepreneurial benefits of TikTok Shop, the products sold are often cheap and nonessential, made by companies such as Shein or Amazon. Shein operates on a “real-time fashion” model, wherein they closely analyze trend data to design an enormous amount of new products, creating an addictive spending cycle for consumers. This encourages overconsumption which creates environmental waste and damage. On average, Shein produces 100,000 items and releases as many as 2,000 new pieces per day. From shipping alone, the company racks up 6.3 million tons of carbon emissions, and yet TikTok users continue to incentivize purchasing its items as a way to get great deals and capitalize on the compulsive purchasing tendencies primarily exhibited by millennials and Gen Z.
Think of the Stanley Cup. A TikTok video helped spur its popularity in November 2023 after the Stanley survived a car fire. The same situation has taken place for The Little Green Machine, a portable carpet cleaner which seen doubled sales in the last 18 months following the rise of #CleanTok and “Sunday resets.” Many of the viral videos follow the marketing convention of “before and after,” a technique known as “demo-tainment,” or the demonstration of things in an entertaining way.
However, not all sponsored content is easy to recognize on TikTok. This is thanks to TikTok’s unique algorithm: every time TikTok users open a new “For You” page session, different personalized content will be displayed based on past “likes” and search histories. This tactic, known as “neuromarketing,” makes 45% of users more inclined to make impulse purchases. The technique is used to make purchasing more inconspicuous by tailoring content to users’ preferences. On top of this phenomenon, creators recommend products in a unique way by talking directly into the camera while unboxing products. This creates intimacy, making them seem like regular people who genuinely recommend a product. These real-life testimonials are enough to make anyone cave in. A study carried out by Abhisek Kunar, a marketing lecturer at the University of Essex, showed that Gen Z TikTok users typically ignore influencer campaigns they believed to be controlled by companies. Consumer trust is the biggest barrier to social e-commerce, but TikTok thrives in this area since ads blend into the format of the platform.
Targeted marketing and micro-trends have become the way to encourage overconsumption on TikTok, in addition to the speed and ease of purchasing items. TikTok implicitly tells users that in order to fit in with their desired aesthetic, some of the most popular being “cottage-core,” “vanilla girl,” and “clean girl”, users need to buy the latest viral product. TikTok forces its young users — particularly women and girls — to strive for a new aesthetic, regardless of how much it might break the bank.
“De-influencing has turned into yet another way for users to influence spending. ”
However, users are finally waking up to the environmental impacts of the mass consumption TikTok is generating. As a digital marketplace, TikTok is even more prone to exacerbating landfills due to its excessive product hauls, item shipping, and plastic packaging. These environmental concerns have led to the rise of “de-influencing,” a trend started by TikTok users to raise awareness of overconsumption and impulsive spending. The hashtags #deinfluencing and #antihaul have racked up more than 150 million views.
The designed authenticity from de-influencing creators has turned into a way to recommend users alternative products. It has become another example of disguised consumerism by TikTok. For example, TikTok creator @alyssastephanie has some of the products mentioned in her de-influencing videos listed on her Amazon Storefront, where she earns commission from purchases made using affiliate links. De-influencing has turned into yet another way for users to influence spending.
According to Heal The Planet, the average American consumes 9.5 hectares of energy to maintain their lifestyle, compared to 2.7 hectares globally, and TikTok is only aggravating these figures. So, next time you buy something on TikTok, consider if it’s a necessary purchase or if you’re just buying into the next trend which will soon go out of fashion. You’ll be helping the environment and your bank account — and as students, we could all benefit from saving a few dollars!