If arriving home while expecting one item in the mail brings so much excitement, imagine coming home to find piles and piles of packages on your doorstep. This is the reality for influencers worldwide ever since the concept of PR, “public relations,” packages has become a common practice.
Everyday, the smiling faces of content creators, eager to unbox their free merchandise, are seen on TikTok, Instagram and Youtube. Brands send social media creators packages containing a number of their products, hoping they will post an unboxing video and influence their followers to make a purchase. While this sounds like an ordinary marketing exchange, excessive hauls have proven it leads only to publicity and materialism.
Well-known influencer Darcy McQueeny’s extravagant PR haul in early January turned the heads of many internet users, bringing the topic of influencer PR excess into the public eye. The series of videos featured McQueeny opening two months worth of PR from a variety of popular brands. The accumulation of the packages, stacked ceiling high, was so extensive that the haul had to be spread out in multiple videos over the course of four days. Videos like these might seem to be a fun, frivolous way to live out your shopping dreams through others, but the overconsumption and wasteful nature of PR is certainly becoming a concerning trend.
Large brands who send PR are constantly trying to find ways to generate the most revenue possible, which is the obvious goal for every business. However, with so many brands participating in this trend, merchandise is only being distributed to a select handful of individuals at a rapidly increasing rate. While plenty of loyal customers are using products from the same brands, they will never be able to obtain the freebies that influencers do, considering they bring nothing to the table for the other end of the partnership.
Additionally, since a large amount of the same type of products pile up in influencers’ homes, they simply begin to have no use for the items. After the initial newness and excitement of the mail wears off, so does the allure of the products. The system has become extremely impractical to the point that after opening packages, influencers often end up giving products away or just throwing them out. This results in an exorbitant amount of wasted goods which could’ve been put to better use. A better, more functional use for the merchandise would be through donations to those who may need the materials. Most of the time, large influencers have no shortage of these handouts as they unbox packages next to shelves stacked with designer purses and shoes.
The PR approach to marketing is a wasteful and manipulative concept. While it’s fine in moderation, the idea has been taken to such a proportion that it is losing a sense of all practicality and honesty.
