Maelani Garcia

English 101

26 September 2019

The Effect of Instagram Influencers

Female Instagram “influencers” are constantly changing themselves physically to fit the

new ideal look . An influencer is a person that influences another through social media. The

social norms of physical appearance has shifted to changing your body to seem more appealing

to your followers. Influencers with big platforms have lip injections to butt lifts to even

increasing the size of their breasts. Before it used to be that each influencer was unique in their

own way, but now they are all trying to be the same “ideal” female influencer. It also became a

trend that these influencers tend to show off their bodies in order to gain more exposure to brand

companies to reach out to them or gain more followers on their social media platform. Since

altering your body is accepted, it is still morally right to do so for your own benefit, not to

acquire a bigger platform. These female instagram “influencers” have constructed the typical

instagram model body type that will seem the most appealing for its fans in order to gain more

followers.

The youth is our future, and it is important to structure their morality at a young age. The

youth is being influenced by social media influencer behavior causing them to visually see the

body “goals” trend. A lot of the younger generation look up to these influencers and reciprocate

their actions. Every woman is entitled to do however they please, but younger girls mimicking

this behavior is not healthy at that age. It begins to affect their self-esteem at such a young age,

especially teens who want to “grow” up so quickly.

 Garcia 2

Two female Instagram influencers that can prove this are Daisy Marquez

(@daisymarquez_) and Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner). These women have both transformed

entirely from the moment they first started on Instagram. At first, Daisy Marquez grew her

account by being a makeup guru, but now, it seems as though she has shifted her focus from

being that to now just an instagram influencer. As others do the same, she had procedures done

on herself to also blend in with the other influencers; such as lip injections and a breast job.

Though on her Youtube she still posts frequent makeup tutorials, her Instagram page depicts a

whole different side of her. Thus, leads to more likes on her pictures and more followers gained.

In Eve Peyser’s article “The Instagram Face-Lift”, she mentions, “I’m completely obsessed with

the lengths to which people (mostly women) go in order to attain this aesthetic; with how

investing thousands of dollars in body modification can turn a plain-looking person into a

seductive cyber-sensation”

(​www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/opinion/instagram-celebrity-plastic-surgery.html​). There is a

trend of getting procedures done to one’s self, especially by influencers, to have that “perfect

body”.

Figure 1

Screenshot Daisy Marquez,

Instagram @daisymarquez_ , 7 October 2019

Daisy Marquez posted this photo on October 17,

2017, with the caption “I have two moods”

 Garcia 3

Figure 2

Screenshot Daisy Marquez

Instagram @daisymarquez_ , 7 October 2019

Daisy Marquez posted this photo July 18, 2019, with the caption “It’s a hot girl summer”

As you can notice between both photos, Marquez undergone a breast augmentation and brazillian

butt lift within the past two years. There is also past evidence that while staying private for the

butt lift, she lied stating that she had sickle cell anemia to cover up for getting the procedure.

Though the tweet is deleted now, but she had many tweets mentioning about it, such as “my

sickle cell anemia is the worst it’s ever been”. This shows the lengths an instagram influencer

will take to get these procedures done but trying to remain quiet about so.

The other instagram influencer, Kylie Jenner, underwent similar surgeries. She already

had a large amount of her platform due to her and her family having their own TV show, but
 Garcia 4

since she transformed her body, it became obvious that the bulk of her fans came due to the

pictures she posts of her body. It seems as though after she underwent these procedures that other

rising Instagram influencers did the same. An example of Kylie Jenner’s effect on her fans would

be the “Kylie Jenner lip challenge”. On Natalie Witt’s article “The Kylie Jenner Influence”, she

states, “​This turned out to be one of the biggest social media blow ups, where young teens insert

their lips into a shot glass, small jar or bottle, and then sucked out the air, creating a vacuum. The

hope is they’ll end up with pouty lips like the reality TV star”

(​www.blogs2018.buprojects.uk/nataliewitt/the-kylie-jenner-influence/​). In 2015, when this

challenged surface, teens used house items to increase the size of their lips without getting

injections, making it similar to how the influencer’s lips are. Unfortunately, some of these teens

ended up hurting themselves in this process; such as bruises or even worse, severe skin damage.

This shows how influencers may not purposely persuade their fans to get any surgery done to

themselves, but they still strive to be just like their inspiration. Witt notes how influencers on

social media could lead to body image issues due to the ideologies that are displayed on these

platforms. Since Kylie Jenner’s body has changed dramatically over the last few years, it is not

surprising that young teens want to do the same to be just like her, but it should not be this way.
 Garcia 5

Figure 3

Curt Autry, Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge could cause permanent damage,

www.nbc12.com/story/29044627/kylie-jenner-lip-challenge-could-cause-permanent-damage/

The influencers have lost their individuality that makes fans want to follow their account.

These influencers just want to have that “perfect skinny waist with the big butt and breasts” body

that fans are drawn to. There seems to be less attention on what their purpose is as an influencer;

to persuade and entertain their fans in a positive way. Instead, their motives have been selfish

and are being distracted by their need to compete and have a bigger platform than other

Instagram influencers.

A negative impact that Instagram influencers have upon their followers is that they

become addicted to social media, since their inspiration to become just like them rises so high.

Some followers check constantly how many views their story gets or likes their posts receive.

Another thing is that these fans begin to feel the need to only post pictures that will attract the

most likes and followers, rather than posting whatever they want and being carefree about their

own platform. There is research to prove that people spending so much time on social media

could lead to depression and low self-esteem, which goes for influencers and fans.

Influencers have always had an impact on others, but Instagram influencers today have a

different impact on society on how women should look. An influencer with a big platform should

stress the importance of being comfortable in your own skin without having to be the same exact

way as someone else. Teenage girls should not have to grow up hating their body and comparing

it to someone else’s. Social media should be used to fully express yourself while still uplifting

one another’s true self.

Garcia 6
 Garcia 7

Works Cited

Autry, Curt. “​Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge could cause permanent damage”. ​NBC 12​, 12

May 2015,

www.nbc12.com/story/29044627/kylie-jenner-lip-challenge-could-cause-permanent-damage/​.

Accessed 7 October 2019

Peyser, Eve. “The Instagram Face-Lift”. ​The New York Times​, 18 April 2019,

www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/opinion/instagram-celebrity-plastic-surgery.html​. Accessed 7

October 2019

Witt, Natalie. “The Kylie Jenner Influence”. ​The Body Bible,​ 7 December 2018,

www.blogs2018.buprojects.uk/nataliewitt/the-kylie-jenner-influence/​. Accessed 7 October 2019

@daisymarquez_ (Daisy Marquez) “I have two moods” ​Instagram,​ 17 October 2017

https://www.instagram.com/p/Baxmvv5hNHw/​. Accessed 7 October 2019

@daisymarquez_ (Daisy Marquez) “It’s a hot girl summer” ​Instagram,​ 18 July 2019.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0FDn12HUUr/​. Accessed 7 October 2019