Stunting For the Gram – The Negative Side of Lifestyle Brands

If you go on Instagram, you’ll see every single celebrity posting on behalf of companies that are paying them big bucks to advertise their stuff. There are tons of celebrities rocking dresses and t-shirts, as well as celebrities performing dangerous stunts to show off different products. Every single brand in the world wants to consider itself a lifestyle brand – think about Hydroflask, for example.

You don’t buy a Hydroflask because you need a new water bottle; you buy one because you want to stay classy and stay cool like the rest of the people that have one. With lifestyle brands, there are certainly negative side effects that everyone should keep in mind, both those who run them and those who purchase from them.

Polarization of Customers

When starting a lifestyle brand, you must be careful not to polarize and drive away customers that don’t fit in your niche. For example, there are people that model all of their products with skinny, Caucasian women. There are millions of people who will not relate to these models using these products, so they will feel pushed away from the products.

On the side of the consumer, you wouldn’t want to buy a product that makes you feel like you aren’t good enough to use it. Always be sure that your marketing campaign focuses on inclusivity and make everyone feel like your product will work for them.

Model Lifestyle

There are tons of cons that come along with being a model for these lifestyle brands on social media. Many models are asked to maintain ridiculously low body weights in order to advertise for these companies.

Not only is this not safe, but it won’t help the products sell, because people don’t want to buy products from a company that makes them feel like they are advertising unachievable body types. Lifestyle brands must be sure to advertise using healthy, real people when finding people to advertise their products.

The Cost

The last thing to keep in mind with lifestyle brands being advertised on social media is the cost. If you’re the consumer, you need to know that the brand is paying their celebrities millions of dollars, and you’re the one paying the high prices in order to pay the advertising budget. You can often find these products available for much less money in off-brands.

Also, the company should remember that their marketing budget will need to be much higher to develop their brand as a lifestyle brand. Without proper funding, the company will never grow, and the advertising will be completely worthless, so make sure that’s really the route you want to go when you start a new company.

Final Thoughts

When looking at lifestyle brands, whether to buy from them as a consumer or create one as an owner, you should keep in mind the negative aspects of the company. The models are often treated poorly and are not healthy, the cost is high to the company and the consumer, and the campaigns can often push away potential customers. Still, if done correctly, they can be extremely profitable!