Two preteen girls promote fashion and beauty products to thousands of online fans from their rural Alabama home. fever slots
Two preteen girls promote fashion and beauty products to thousands of online fans from their rural Alabama home.
By Faye Tsakas By Faye Tsakasnull
OpinionSupported by
SKIP ADVERTISEMENTHow Being an Influencer Became a New American DreamDec. 10, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ETBy Faye Tsakas
Ms. Tsakas is a documentary filmmaker.
Whenever I browse social media, I see advice and products for self-improvement — a deluge of elusive promises tethered to consumer goods. How to look more angular or more toned, feel more energized, age backward. Capitalism and modern technology have mixed to create an internet world where users are transformed into brands. As a filmmaker, I’m drawn to document this culture.
I first came across Peyton and Lyla, two preteen sisters and influencers on Instagram two years ago. (Since they are minors, their last names are withheld to protect their privacy.) From their rural Alabama home under their mother’s watchful gaze, they hawk fashion and beauty products to tens of thousands of online fans around the world. Every day, packages arrive at their doorstep for them to unbox and try out — deluxe makeup sets, floral dresses, exercise bikes — all free, as if delivered by a shopping mall Santa.
With their parents’ permission, I began filming the sisters’ daily lives as influencers; in this short documentary, “Christmas, Every Day,” they shift between performance and reality. Peyton and Lyla, who were 11 and 12 at the time of filming, see themselves as instilling confidence, positivity and a girl-power attitude for other girls — ideas that I wanted to explore within the broader context of modern consumerism.
Whether as creators or viewers or consumers, children are spending more time online at younger and younger ages. What kid wouldn’t want a stream of likes and gifts, waking up to the feeling of, as Peyton and Lyla’s parents put it, “Christmas, every day”? What does it mean to be participants in a larger social media system that encourages and even demands certain behaviors from its users, especially women and girls?
In a time of immense wealth disparity, influencer culture has created a more fantastical kind of American dream. (Perhaps that’s why nearly one-third of preteens say becoming an influencer is a career goal.) Seeing the field’s potential for a steady income — not to mention the prestige of an ever-growing follower count — some parents encourage it. I sought to go behind the scenes of this new creator economy with curiosity and a focus on the girls’ experiences, aiming to allow viewers to come to their own conclusions.
Faye Tsakas is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles.
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