Since the advent of social media, many famous celebrities and influencers like Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, and Elon Musk have created product lines and businesses around their personal brands. American singer Selena Gomez launched Rare Beauty in 2020 after releasing her album Rare. Priyanka Chopra also launched her hair care brand, Anomaly. Elon Musk’s popularity got a lot of eyeballs on Tesla. Personal branding through social media has become a great way to market products. Many companies are tying up with celebrities, using their fan following on social media for marketing.

Although influencers launching their own products and marketing them to their followers has proven to be a successful, cost-saving marketing strategy, it’s a double-edged sword and can turn out to be negative. Its good side can flip to its bad side, affecting sales. Since it involves using the persona of a celebrity or an influencer in promoting products, if the celebrity or influencer gets involved in controversies and scandals, the audience following the celebrity will develop a disliking and stop purchasing products from the celebrity, thus affecting sales. Products launched by celebrities or influencers depend on the persona of the celebrity or influencer for sales, and their sales are affected by their image.

One of the famous downfalls that was witnessed recently was that of Kylie Cosmetics by Kylie Jenner, when her fans stopped buying her products due to her declining public image after she received criticism over various controversies, including a public lawsuit.

On the flip side, Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez has done quite well due to her positive brand image and influence in the eyes of her fans. Many CEOs of companies and Political Leaders are now seen having their own YouTube channels and social media accounts, making content because they want to increase their influence and enhance their brand image.

In the content creation Economy, content has become a form of building an audience that can be converted into customers. Businesses launched by Influencers can be a cost-effective product marketing strategy, but at the same time, it can be a double-edged sword due to the dependency of their business’s image on the public image of the influencers.