Why Are You Promoting Temu?
And no, I don't want to see your AI starter pack.
As someone who’s been a very micro influencer for 5 or so years now, I totally get the appeal of promoting something you don’t really care about just to pocket a bit of extra cash. Times are tough, we’re in the midst of a cost of living crisis and the influencer landscape is extremely oversaturated - which means jobs can be far and few between. I’ll shamefully admit theres been a handful of times I’ve created content for a very random event or a pair of questionable shoes simply because the brand had offered me a couple of hundred pounds, and I highly doubt many people would turn that down. I’ve always thought of those collaborations as the equivalent of a “filler” job you might have once had, it kinda sucked but it was harmless and wasn’t forever, it just helped you work towards something bigger and better.
Over the last 2 years or so, I’ve found myself declining more and more jobs because something just didn’t feel quite right. Fairly recently I was offered hundreds of pounds worth of vouchers each month from a fast fashion company in the hopes I’d organically post wearing their clothing, as there were no strict content requirements. This may sound appealing at first because who wouldn’t want an insane amount of free clothes and to never have to work for it? You’d basically have a whole new wardrobe every single month, but at what cost?
A couple of years prior to this I’d been offered a very similar partnership from another fast fashion retailer, and I accepted. It wasn’t quite as much credit per month, but it was still a pretty substantial amount. I honestly knew the brand wasn’t 100% my vibe, but I hadn’t been doing influencer work for that long and it felt exciting to be recognised by a big company (and be offered so many freebies). After working with them for a few months I realised my wardrobe no longer reflected my personal style, I was simply just a walking advertisement and had been sucked into a viscous cycle of overconsumption. I was constantly waiting for the next voucher to arrive so I could fill my wardrobe with new pieces, because somehow I still felt like I had nothing to wear. Besides this, I knew deep down that I felt guilty about promoting a corporation that was so un-sustainable. I was taking an excess of free clothes for the sake of it, and somebody else was working in unethical conditions just so I could have a new outfit every day. I stopped accepting the gift vouchers and gave away all the clothes I’d collected.
All the above considered, I’ve become way more selective with my collaborations. Even if it’s just for gifting with no strings attached, I try not to accept anything I wouldn’t genuinely use, wear or do myself - it just feels greedy and wrong. So imagine the jump scare I got when this message appeared in my requests a couple of weeks ago…
Ever since Temu became impossible to avoid, I’ve somehow managed to never buy anything from there. I’ve had various ads pop up for novelty Hello Kitty slippers or stickers and as tempting as it may be, I exhausted all my guilty cheap thrill purchases buying 30p sunglasses from AliExpress at uni. Sure, the products are very cute but I can’t justify being complicit in the horrendous working conditions they’re made under, just for some stickers.
Despite my personal gripes with mega fast fashion/homeware companies like Temu, Aliexpress and Shein, I do recognise they are necessary for some people. As I mentioned earlier, we are in a serious cost of living crisis and the majority can’t afford basic necessities - especially if you have children. If shopping on these websites is the only way you can afford to clothe yourself or your kids or buy day-to-day essentials, then that isn’t your fault (looking at you government!). The prices of everything have gone up an insane amount and wages sadly don’t stretch far enough anymore. The issue I do have, is with the influencers in comfortable positions who would’ve said yes to that proposition from Temu.
Accepting “competitive pay” from a company that have been labelled as high-risk for forced labour, is beyond out of touch and quite honestly blows my mind. There wasn’t even a small part of me that considered accepting this, and that’s coming from someone who just quit their full time job to try pursue being mostly freelance (aka I’m skint). Before quitting said job, I brought up this collaboration proposal to my ex co-workers where most of them agreed that there is even a huge difference between mild consumption of something unethical - vs promoting it for your own personal gain/money etc. This was until one person shamelessly announced “I don’t care, I would’ve done it”.