Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big fan of the app BeReal. I’ve always liked how it only takes up my attention for a short time in the day, how I get a little look into the random mundane parts of friends’ lives and just not care about anything because it’s an app meant for close friends to “be real” with each other. Just to show you what I mean, I went back and looked at my past BeReals. I’ve been posting once a day since November 2022 — exactly 434 times. I say this to mention something strange that I noticed when I took my BeReal last night: a new feature that would bring celebrities, brands and influencers onto your feed. What they call “RealPeople” and “RealBrand” is a new way arriving Feb. 6, to add some qualified public figures and see what they post when the BeReal notification hits.
The problem with this is that it completely defeats from the point of the app and illustrates the growing problem within social media. Now, their point in doing this is to hopefully show people the humanity in these larger-than-life figures, as part of their grand goal of bringing authenticity back to social media. But the idea of celebrities and influencers being genuine is absurd. Brand authenticity is a marketing tool and these figures will use it only insofar as it can create parasocial relationships between celebrities and their audiences to sell their various products. The second point of note is the idea of a brand itself being “real.” As much as they would like for us to associate them as such, a brand is not a person.
A brand is immaterial. It is the culmination of images, feelings and associations, which only serve the purpose of selling more products. For example, what is “being real” to a company like Amazon? It’s hard to think of something because it doesn’t exist. Yet, it is coming, and it will be one more human space subtly invaded by corporations urging you to consume. Was that product placed in the frame deliberately? Or, did it just happen to be there when they posted their BeReal? It’s these types of questions that break down our guard and leave us susceptible to every aspect of our lives containing an advertisement.
This is the newest example of the personification that brands have been seeking on social media for years. For example, look at the Twitter accounts for SunnyD or Slim Jim. Infiltrating human spaces with funny content that simulates human interaction (or, as seen above, “real” content) provides a couple of strategic points. First, it’s a normal ad that gets people to look at it because they find it funny, increasing the odds you’ll think about it the next you have a craving for orange juice or beef sticks. Second, it begins to lower your guard as if you’re talking to a friend and maybe forget the “person” on the other end is probably an entire team of marketing experts. Third, it begins to associate certain traits with the brand that improve its likability. No matter what, its ultimate end goal is to get you to spend your money and buy their things.
The danger in this is how far it has progressed. The line between consumer and seller continues to blur as their tactics grow more advanced and subtle, which has very important ramifications for society. Companies once used celebrities to market their products, and that was another form of personification, specifically by hopping on the personal brand of the celebrity they paid to appear. But that was not enough, being too expensive and oftentimes too clear that the figure was just being paid to say the lines. Influencers came into play later on to replace that gap, as public figures with deeper connections with their followers — and less transparent relationships with brands — can better market things to unsuspecting audiences. An ad no longer becomes an ad, but rather a “personal recommendation” from a “friend.” The next step in this progression is best shown by the TikTok shop, which has made everyone able to be both a producer and consumer, destroying the line completely, and leaving viewers unaware of what is and isn’t being sold to them.
BeReal is an app made to make money. I understand that, and it has to make money through selling us something. I am just disappointed that they had to do it by allowing corporations to invade a space that was supposed to be for people to share intimate parts of their lives. This is why America is such a place of rampant consumerism: We are beholden to commercials in every aspect of our lives. The subtle infiltration of ads every second of every day telling us we need more, that we must consume more, eventually starts to take hold to the point that it exists in the collective subconscious. If we want to solve this problem and all the others that stem from our excessive materialism, we must go to the root and draw the line in the sand between us and the organizations that only see us as a dollar sign.