Devin Glenn - Supplemental Post #5

            As we’ve discussed before, our class’s content has matched up perfectly throughout the course of the semester with occurrences in the world of popular culture—from Beyoncé’s release of Cowboy Carter to Jennifer Lopez’s iconic interview revealing her go-to bodega order (if you know, you know). For this final week, I find it fitting that we are talking about influencers, sandwiched in between Coachella Weekend 1 and Coachella Weekend 2. Not only is Coachella the biggest music festival in the US, but it is also a feeding grounds for companies to advertise their products through sponsoring influencer’s trips to the festival. Most influencers like Madeleine White and Alix Earle attend Coachella as brand ambassadors, acting as the face of a specific companies. This year, Madeleine represented American Express (an ironic pairing given her British upbringing) and Alix represented the soda brand Poppi. This equation represents a win-win for both parties involved, as brands receive a good amount of advertising time and influencers receive free access to the event on top of an all-inclusive package that typically includes board, food, products, etc. AND exclusive content that they can share with their followers. It’s a textbook example of a gift economy.

Since Madeleine is one of my favorite influencers I follow, I figured I’d hone in on her as a case study. Madeleine originally made a name for herself based on her extravagant Coachella looks, but has since branched out to fashion more broadly and is now regularly invited to runway events hosted by Schiaparelli, Prada, and other luxury brands. Because of this legacy, her 1.5 million followers on Instagram and 4.6 million followers on TikTok have their eyes especially focused on her during Coachella. As Madeleine herself wrote in various Coachella related posts, “I have a Coachella reputation to uphold” and “Men have the Super Bowl… I have this.” This year, Madeleine’s outfits did not disappoint as she planned three different looks for the three days she attended the festival.

Which outfit is your favorite? I think I’d have to go with her Day 1 mermaid-inspired look. Sadly, the top did not survive the night and Madeleine had to resort to taking it off and wearing a cardigan instead, but she got a good pic before that happened and that seems to be all that counts—a mentality that enters into an interesting discourse surrounding utility, aesthetic presentation, reality, and appearance.

            Madeline’s contract with American Express must have been a relatively good one for her since she really only had to post one video of her going through the American Express popup experience at Coachella to acknowledge her role as a brand ambassador. Conversely, it felt like almost every video Alix Earle posted had something to do with Poppi—a company that typically pays for a group of different influencers to come and stay at their immaculate clubhouse for Coachella weekend. This time, however, the company opted to focus solely on Alix and instructed her to bring a group of friends with her. The dissonance between the level of luxury displayed in her videos documenting her time at “Casa Poppi” and the status of the brand as a soda company is something I find fascinating. In many ways, this partnership seemed to try to be connecting their drink with the illusion of wealth, something that even Alix herself only had access to (at least in the form of “Casa Poppi”) for three days.

            I don’t know if I have any stellar final thoughts on this subject, but I’m definitely looking forward to discussion influencers and brand deals more in-depth during our class on Friday! I guess, in conclusion, I don’t know how effective these particular instances of brand ambassadorships actually were, since I don’t really have a desire to purchase an American Express credit card or drink Poppi, but I absolutely do want to attend Coachella Weekend 2.