Times have changed. Being an “influencer” is the new cool career to aspire for, followed by “content creator.” Hoping to harness the power of internet fame to help them attain celebrity status and earn big money, “influencers” are sprouting all over the social media universe. In our village, I know a female food vlogger who now calls herself an “influencer.” She now behaves like a celebrity. As a mutual acquaintance has noted acidly: “nag comment lang tungkol sa isang bote ng suka, ngayon kumikita na. Di na maabot.”

One video clip from China shows a motley of individuals in front of their respective cameras, gyrating, singing, doing magic tricks, acrobatic acts and other crazy antics while live streaming to anyone on the internet who would care to watch them and hopefully click the like or follow option.

 “Influencer marketing” is the name of the game that marketers and advertisers have been employing for quite a while now.

To put simply, an influencer is a blogger, YouTuber, Instagrammer, or TikTokker with a sizeable number of followers.

Their real intent of many of them is to be noticed by advertisers so they get signed up as partners for branding purposes using their so-called social media clout.

To be an influencer, all you have to do is invest in a phone with a good camera and sound recording function and a cheap tripod and with that you can have your own “mini show”—talk, sing, dance, dress scantily, do some tumbling—literally anything to capture a million eyeballs, day in and day out.

Honestly, it is really nothing new. It is just an old dog playing new tricks, or should I say the same old dog dressed in new attire. Take it from me, a retired ad man.

In my days in advertising, we had what was then called ”celebrity testimonial” involving the use of a widely known individual such as a movie star or a basketball player to be a product endorser.  Later on the term product endorser was elevated to the more classy “brand ambassador,” requiring the celebrity endorser to do live performances in marketing sorties in major cities or corporate milestone celebrations or national sales conferences in addition to the usual print ads, TV commercials, billboards.

The practice of influencers to promote products goes a long way back to the days when radio was still king.  I remember Paeng Yabut, a then famous radio personality. Millions of early risers were glued to his early morning program, entitled “Tayo’y Mag-aliw.” His program was a mashup of music, news, stinging commentaries on politicians. But he also promoted products in his program in a way that was “suwabe, hindi garapal” as old folks would say.  

Then there was Johnny de Leon who promoted “Bataan Matamis” and “Aji no Moto” in his late afternoon program “Lundagin mo baby” using a sidekick talent with a pronounced speech defect named Ngongo. That was during the pre-political correctness era when physical and mental defects could be joked about.

Even now, I can catch some radio personalities sliding in products such as medicinal remedies or cooking condiments into their commentaries as if they are organically part of his spiels or narratives. This is just like the press releases our ad agency used to concoct for the products to make readers think they are legitimate news features. That was “envelopmental” journalism.

As you have probably noted by now, influencer marketing is just a rehash of practices, ploys and tricks of the trade in my day.

Unlike testimonial ads of yesteryears, where celebrities and products were scrupulously screened and vetted by an Adboard, today’s influencer blurbs are unverified, un-fact checked. Some influencers often fail to disclose sponsorships, leading their followers to believe that their endorsements are unbiased and genuine. As one influencer disclosed: “we sometimes have to sell something that’s supposed to be trustworthy and sincere, but in actuality, isn’t.” When it comes to influencer marketing, the motto “Truth in Advertising” often leaves the conversation.

As we in the old days of advertising used to chant to ourselves: “we do the lying, you do the buying.” Every time you click on the “like” or “subscriber” button, it’s cash-ching for them.

Do our grandkids really need to be guided by influencers? I don’t believe so. Really good influencing should begin at home and enhanced by school.

As the popular book by Robert Fulghum points out, kids learn everything they know  in kindergarten.  Things like share everything, play fair, don’t hit people, put things back where you found them, clean up your own mess, don’t take things that aren’t yours, when you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together, and always keep in mind the very first words you learned – stop, look and listen.

 “Never trust strangers, don’t let strangers into our home” was an admonition embedded in us by our parents. If so, why should we let influencers, who are total strangers, intrude into our homes through social media?

Thinking about it, why can’t we give our grandkids all the good influence we can muster while we’re still here for them?  The real dictionary definition of an influencer is a person who inspires or guides the actions of others as in “he was a champion of the arts and a huge influencer of taste.” Who can do better at guiding and inspiring our grand kinds than us?

When we volunteer for a cause, when we practice Clean As You Go, when we call out our grandkids when they throw litter, when they see us devoted to our faith tradition, we are influencing young people in our own little ways that will impact them positively for life.

As for me, I am now using my lifetime experience to mentor my teenage grand daughter on how to do a better job as editor of her high school organ. I hope through my influence she will make a career out of her talent for writing. I devote my time posting a weekly blog to share my thoughts from the perspective of a 70 plus golden ager and having enriching conversations with young people still seeking their own paths.

So when friends would ask me what keeps me now busy in retirement, I have a ready answer. I’m pursuing a new rewarding career called “senior influencer.”

About the author

NICK TAYAG is a multi-media writer and communications specialist. His special focus is scriptwriting for audio visual presentations and documentary videos, creative conceptualization and writing think pieces. Now in his early 70s, he is the Creative Consultant of a digital production and event management outfit. He also writes a regular column for the Business Mirror called “My Sixty Zen’s Worth” which comes out every Saturday. His most recent script for a bio documentary on Filipino master filmmaker Gerardo “Manong” de Leon entitled “Salamat sa Alaala,” was nominated for best documentary in the 2016 URIAN awards. As an advertising copywriter in the 1990s, he won recognition from the Creative Guild of the Philippines and the Public Relations Society of the Philippines for ads he wrote for corporate clients. He also won a UNICEF-PPI Award for Outstanding Story On Children. He is presently working on a book on creative conceptualization as well as inspirational booklets.