The Demetra Effect: Understanding Why Some Fashion Videos Are Actually Advertising | Story

Girls on TikTok copy Demetra Dias in terms of her moves and style

⭐️HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW⭐️

• Demetra Dias is an example of a young influencer who made it big on TikTok.
• Many girls copy her style and buy the products she promotes.
• Two experts say it's important to remember that people like Demetra make money.
• For Media Literacy Week, we're exploring Demetra as an example of how influencers sell products.
• Read on to find out more. ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Demetra Dias tries on jeans: low rise and wide leg, in light wash, white and dark gray.

She stands in a tidy bedroom in front of white furniture, her hands on her narrow waist, smiling and tossing her long, wavy, dark hair.

She then turns to the side and lifts her right foot toward her back, all the while staring into the camera.

This is her signature “flamingo” move that girls all over TikTok are imitating.

“Your jeans. I need them,” someone wrote in the comments.

Demetra is 17 and from Montclair, New Jersey. In August, she reached three million views on her TikTok account.

While their videos may seem fun, innocent and authentic, experts say they serve a different purpose.

Like so many TikTokers, she's probably trying to sell you something.

On August 11, Demetra posted this video highlighting that she was launching her own clothing collection a year after going viral. (demetradias/TikTok)

How did Demetra Dias become such a big influencer?

On the surface, Demetra looks like many teenage girls in North America.

She mainly posts videos of outfits she tries on, but also shows herself hanging out with her boyfriend and their friends.

Most of her videos have millions of views.

Demetra began posting funny fashion videos, said Nick Keller, founder and CEO of Insight Media, the company that represents her.

She really took off about a year ago. Companies began sending her articles to promote on her channel.

The girls started copying her, going out and buying the clothes, shoes and accessories she was promoting, and then posting their own videos claiming they were copying her.

This has become known as the Demetra effect.

This is one of many videos on TikTok in which users show the items they purchase influenced by Demetra Dias, which is called the Demetra effect. (Image credit: mikayladocs/TikTok)

She launched her own clothing collaboration earlier this summer and all of the “hero items” sold out within minutes, Keller said.

He receives 20 percent of Demetra's earnings.

Keller wouldn't reveal how much money she makes, but a July Wall Street Journal article said she was paid about $20,000 per post.

“Demetra is one of the most down-to-earth influencers/people in general I've ever met and she truly deserves every opportunity that comes her way,” Keller told CBC Kids News in an email.

And she's not just an influencer.

“She is in her senior year of high school and is currently learning to balance school, sports (gymnastics) and social media while finding time to still be a teenager and spend time with her friends, family and her Friend to spend,” said Keller.

Watch this video from our colleagues at Street Cents to learn how Demetra Dias makes money:

Demetra effect = successful marketing

While Demetra's posts may seem authentic, most of the items she tries on and shows were sent to her and companies pay her to promote them.

In Canada and the United States, influencers must make it clear that they will earn money when they talk about certain products. In many cases, you can see the company's hashtags in the video description.

For Karen Louise Smith it is clear that the content is promotional, even if Demetra seems so likeable.

Smith, an associate professor in the department of communications, popular culture and film at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., said this is common among influencers.

One of the reasons this happens, Smith says, is because children aren't influenced by traditional advertising like on TV or billboards.

“There are companies that devote their advertising and marketing budgets to influencers because young people consume the messages of this content and thereby increase sales,” she said.

Jordan Foster, a research fellow at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, agreed.

“Consumers tend to listen to their peers rather than, say, a brand,” said Foster, who studies media, culture and inequality.

“Influencers can function like a peer or a friend and can therefore be persuasive, but the key is that they must first appear likeable and authentic.”

Keller said that despite her fame, Demetra has maintained her authenticity.

“Demetra values ​​authenticity and we ensure that she has organically used and is obsessed with every item she promotes in a paid partnership,” he wrote.

Can anyone be like Demetra?

Demetra pleases her followers not only because of the many clothes she gets, but also because of her lifestyle.

“My goal is to be like that one day,” someone wrote in the comments of one of her videos.

Both Smith and Foster say that while Demetra seems like any other teenager, she is not.

“It's not true that we can all make it big just by being silly and funny online,” Foster said.

He said she represented a “narrow idea” of beauty, including being white, attractive, wealthy, young and female.

“This is potentially problematic when we think about what happens to young girls who fall outside of these norms,” Foster said.

And buying her products won't make you as happy as she seems, Foster said.

In one of her videos, Demetra shows off the same sweater she received in three different colors. (Image credit: demetradias/TikTok)

“We actually know that a lot of our buying behavior doesn't make us very happy, at least not in the long term,” Foster said.

Despite all this, Foster added that there are encouraging things about influencers like Demetra. She obviously works very hard and gets recognition for it.

“She is a young woman using her platform to build a business and a brand identity,” he said.

Still, he said he would like to know more about her real life.

“I think it would be interesting to maybe learn a little bit more about what she goes through as a teenager and what it feels like to be so famous at that age.”

CBC Kids News requested an interview with Demetra, but Keller said she was too busy.

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