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While Amazon “must-have” videos are popular on social media, as influencers and other personalities share products that they claim have improved their lives, other online accounts are fighting back with “de-influencing” videos.
For instance, Clara Pitsker, social media manager for @livekindly — a sustainable living community with online platforms on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, as well as brick-and-mortar experiences — posted a TikTok duet with an influencer who posts popular “Amazon must-haves” video content.
But Pitsker and @livekindly pointed out that very rarely are the products featured in the “must have” videos actually must-haves — and more often than not, they’re contributing to needless waste.
This video in particular, which has racked up 5.4 million views, was one of the currently trending “restocking” videos and saw the influencer “restocking” her fridge by pouring milk, juice and other beverages from the containers they came in into new glass containers that she purchased from Amazon.
“You don’t need this product from Amazon,” Pitsker pointed out. “This is so unnecessary.”
Pitsker went on to say while at first glance, the Amazon beverage containers may look eco-friendly because they’re made of glass, so are many of the containers the original beverages came in. Plus, the shipping and packaging materials the containers came in create a significant impact on the environment as well.
Not to mention the practicalities of using the containers: “How are you going to know when it expires? And what happens to the liquids that don’t fit in the container?” the video asked.
“YES! Finally. The restocking videos, they drive me crazy,” commented Kellie, @here4cheapentertainment. “So wasteful.”
@livekindly has a whole series of “de-influencing” videos that the community says are meant to sway potential Amazon shoppers away from products that they don’t need. For instance, they believe no one needs a giant pack of 54 lip-liners.
The same goes for fabric softener glass bottles, according to the group, because 1) fabric softener is actually harmful to clothes and your washer and 2) again, no one needs more containers for things that already have containers.
An electric, automatic paper towel dispenser….
A pickle jar that drains the pickle juice for you…
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And last but not least, a pop-up umbrella not for you, but for your phone while you’re enjoying the sun.
Of course, “must-have” products of any kind are debatable as everyone’s needs are different: “But the amount of times I’m trying to look at my phone but the screen can’t go any brighter and there’s no shade around? Honestly I need this,” wrote one commenter about the tiny phone umbrella.
“I actually got one for the beach and love it,” admitted @thatgirloksana.
But the usefulness of phone umbrellas aside, the point of @livekindly’s deinfluencing series is part of a larger trend aimed at getting people to think twice before they hit “Buy Now” on the latest and greatest from Amazon, because consumer waste is real. Although an Amazon spokesperson denied that any products at all end up in landfills to CNCB in 2020, according to a 2022 report by Fast Company, it’s estimated that as much as 2.9 million tons of Amazon’s returned products alone ended up in U.S. landfills, not to mention reports that the consumer giant also destroys millions of tons of unused or unsold products every year, which may also end up in the landfills.
“This is the content we need to save the planet!!!! Thank you!” replied @alejandrablancoga.
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