Influencer as individual and trader: exploring the boundaries of discrimination in influencer marketing from a multidisciplinary perspective

Abstract

This article grapples with the tension between understanding influencers as individuals with lived experiences and as economic actors who behave like traders. Adopting a multidisciplinary perspective, it explores the boundaries of discrimination faced by influencers in their treatment by brands. It combines a feminist, intersectional approach with legal insights to examine the case study of a Black influencer who publicly withdrew from a brand trip due to unequal treatment and the ensuing drama on TikTok. Analysing a dataset of 137 TikTok videos, the study demonstrates how narratives of unfairness, racial discrimination, and responsibility are reconfigured by the legal status of influencers as independent contractors, reflecting on the limits of legal protections available to them.