The Four Stages of Identity Commodification

The Peddler

What I name The Peddler is an individual who utilizes their personal brand (image, personality, etc.) in order to better showcase a product. The Peddler is found embedded in Mass Media logics that create a firm separation between the circumstances in which they are selling an item and their personal lives. I propose this as the lowest degree of identity commodification as the products that The Peddler is required to showcase can be completely detached from their lives off-camera. Additionally, The Peddler has little control of the content and the product as both are decided by the broadcaster.⁴

By analyzing parasocial relationships and social advertising in the Mass Media age, we can understand the Creator Economy in new ways. Whereas cable television shopping network QVC employs dedicated hosts to sell goods to viewers, influencers and content creators are “sharing” their cultural labor with their built audience. 

QVC hosts build a brand for themselves without commodifying their identity. First, the context in which QVC salespeople advertise products is limited to a specific time and place. Hosts are always in a QVC studio set with QVC-provided products. While the hosts may craft anecdotes about a product’s usefulness in their life, the viewer’s gaze is limited to on-screen. Additionally, viewers are limited to formal channels of engagement with these individuals such as calling into the show. A QVC forum discussing the “Psychology of Selling [that is] Used by Television Retailers,” is particularly informative. Some users comment on how they wouldn’t buy anything from someone they didn’t “like,” and others recount viewers calling into the show “crying,” to the hosts saying, “I just loveeeee you to death.”⁵ This parasocial relationship with QVC hosts who viewers know are contracted to sell things to them reveals that subtlety may not be required to sway the purchasing power of individuals in the context of the Mass Media Age.

In opposition to QVC, influencers of the Creator Economy have historically been propositioned by brands to incorporate brand appearances and endorsements into their everyday lives which are then photographed and shared with the influencers’ audiences. Compensation may be limited to receiving the items for free or include monetary payment. The saturation of endorsement into the influencer’s life signifies a commodification of identity via precarious labor, which is framed as liberation through post-feminism, as outlined in Sinead O’Connor’s piece “The Racialized Economy of Instagram.”⁶

Additionally,  brands and platforms have started exploring AI Characters, where influencers license a brand/platform to use their image and likeness to create a deepfake influencer.⁷ This proposed combination of a fully brand-sponsored, corporate-scripted avatar and the visual identity of a well-known individual is undoubtedly a dangerous one. Conjunctural analysis enables us to outline speculative futures for the commodification of identity as we investigate social and economic models of the past and present.

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Important note!

The Creator can also take a different form as an example of Disidentification, a concept explored by author José Esteban Muñoz to signify a mode of identification that, “neither opts to assimilate within [a dominant] structure nor strictly opposes it.”⁸ Due to the mechanics of Affiliate links and compensation to content creators based on engagement, The Creator is also able to co-opt these mechanics to sponsor causes that these platforms neglect to address or support. A notable example includes creator Jourdan Johnson, an AR Developer who created a TikTok filter and told users that any proceeds the creator gained from the filter would go towards Palestinian Aid.⁹