When you think of the words ‘celebrity lifestyle influencer’ the first person that comes to mind is always a woman.
Depending on your tastes – and age – it might be Love Island extraordinaire Molly-Mae Hague, any of the billion dollar-laden Kardashian sisters, Gwyneth Paltrow and her wellness brand Goop, and now possibly even Meghan Markle, whose As Ever range selling essentials like $28 honey sold out in half an hour last week.
One question: where are all the men?
Okay, we’ve heard about Andrew Tate. But he’s an extreme misogynist whose lifestyle I’d like to think most men wouldn’t touch a barge pole. I’m talking about the normal, beige-wearing, white-toothed, everyday blokes selling garish trainers who have all the men you know in a chokehold.
In case you’ve been in a coma for 20 years, an influencer, in its Google dictionary definition is: ‘A person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media.’
There are different sub categories too, depending on follower count.
You’ve got micro (sub 100,000 followers), macro (less than 1,000,000 followers) and then – the greatest of all – celebrity influencers, who boast over one million followers.
But why are they allwomen?
Women are more successful influencers than men
Due to their stratospheric success in online spaces, women lifestyle influencers attract bigger deals, agents, money, and publicity, than men.
‘That has just always been a trend in the whole time I’ve been doing this job – women command more cash than men,’ says Emma Bunning, who has run On The Box Talent for nine years.
‘This is probably the one bloody industry where women actually do earn more. Men earn so much more generally, don’t they in life? Let us have something!’
Steven Bartlett is a wellness influencer who perhaps comes closest to this success in building himself a personal brand with his 4.2million followers, and promoting his businesses through them.
Joe Wicks is another male influencer flogging his app, cookbooks, and subscriptions to his fitness-minded 4.8million followers.
We rarely call male influencers what they are
But the likes of Wicks and Bartlett are rarely described as influencers.
The term, when it comes to celebrities, only seems to be associated with women.
Google defines Joe Wicks is a ‘fitness coach and TV show host’ while Steven Bartlett is an ‘entrepreneur and investor’ – despite both being influencers by definition.
‘We call them businessmen, we call them public figures, we call them creators… because, I think, influencer could be seen as a bit naff,’ explains Emma.
‘People can make quite snap judgments about influencers being a bit tacky or a bit embarrassing, or it might be seen as a derogatory term. But if you say I’m a content creator, or a public figure, that that tends to have more kudos.’
Even if they were called influencers, these men are not in the same league as Molly-Mae’s 8.4m followers, Gwyneth’s 8.7m, and absolutely not Kylie Jenner’s 394m – in size, or loyalty.
It’s hard to imagine the Dragon’s Den star dropping a clothing line and see it sell out in 24 minutes like Molly-Mae’s Maebe. Or for any Joe Wicks fan to tune into his YouTube religiously every week to watch him just… living his life.
Gwyneth Paltrow is Goop
Look at Gwyneth, who is first an actor and second a lifestyle influencer.
She launched Goop in 2008 to ‘crack open taboos’ with products like vagina-scented candles, vibrators, and less memorable – but no less important – skincare products. Ever since her name has been inextricably linked to Goop.
While male celebrities have started plenty of lifestyle brands, and successfully too, they simply aren’t as tightly associated with them.
Did you know Justin Bieber launched a clothing brand called Drew House that sold out within hours in 2019? Perhaps not. Or that Harry Styles’ beauty brand Pleasing has skyrocketed his net worth to a reported £120million? Maybe.
But everyone who knows Gwyneth knows Goop.
These male celebrities are not an embodiment of their brands – but rather their brands are an extension of them.
While they have launched, endorsed and been the face of lifestyle products, they have never owned a singular lifestyle brand like Goop.
Perhaps it’s because it was the first big celeb-driven lifestyle brand to gain momentum. Maybe it was the focus on vaginas that hit headlines and did it. Or a bit of both.
Women are subject to more scrutiny than men
‘Any publicity is good publicity,’ is a popular proverb for a reason, meaning that even if it’s negative press, at least people are aware of your existence.
Women influencers’ success could be in part down to them being more controversial. Just look at outrageous old Goop. And Meghan Markle – a famously divisive figure – who launched her As Ever lifestyle range yesterday. It sold out within half an hour of going live.
‘Men who promote goods on social media don’t ever seem to come under as much fire as women. For instance, women that promote fast fashion brands such as Shein, PrettyLittleThing, and Boohoo are often slated for it,’ explains Emma.
‘I don’t recall ever seeing a backlash for men that promote for the same companies.’
Women are bigger spenders on lifestyle improvements
‘Women have always been told we need to buy things to fit beauty standards,’ CEO of TBH Talent Verity Park tells Metro. ‘Skincare, makeup, haircare, wellness – there’s an entire industry built on selling us “improvement.”
‘So when a female influencer launches a brand, it is targeting a group of people who are sooo used to buying these sorts of products and it just makes sense in the market.’
In short: women feed on aspirational content more than men, because over the years our worth has been calculated by appearances.
‘I think that it’s natural that more influencers would be women, because not only are we buying for ourselves, but we tend to also do the shopping for our partners, our kids, and kitting out our homes,’ adds Emma.
This shows up in the trends, too.
‘There are exceptions but generally instead of lifestyle influencers, men have niche expert-driven influencers in what they are interested in,’ explains social media manager and consultant Hannah O’Donoghue-Hobbs .
‘So instead of aspiration, which generally women are more into, it’s about function and performance.’
‘Men tend to follow influencers in certain niches,’ agrees PressBox PR’s Head of Talent Lynn Carratt, listing football as a major one, ‘rather than following someone just because they like them.’
Men don’t connect the way women do
As any Molly-Mae fan will tell you: their relationship with an influencer goes much deeper than aesthetics.
Sure, she’s the epitome of clean girl vibes, with cream jumpers that never have a fleck of dirt on them, flawless makeup, and – of course – she’s incredibly beautiful.
But so are lots of women… And they don’t have a reported £6m business empire created solely on being cute.
No, Molly-Mae has an emotional connection with her fans that male ‘content creators’ could only dream of emulating. The fans, who see Molly-Mae as a relatable (but aspirational) friend, are cult-like in their loyalty.
‘Women build parasocial relationships with female influencers,’ explains Verity Park. ‘We follow them, relate to them, and trust their recommendations… so when they sell something (particularly if it’s their brand), we buy.
‘Molly-Mae’s followers feel connected to her. Anything she loves, they love. Tommy Fury’s audience is mostly Molly-Mae fans who are just interested in him, not trying to be him.’
Most of Tommy’s audience are women – and aren’t even his own fans, but a byproduct of Molly-Mae.
‘Women will go on her posts, “Gosh, this really resonates. Oh. I feel really seen. I feel safe,”‘ adds Emma. ‘I don’t want to generalise too much, but you don’t get men making those sorts of comments too often.’
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She adds: ‘Men tend to be a little more guarded and I’d say, maybe even embarrassed to admit that they have male role models.
‘I don’t think they’re quite as open with their emotions as women, generally speaking.’
As Emma points out, men just don’t seem to get influencing like women do.
‘I’m really wracking my brains trying to think if there’s a male equivalent of Molly-Mae… I’m really struggling,’ she says.
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