Do you ever notice how easily influenced this generation is? The power that influencers hold over “Gen-Z” is huge. These influencers often overlook the power they hold. The podcast episode “Ozempic” is a perfect example of the trend of wanting to be thin has become widely popular. Most of the audience on social believed that influencers are using this type 2 diabetes drug to lose weight. Over 50 influencers who drastically lost weight have been accused of using this drug and many of them won’t deny that they haven’t used it.
Influencers who constantly post updates about their daily lives disregard the power they hold over other individuals who look up to them as inspiration. If they are magically losing weight and ignoring comments to address tips they’d suggest to help their audience who are struggling, this will lead to negative stereotypes about body image. I wonder if influencers feel offended by their audience making assumptions or if they acknowledge the mindset they are putting out to everyone? If so, why not address it instead of ignoring it? Is it to gain more popularity?
Normal/desirable bodies are the affect that come from losing weight so suddenly. Why does one need to have extreme weight loss to be appealing to a crowd or feel beautiful? “More weight loss than any previous generation of weight loss drugs and we’ve had this immediate huge wave of media being like is this the end of obesity does this invalidate body positivity”. This quote from the podcast highlights how media will encourage one another to love their body and embrace the flaws yet, they will say this is the cure to losing fat. We need to do better…
Unruly Bodies 
There’s a rhetoric I’ve heard in some online leftist spaces about Gen Z being a generation that is much more socially “aware” and morally sound from advertising or political influence, but this podcast episode and other statistics (including Instagram influencer culture and young male voter demographics) have proven again and again that that is not the case. No generation is perfect, and what we can learn from cases like you wrote about Ozempic influencing is that the problem is not with individuals being gullible or inherently bad, but with manipulative algorithms that have a dangerous control over how we see our own bodies.
This post is so relevant, especially in today’s world where social media platforms like TikTok amplify trends and influencers’ actions to an almost dangerous level. TikTok, in particular, plays a huge role in setting beauty standards and pushing trends like extreme weight loss, which can have a significant impact on self-image. The rise of influencers promoting quick-fix solutions, like the Ozempic trend, without addressing the consequences or acknowledging their responsibility, shows just how far-reaching their influence can be. It’s concerning when influencers neglect to recognize the power they hold especially against those who are minors and don’t know any better. The constant pressure to conform to a certain “ideal” body type only reinforces harmful stereotypes and makes it harder for people to feel confident in their own skin. This post rightly points out that while media and influencers may promote body positivity, they simultaneously push products or behaviors that contradict these messages, leaving many to wonder what the real goal is: promoting health or just chasing popularity? It’s a wake-up call for us all to be more mindful of the messages we consume and share.
Hey Siddylol well for one, I think the reason we’re seeing a resurgence in skinny culture (yes obviously being skinny is the standard everyone is already slim blah blah ESPECIALLY in Europe and Asia we’re fatties in America 🤦♀️💀) is honestly because of the 2000s obsession/aesthetic tiktok edits. Those slow mo edits of supermodels, video vixens, women from hit 90/2000s movies and shows with a chopped and skewed or sped up version of Nelly Furtado, Brazilian funk, some r&b song you know what I talking about. That. That right there is honestly where I believe its coming from. This romanticization of the 2000s. Also I’ve said this phrase a hundreddd times: not ervyone needs to be a thick baddie and not everyone can give model realness its okay for you to be what you’re body naturally is. Some people are meant to be skinny and toned. some are meant to be thick. and that’s okay like jeez im tired of people on both sides. Everybody giving themselves a eating disorder either trying to bulk up or lose hella weight lol. So many naturally slim black/latina women obsessed wit the ice spice bbl southern thick and vice versa.