Commentary, Features, Opinions
In the Era of the Rebrand, Who Are We Actually Performing For?
Rebranding can be powerful. We live in an era where everyone’s trying to be the best version of themselves, or at least present that way. But once monetization and external validation enter the picture, the question gets murkier: is the rebrand still about growth, healing and reinvention? Or, has it become a performance designed to look more polished, more desirable and more marketable to everyone watching? Let’s explore the totality of what rebranding means in 2026.
The Era of the Rebrand
The trap of wanting to be perceived as perfect on social media isn’t new. What’s relatively new, though, is the need to be relatable and authentically perfect. While we experience war, economic hardship and so much uncertainty, it’s not possible for the average person to relate to a perfectly manicured, overconsumption-driven influencer who flaunts how amazing their life is.
Mikayla Nogueira
Take Mikayla Nogueira, an influencer makeup artist, for example. There was a point in time when Mikayla felt like a breath of fresh air to the beauty community. She was a real person from Boston who didn’t fit the stereotypical influencer archetype. As time went on, though, she started to mold to influencer life and fall into plastic surgery, undisclosed ads and egregious overconsumption. Who was once a real person people could relate to has now become another unattainable and out-of-touch figure. She rebranded, but was it actually for herself or to fit in with the rest of the beauty influencer sphere?
Consequently, the internet turned on her. The more she operated as a run-of-the-mill influencer, the more viewers found to pick apart. Filler? She’s influencing her viewers to get plastic surgery. Filters? She’s unattractive in real life. Christmas haul? There are people starving. She was dead wrong for her undisclosed ads and $100k+ hauls. But the internet seemed to turn on her overnight—and, sometimes, it was unwarranted.
@richlux713 Mikayla Nogueira uses filters #mikaylanogueira #filters #filter #richlux #beautytok
I understand being upset because your favorite down-to-earth influencer fell into hedonism, but there’s a point where criticism is no longer constructive and leans more towards just being plain mean. This also veers into a weird parasocial dynamic between celebrities and fans, but that’s another conversation entirely. Forgive me if I think it’s a bit reductive to pinpoint an influencer’s half-truths instead of the deeper issue of “what power structure made her feel so insecure that she felt the need to lie?”
‘Glow-Ups’ and the Average Person
The modern “glow up” originated in the 2010s and solidified itself as a prominent aspect of social media thereafter. It seems like every other week, there is a new trend focused on how much better one might look than before. At a surface level, this is a celebration of how far we may have come. It’s awesome to look back at a previous version of yourself and see the progress you’ve made. On a deeper level, it begs the question: “Who are we trying to impress?”
There comes a point where pride in our appearance turns into obsession with the superficial.
This is why we’ve also seen a massive rise in undisclosed ads within the past decade. This isn’t just limited to a small group of influencers anymore. The infamous phenomenon of undisclosed ads is one that even average social media users participate in nowadays. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a review of a product that isn’t being promoted by the reviewer.
This is problematic for many reasons, but the biggest issue is that monetized “glow-ups” are often based on mistruth. The content seems organic enough to be realistic, but if there’s a monetary incentive behind it, it’s likely not real. If it’s realistic enough, there’s this misbelief that it’s attainable. In reality, it’s not attainable because it’s not real. This is why undisclosed ads have greater reach: they look organic, which makes them infinitely more dangerous.
Is There a Price to Pay for the Rebrand or Glow-Up Era?
The psychological cost of glow-up and rebrand culture is that it can quietly teach people to measure their worth through visibility, comparison and constant self-editing. Social media platforms intensify this by rewarding polished, idealized self-presentation, making it easy to start viewing your own life as a project that is always behind schedule. Research on influencer culture has found that exposure to highly curated images encourages upward comparison, which is often linked to lower self-esteem and body dissatisfaction, especially when people feel pressure to match the image they see online.
This cycle can also fuel anxiety, exhaustion and a sense of disconnection from the real self, because people end up performing a version of growth that is meant to be seen rather than actually lived. That is why the glow-up can feel so seductive and corrosive at the same time: it promises transformation, but often turns self-improvement into a spectacle, in which the goal is not simply to feel better but to look like you have already become the better version of yourself.
The darker side of glow-up and rebrand culture is that it trains people to treat themselves like a project that’s never fully finished. Instead of encouraging growth for its own sake, it turns self-improvement into a public-facing competition where the goal is not just to change, but to appear more desirable, more aspirational and more profitable than before. Being inauthentic is considered undesirable in 2026, but is it truly authentic if that so-called authenticity only comes when trying to appeal to the masses?
Featured image credit: Pavel Danilyuk via Pexels
