In market videos the influencer becomes the commodity amid wasted objects.

Evidence

So “House” and “Car” explore the contradictions of intimacy and authenticity in influencer culture. Chapter 3, “Market,” explores not only videos that deal with traditional “markets,” such as thrift stores, but any video that depends on excessive consumption and wasting of commodities: haul videos, unboxing videos, videos where an influencer purchases and sorts through product returns or abandoned storage units. “Market” moves from intimacy toward the essential location of waste in influencer culture, where specific commodities lose coherence in an endless stream of more and the influencer becomes the true commodity to be purchased and sold through the differentiation of the self from perpetually wasted objects. — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 117

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s labor theory of value question: the commodity is the differentiated self, and surplus is realized by the platform.