Influencer self-portraits are commodities indistinguishable from the subject

Evidence

The moment these images become composed, become an act derived from the labor of the influencer, labor on which making a living as an influencer depends, then they cannot be said to be vernacular. Once we refuse the idea that “selfies” are either disposable or vernacular, we begin to sketch another conclusion about them. Why is it that people put so much effort into the construction of these images? Because they are well constructed self-portraits, not selfies. Because they are representations of a commodity, a representation that produces a commodity, a commodity indistinguishable from a subject, a commodity indistinguishable from an identity. — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 90

Categorization

• XREF: Directly serves the reader’s stated aim: this is the commodity whose surplus value the influencer-as-firm realizes. The exchange-value/use-value distinction from the labor theory of value maps onto this ‘commodity indistinguishable from identity.’
• STORYSTEM: A story could follow an influencer whose self-portrait becomes literally her commodity—her identity alienated and sold back to her once she realizes the self and the product are indistinguishable.