Who Can You Trust with Your Wallet?

The greatest tool of advertising in this age is your phone. We’re glued to our screens 24/7, and so are celebrities. They have their cameras, their brand deals, and they make sure we know exactly what they’re using. Think about Hailey Bieber casually posting her “morning skincare routine” with Rhode products, her own brand, of course. Or Kim Kardashian “spontaneously” showing off her Skims while getting ready. It’s advertising, but disguised as everyday life, and we eat it up. Seeing them use these products in a seemingly natural way makes it feel more real, even if we know, deep down, that it's still marketing.

We’ve seen celebrity endorsements in every form over the years. I distinctly remember Clear Shampoo’s sales skyrocketing after Cristiano Ronaldo’s ad in 2014. The formula was simple: take a globally adored celebrity, pair them with a supposedly useful product, and watch the sales roll in. And sure, that worked, for a while. But when does the consumer get tired of it? When do we stop caring about a random celeb posing with a bottle of perfume or a watch they probably don’t wear? We see so many products plastered across social media and TV every day, at what point do these endorsements lose their power?

We’re in an era where consumers (a.k.a. all of us) are getting smarter. We can sniff out a cash-grab endorsement from a mile away. And honestly? We don’t care as much about who is promoting it, we care about why. Do we actually trust this brand? A random celeb holding a skincare product means nothing if the reviews say it’s garbage. Does this brand align with what we care about? We’re looking for real connections, not just a famous face. Would we still buy this if the celeb wasn’t involved? If the answer is no, then it’s just marketing smoke and mirrors.

And here’s the thing: a celebrity endorsement doesn’t guarantee success. It’s up to the company to make sure customers stick around once the initial hype fades. If the product doesn’t deliver, it’s a lose-lose situation: disappointed buyers, a damaged brand reputation, and an endorsement that ultimately falls flat. A great example is Morphe’s collaboration with Jaclyn Hill. The launch had all the right ingredients for success: a well-known beauty influencer, tons of excitement, and massive sales at the start. But when customers received lipsticks that were melted, gritty, and even contained mysterious black hairs, trust crumbled. Despite the initial buzz, the product’s reputation tanked, and the brand never fully recovered. It was proof that a name alone can sell a product but only until people realize it’s not worth the hype.

That’s why influencer marketing, the kind where someone actually tests a product and gives a real, unfiltered review, has started to outshine big-budget celebrity endorsements. We’d much rather watch a YouTuber or TikToker who has built their reputation on honesty than a celebrity whose skincare routine probably costs more than our rent.

Take Tati Westbrook, for example. She gained a massive following by giving raw, detailed reviews of makeup and skincare products, whether they were drugstore cheap or high-end luxury. People trusted her because she wasn’t just pushing sponsorships: she tested everything thoroughly and gave real recommendations. When she raved about Maybelline’s SuperStay Foundation, it wasn’t because of a brand deal; it was because she genuinely thought it was amazing. And guess what? People bought it. It became a cult favorite, proving that authentic reviews have more impact than some celebrity holding up a product in a staged Instagram ad.

That’s the difference. We don’t just want to be sold something, we want to trust that it actually works. Celebrity endorsements might catch our attention, but they don’t earn our loyalty. What really makes us stick with a brand is authenticity, real experiences, real feedback, and a real connection to what we actually want.

So, what about you? Have you ever bought something just because a celeb endorsed it? Or are you more likely to trust word-of-mouth, influencers, or your own research? Let’s chat in the comments!