A year ago, the world fell apart and the tears in our daily lives ripped open-wide. This rendered us vulnerable and exposed, Lady Liberty the classic damsel in distress, and America seeking urgently for a knight in shining armor. The concept of the hero is enduring; it spans across time, cultures, and age. Just as the archetypal characters in comic books, our modern-day heroes exhibit characteristics such as bravery, courage, moral integrity, selflessness, and determination—with no cape or alter ego required.
In turbulent times, we naturally turn to our civic and religious leaders to save us, yet often recoil at their mortal/moral shortcomings. However, heroes live among us battling pervasive foes of paramount strength; they grapple for guidance to vanquish the evil of illness, addiction, and poverty every day. They are ordinary people who often don’t realize the magnitude of their impact. How can we recognize and cultivate the hero within ourselves for ourselves and each other?
Culturally, we tend to gravitate toward images and notions that reflect our ideology and self-image. This is a primary factor for the boom in influencer marketing, which is on track to be worth up to $15 billion by 2022. Some of the biggest Instagram influencers drive substantial impacts in the marketplace by establishing credibility and “authenticity” in personal brands that resonate and reflect regular everyday consumers.
The top influencers aim to represent you and me as they leverage their content in lifestyle, fashion, travel, and technology tips and reviews, amounting to tens of thousands of posts, and hundreds of millions of followers. This culminates in a lot of time spent listening to personal brand messaging. Stories of the attractive, rich, and famous become our stories, and the marketplace banks this will continue to drive consumerism through the roof. Where do bravery, moral integrity, and conviction exist in this looking glass? How do these Instagram stars reflect the hero within us that we so desperately need?