This book critically examines the intersection of influencer marketing, mental health promotion, and contemporary constructions of masculinity.
Focusing on male influencers in the United Kingdom, this study considers how Instagram has created space for the public expression and destigmatisation of male vulnerability while simultaneously commodifying mental health discourse. It explores how male fashion and lifestyle influencers leverage their branded selves, including through commercial partnerships, to frame mental health within commercial and cultural contexts, blurring the boundaries between wellness, self-care, and consumerism. Drawing on qualitative case studies and thematic content analysis of social media outputs, the author interrogates the ethical and regulatory gaps surrounding influencer promotion of wellness goods and services, raising urgent questions about accountability, transparency, and the monetisation of emotional well-being in digital advertising culture. Finally, this book introduces the concept of 'algorithmic depression' to describe how influencers' narratives of mental health are not only shaped by personal and cultural forces but also structured by platform algorithms that influence what forms of emotional expression are made visible, valued, and circulated.
Researchers and advanced scholars across Communication, Advertising, Mental Health, and Gender Studies will find this a timely interdisciplinary intervention.