In today’s society, social media plays a significant role in the promotion of food brand products. Many connections can be made between social media influencers (SMIs) and the reasons for their engagement. The world of social media today has given substantial momentum to influencers. Advertising no longer relies solely on print or radio advertisements, as such channels are no longer considered primary sources of information; Instead, marketing teams target people on the internet using popular spokespersons to engage an audience. SMIs are “individuals who have accumulated a significant following online through the creative narration of their personal lifestyles, engagement with their audience and monetisation of their digital content through sponsored collaborations with brands” (Abidin, 2015).

Drew et al. (2022) take a deeper look into the motives of SMIs, specifically on Instagram, when producing food related content. The authors point out that previous marketing professionals have recognised Instagram as being the optimum channel for SMIs. This is because the platform focuses on visual aesthetics which makes it an appropriate and ideal platform to promote products, brands, and lifestyles. With that being said, further connections can be explored between the aesthetic of the platform with the aesthetic of the influencer, as well as the aesthetic of the product itself. Knowing that the “halo effect” causes consumers to believe that prettier packaging means a healthier product, we can begin to consider whether or not similar connections can be made between more physically attractive influencers and the credibility of those influencers.

Saima & Khan (2021) first touch on the relationship between influencer expertise and credibility. Through their studies, it was found that influencer’s expertise was insignificant in affecting the influencer’s credibility. This is important to note because it represents the function of influencers today; consumers are not looking for true knowledge on the brand being promoted, but are more interested in the influencer themselves and the desire to relate to them.

Past research can be applied to today's influencers based on findings of two studied models: the source-credibility model and the source-attractiveness model (Joseph, 1982). In this article, Joseph supplies significant evidence in regards to physically attractive communicators' impact on product opinion change. This research found that more attractive communicators (representing influencers in the media today) are consistently more liked by consumers and have a positive impact on the products with which they are associated. Though this research is not directly associated with influencers on social media currently, it can be applied to this concept as the advertising industry still follows a similar structure despite the time frame.