The Hard Truth Behind “Forced Happiness” in Kawaii Culture- Kawaii Fridays!

Ciao lovelies and happy Kawaii Friday. Today we’re doing a deep dive into a phenomena in Kawaii Culture that many Kawaii influencers face: Forced Happiness and lack of understanding from fans and content consumers.

First, what is “Forced Happiness”? It’s a term that represents the phenomena where fans of a kawaii influencer expect that person to constantly be happy, upbeat, and positive.

And, for the most part, many kawaii influencers are constantly upbeat, peppy, happy, and generally positive/optimistic. But that’s not feasible to be all the time.

A great deal of influencers in the Kawaii Community deal with their own personal struggles like mental illness, largely in the form of depression and burnout. (If you don’t know what Burnout is, see our post HERE!).

Influencers often face backlash from fans when expressing their less-happy sides. Often they feel as though they must keep up a happy, upbeat persona in order to stay in favor with their fans. They also feel as though they can’t take breaks without providing an explanation, and sometimes even get slammed for just taking a mental health break.

Of course, influencers of ALL kinds experience this, not just Kawaii Influencers. But in the Kawaii community there are underlying pressures to stay happy and stay upbeat and stay positive in order to stay relevant (and yes there are subcultures within the Kawaii Community like Menhera which shine light on the mental health issues in this community. But I’m speaking in general terms about the whole Kawaii Community.)

Something I feel that all people who consume content need to realize is that influencers of all kinds are people too. They aren’t just a face you see on screen, they’re a person with complex emotions and lives.

I’ve heard some say that influencers should expect this kind of treatment because they “signed up for it” when they decided to become an influencer. But I strongly disagree. For many influencers of all kinds, this isn’t their job. It’s just a labor of love. Not only that, but just because someone wants to share their art, their content, their interests with the world should not paint a target on their back for harassment if they take a mental health break. 

Something I feel we all must remember is that success does NOT equal guaranteed happiness, and that influencers should be treated with as much kindness and empathy as you would give to anyone. 

Thank you for reading, remember to love yourself, stay awesome, and I'll see you in our next post!

 

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Thanks again for reading! See you in our next post!