From hype to clearance: The hidden truth about influencer-endorsed products

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Back in March, according to an item on Billboard.com, Travis Kelce pulled out the "retro vibes" by wearing a newly released off-white Nike hoodie sporting a mishmash of NBA great Michael Jordan's championship rings and memorable midair shots.

Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end and megastar Taylor Swift's boyfriend, had a little product placement thing going as he cohosted a popular podcast called "New Heights" with his brother, Jason Kelce, who is now retired from the NFL.

The sweatshirt that celebrated Jordan, who dominated the NBA and drove the Chicago Bulls dynasty in the 1990s, was selling for $110, according to Billboard. The footnotes stated that "Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links."

But wait, folks: I will point out here that I spent roughly $31 on that exact same sweatshirt at the Nike store on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit a few weeks ago.

That's about a 70% discount on an item that looked hot in March but apparently cooled down, quite a bit, by June. So much for the influencers trying to tempt us into buying the garish opposite of the simple Jordan "Jumpman" silhouette.

I spotted the sweatshirt when I was shopping for something extra for my husband for Father's Day. I had no idea Taylor Swift's boyfriend once wore the thing. I just saw Jordan, a red tag for a markdown and a sign that promoted 30% off markdown prices.

The sweatshirt was not the lone Jordan retro pullover on the rack.

Later, the deep discount did make me wonder: "What's the deal with this sweatshirt?" Going online, I spotted the Kelce podcast. And yes, I told my husband the strange path that this price tag took after he opened his gift.

My husband, Richard, who is a hyper-dedicated Detroit Pistons fan, a guy who has shown up for games for decades, wasn't surprised Jordan's sweatshirt was on sale in Detroit.

Detroit hates the Bulls, he told me simply. The rivalry dates to the late 1980s and early 1990s. Jordan said he hated the "Bad Boys" Pistons on an 2020 ESPN documentary called "The Last Dance." Jordan then added, "And that hate carries even to this day."

I don't imagine Richard will be wearing that sweatshirt down to Little Caesars Arena. But maybe running around on a Saturday afternoon or raking leaves?

Richard liked the sweatshirt, or so he said. He agreed that he has plenty of memories of seeing Jordan play. He also told me that he "grew up a Bulls fan before becoming disillusioned in the early 1980s." He became a Pistons fan in 1989 and never looked back.

In case you missed it: What to prioritize when making a budget? Tips on creating and sticking to one

One fun memory: Soon after we wed in 1995, I even suggested that he use my Detroit Pistons ticket at The Palace of Auburn Hills to take his former neighbor to a Pistons-Bulls game because Helen, a very sweet retiree, seemed so incredibly excited about Michael Jordan coming to town. He even bought her a Bulls hat.

The $100-plus sweatshirt is clearly out there

Spending $110 for any sweatshirt is indeed a great deal of money. Yet, this could be a thing.

Gen Z's "gotta have" status item is, remarkably, a boxy sweatshirt that sells for $125 to $140 each.

"Talk to any woman under 25 with a TikTok addiction, matcha habit, and student ID from a Big Ten school and they likely know about Parke, a fast-growing online brand known for its $125 mock-neck sweatshirts," according to an article in The Cut, a New York Magazine website.

Parke is splashed across the front of some sweatshirts in a way that reminds me of the trendy Gap gear of the 1990s.

And yet people waited in line nearly six hours to shop at pop-up locations in New York City, according to The Cut. Parke is the middle name of the brand's creator, Chelsea Kramer, a New Jersey influencer.

The New York Post called the sweatshirt a "cult-status" symbol.

Sure, sure, sports gear costs plenty these days. A Tarik Skubal Detroit Tigers replica jersey was priced at $135 online, after all. But we're talking about far more ways to look cool and, and maybe even, go broke.

How to fight off impulse purchases

Stuff your closet with too many must-have items and you're not likely to pay down credit card debt, save a good deal for a down payment on a home or build up savings in a college fund for your children.

Increasingly, we see high-end price tags on everyday items via social media posts designed to convince us that these things will make our lives much more worth living.

For goodness' sake, so-called vintage Pyrex casserole dishes pop up all over Facebook − and yes, now legacy media − as something that can command five-figure price tags on eBay, if you've got the right pattern.

A Pyrex dish is hot?

Really, why? Because so many of us long for the days when potato-chip-crusted casseroles arrived on the table? Not me. Or is it so we can all say, "My sister got one of those dishes when she got married 50 years ago. Where is it now?"

Terrence Daryl Shulman, the Southfield-based author of "Bought Out and $pent! Recovery from Compulsive Shopping and Spending," said people often find sentimental value or emotional connections with many things that they spot. Sometimes, it becomes a trigger to buy something memorable for someone else, too.

The internet is great, Shulman said, but it has contributed to an increase in online gambling, overshopping and overspending online, sex addiction and other addictions.

"Our relationship with 'stuff' is very complex," said Shulman, who counsels people who want to address problems with overspending, shoplifting, employee theft and hoarding behaviors. He runs the Shulman Center for Compulsive Theft, Spending and Hoarding.

Many times, he said, clients acknowledge that they're influenced by an influencer, someone who has built up a sizable online following and ultimately ends up being compensated to promote certain brands of clothing, accessories or cosmetics that fuel online purchases.

Often, Shulman said, clients will acknowledge that following some influencers can trigger more spending, like signing up for a favorite retailer's alerts about sales and discounts.

"People end up not enjoying or wearing most of what they buy," Shulman said.

One even can build a "virtual life" with people met online, he said, when it comes to many ways to spend time from online gaming to gambling to online shopping.

Sometimes, he said, it's a way to overcompensate for being lonely or going through a troubling transition in life, such as a death, divorce or trauma. Sometimes, he said, there's no obvious reason behind a behavior that has gotten out of control.

His advice: Step back. Give yourself a set time to take a holiday away from shopping. Stay off certain websites. Stop following influencers for a while to get things in order. You can even delete apps like Amazon from your phone − or remove saved payment information to make it that much harder to complete a purchase.

It can become more important to reconsider wants versus needs. You cannot define a purchase as a "need" simply based on the fear of missing out on an item that appears to be in short supply or something else offered on sale at a deep discount.

"Most of the time, with rare exceptions, it's going to be around later," Shulman said.

Make a wish list first before you buy

Some experts advise placing an item on a "wish list" before you buy it. Review that list in a few days or even a week to see if you're considering buying something that will work well for you. If you don't remember why you wanted it in the first place, you can live without it.

Deidre Popovich, associate professor of marketing at the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University, told the Detroit Free Press, part of the Paste BN Network, that using a wish list effectively enables a consumer to get beyond the novelty of a piece of clothing or a gadget.

"Wish lists are less likely to result in an eventual purchase," according to a research paper published by Popovich and coauthor Ryan Hamilton, associate professor of marketing at Emory University in Atlanta.

Research indicates consumers initially use what she calls a "faster choice process" when attracted enough to an item to put it on an online wish list. Later, they will take other factors into account to reevaluate the purchase of something already on a list.

A shopper needs time to ask: Is it really worth the money? Do I already have something just like this in my closet? Will I really use it? Would I rather spend the money on something else?

Online retailers such as Amazon use wish lists to allow a consumer to leave an item in an online shopping cart, often indefinitely. The retailer can use such lists to boost sales over time, including reaching out to the shopper to remind them that they've left something in their cart. Or retailers might market another similar item to the potential customer.

But such lists can actually work against retailers, too, the researchers said. The option to delay a purchase will result in a lower likelihood the consumer will buy the item, according to the research, relative to buying without the option to delay.

The researchers tested out the theory using different products across five experiments, including a pizza cutter, clip-on lens for a smartphone, a Roomba vacuum cleaner, a humidifier and wireless headphones.

The researchers ran their own experiments with 1,154 adults participating across the five experimental studies. The research did not include any secondary data from online retailers.

"Deferring a purchase by using a wish list can therefore function as a means of self-restraint when shopping," according to the research paper published in 2021.

Different decision-making strategies are used when you're initially attracted to an item and when deciding to make a purchase, if you've delayed the purchase. Making shopping a two-step process can help avoid buyer's remorse and save money.

Without taking time to step back, it's easy to cave in to our impulses and spend too much money the minute the next new hot item pops onto our social media feed. We have to have it now − and the internet makes it that much easier to give into the impulse.

My little trip shows that some items being worn by celebrities or promoted by influencers truly do not have much staying power, if any, over time.

For fun, I clicked on that Billboard link for the Jordan retro sweatshirt in mid-June to see how much it cost if you didn't walk into the Nike store.

The price then was marked down to $77.97, or 29% off. Not as good as my bargain, but another sign that clicking to shop the minute you spot something isn't the best way to save a buck.

Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompor: stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on X @tompor.