About Hayden Panettiere, Authenticity and the Price of Being Real
17.9.2026
American actress Hayden Panettiere, who passed away in August, lived a difficult life. During her lifetime, she spoke openly in public about the struggles she faced, including substance addiction and depression. After her death, a social media controversy broke out in the US and got me thinking about what authenticity can cost when you work in the public eye.
In a podcast appearance recorded in the spring, a claim emerged that American cosmetics brand Neutrogena had stopped working with Panettiere after she opened up publicly about her postpartum depression. As Yle reported, the claim sparked calls for a Neutrogena boycott on social media, with angry comments quickly filling the brand’s channels.
Panettiere’s case is just one example of how a public figure or social media influencer can end up paying a high price for being open about their life. There are, of course, also situations where an influencer makes a statement that clearly goes against a brand’s values or behaves publicly in a way that makes them an obvious brand risk. But Panettiere’s case got me thinking about the bigger picture: how do authenticity and brand safety actually fit together?
Authenticity and openness are constantly called for on social media. Polished feeds and carefully curated aesthetics have lost some of their importance as Gen Z, in particular, has brought honesty and relatability into content creation.
If an influencer’s feed feels like one long ad break, people will eventually tune out. A lot of social media influence comes down to one simple thing: people feel like they know the person behind the content and can trust that what they see is real.
But being real can come with a price. From a brand’s point of view, one ill-advised comment, an edgy joke that doesn’t land or simply being too open about the hard stuff can potentially affect future collaborations for a long time.
That’s the tricky part about branded content: brands want the real thing, but only as long as it fits the brief.
The best social media collaborations blend seamlessly into the influencer’s other content and feel like something they would have shared anyway. But brands can sometimes get a little too involved. Scripts are tweaked, every word is checked and the content goes through so many rounds of edits that, by the end, it might be polished to perfection, but some of the person behind it has disappeared along the way.
And just like that, even authenticity comes with a script.
I think part of the reason is that, even though influencer marketing and social media collaborations are still relatively new, the industry has already picked up a set of practices that probably made a lot more sense ten years ago. The thing is, social media has changed a lot since then. What worked back then doesn’t necessarily work anymore when followers can spot a forced ad from a mile away.
According to a survey conducted by influencer marketing platform CreatorIQ, more than four in ten content creators (42%) experience a conflict between the kind of content their audience expects from them and the kind of content brands, in turn, want them to create. Only 19% of respondents disagreed with this.
That is why I would encourage brands to be a little braver.
Influencers and content creators are experts on their own audiences. They know what makes their followers stop scrolling, what feels natural and how to bring a brand into the conversation without making it feel like an ad. So if brands really want content that feels authentic, they need to give creators room to make it their own.
Openness shouldn’t be feared too much, either. Challenges and difficult moments are part of life, after all. And sometimes they’re exactly what makes an influencer feel relatable to their audience.
There’s no need to shy away from difficult topics just because they don’t fit neatly into the traditional idea of a “safe” brand image. A good example is Reissumies, a rye bread brand by Oululainen, which has used influencer collaborations to spark conversations around masculinity and the difficult parts of growing into a man. Even deeply personal or difficult topics can become meaningful, natural brand content when they’re handled in the right way. Some level of risk is simply part of the game, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Social media is a place where people are interested in other people, not perfectly polished characters.
From a brand’s perspective, the more important questions might be: Do we know who we’re working with? Do we understand their audience? And do we trust them to communicate in a way that feels right for both them and the brand?
An influencer doesn’t have to share everything to be authentic. And they don’t have to be perfect to be brand-safe.
At its best, it’s about having the courage to choose a partner whose values and way of creating content genuinely fit the brand, and then giving that person enough space to actually be a person.
Anne Laiho
Digital Communications Consultant
American actress Hayden Panettiere, who passed away in August, lived a difficult life. During her lifetime, she spoke openly in public about the struggles she faced, including substance addiction and depression. After her death, a social media controversy broke out in the US and got me thinking about what authenticity can cost when you work in the public eye.
In a podcast appearance recorded in the spring, a claim emerged that American cosmetics brand Neutrogena had stopped working with Panettiere after she opened up publicly about her postpartum depression. As Yle reported, the claim sparked calls for a Neutrogena boycott on social media, with angry comments quickly filling the brand’s channels.
Panettiere’s case is just one example of how a public figure or social media influencer can end up paying a high price for being open about their life. There are, of course, also situations where an influencer makes a statement that clearly goes against a brand’s values or behaves publicly in a way that makes them an obvious brand risk. But Panettiere’s case got me thinking about the bigger picture: how do authenticity and brand safety actually fit together?
Everyone Wants Authenticity. Until They Don’t.
Authenticity and openness are constantly called for on social media. Polished feeds and carefully curated aesthetics have lost some of their importance as Gen Z, in particular, has brought honesty and relatability into content creation.
If an influencer’s feed feels like one long ad break, people will eventually tune out. A lot of social media influence comes down to one simple thing: people feel like they know the person behind the content and can trust that what they see is real.
But being real can come with a price. From a brand’s point of view, one ill-advised comment, an edgy joke that doesn’t land or simply being too open about the hard stuff can potentially affect future collaborations for a long time.
That’s the tricky part about branded content: brands want the real thing, but only as long as it fits the brief.
When Authentic Comes With a Script
The best social media collaborations blend seamlessly into the influencer’s other content and feel like something they would have shared anyway. But brands can sometimes get a little too involved. Scripts are tweaked, every word is checked and the content goes through so many rounds of edits that, by the end, it might be polished to perfection, but some of the person behind it has disappeared along the way.
And just like that, even authenticity comes with a script.
I think part of the reason is that, even though influencer marketing and social media collaborations are still relatively new, the industry has already picked up a set of practices that probably made a lot more sense ten years ago. The thing is, social media has changed a lot since then. What worked back then doesn’t necessarily work anymore when followers can spot a forced ad from a mile away.
According to a survey conducted by influencer marketing platform CreatorIQ, more than four in ten content creators (42%) experience a conflict between the kind of content their audience expects from them and the kind of content brands, in turn, want them to create. Only 19% of respondents disagreed with this.
That is why I would encourage brands to be a little braver.
Influencers and content creators are experts on their own audiences. They know what makes their followers stop scrolling, what feels natural and how to bring a brand into the conversation without making it feel like an ad. So if brands really want content that feels authentic, they need to give creators room to make it their own.
Brand Safety Doesn’t Mean Risk-Free Content
Openness shouldn’t be feared too much, either. Challenges and difficult moments are part of life, after all. And sometimes they’re exactly what makes an influencer feel relatable to their audience.
There’s no need to shy away from difficult topics just because they don’t fit neatly into the traditional idea of a “safe” brand image. A good example is Reissumies, a rye bread brand by Oululainen, which has used influencer collaborations to spark conversations around masculinity and the difficult parts of growing into a man. Even deeply personal or difficult topics can become meaningful, natural brand content when they’re handled in the right way. Some level of risk is simply part of the game, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Social media is a place where people are interested in other people, not perfectly polished characters.
From a brand’s perspective, the more important questions might be: Do we know who we’re working with? Do we understand their audience? And do we trust them to communicate in a way that feels right for both them and the brand?
An influencer doesn’t have to share everything to be authentic. And they don’t have to be perfect to be brand-safe.
At its best, it’s about having the courage to choose a partner whose values and way of creating content genuinely fit the brand, and then giving that person enough space to actually be a person.
Anne Laiho
Digital Communications Consultant
