School of Business marketing professor Suzanne Makarem says physician-influencers may carry more impact than a follower’s own doctor, and ‘that should give us pause.’

Young adults following physicians on TikTok consider them more accessible, credible and altruistic than their own doctors, even when the physician-influencers are selling products. Moreover, the followers haven’t actually confirmed the influencers’ medical credentials. Those are the main findings of a new study from Virginia Commonwealth University, co-authored by Suzanne Makarem, Ph.D., and published in the Journal of Consumer Affairs.

“Young consumers are usually very literate when it comes to social media influencers and commercial intent. But when you have a physician on TikTok, that becomes something different,” said Makarem, an associate professor of marketing in VCU’s School of Business. “We’re already trained to respond positively to credentialed experts. Now we’re seeing them as ‘these doctors who have busy lives and already make a lot of money – ­they don’t have to be doing this. They’re taking the time to educate me.’”