Luxury for luxury's sake only covers the opposite extreme of essentials. Innovation often involves non-essentials, considered luxuries early on, and sometimes becoming so ubiquitous that they become new essentials, for better or worse. Cars, AC, phones, computers, internet, smartphones...

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with producing entertainment, internet communities, or branded merch. But I don't think it's that controversial to say "micro-influencer selling/sponsoring merch" is not the optimal career path for most of the people that pursue it.