In the past decade, the idea of being a content creator on a platform like YouTube or TikTok has gone from absurd to commonplace. With this, the biggest content creators, seeing the monetary benefits of their profession, have gone to great lengths to boost their finances to extreme heights. Now, many have taken their hunts for fortune to never-before-seen heights, which may very well be too far.
One of today’s highest profile creators is Jimmy Donaldson, also known by his social media-turned brand name, Mr Beast, has already amassed 322 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel alone. Along with this, he has multiple other channels each having at least one million subscribers, ultimately leading his net earnings from his YouTube to eclipse $1 million a month.
Yet, as most philanthropists of this sort do, Donaldson has also pursued other ventures. He’s created Feastables, his Mr Beast branded line of candy; Mr. Beast Labs, a toy company, and most recently, Lunchly; a collaborative effort with fellow YouTube stars Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji -also known as KSI- and Logan Paul. Their goal with the collaboration was to dethrone Lunchables, a lunchroom staple for generations of children in the United States.
Yet, when one examines Lunchly side-by-side with Lunchables, it’s hard to see how it would be any better. Not only does the YouTuber-backed meal cost four dollars; a whole dollar more than the competing Lunchable, it also has less calories. The calorie count, which is at a reasonable level in the Lunchable to begin with, is a vital part of these meals as many children bring these to school as simple, all-in-one, lunches. So, the lower calories really just means the target consumer of Lunchly is getting less energy than they otherwise might have received had they gone with a Lunchable instead. These creators weren’t in pursuit of a truly better product; they just wanted to push their brands and grow their wealth, all at the expense of children, the easiest target.
Worst of all, a lack of quality control on Lunchly’s part has become increasingly obvious. Despite boasting about how their product contains real cheese, as opposed to the more processed product found in Lunchables, they have not taken the correct measures to ensure consumers get this cheese in an edible form, with many customers reporting moldy cheese. Despite claiming to hold their product to a higher standard compared to Lunchables, distributing a product that is unable to stay fresh for longer than a week is unacceptable.
Beyond the absurd ventures of some of today’s highest-profile creators, many lower-profile micro-celebrities have also gone too far in their attempts to extend their five minutes of fame. A prime example of this is Haliey Welch, known for her famous “hawk tuah” quip. Despite the clip featuring her now famous line being only a few seconds long, Welch has gone to great lengths to extend this fame of hers.
In her search to elongate her relevancy, Welch has not only gotten a full merchandise line at Spencer’s, but she’s also started her own podcast, affectionately named “Talk Tuah with Haliey Welch.” This podcast has already featured backing from a number of high-profile guests, including Jojo Siwa and Jake Paul. The podcast’s viewing statistics have been lackluster, to say the least; amassing under a million views on each episode, barring the first.
As her podcast falls off, it becomes more and more apparent that people are less into making people like Welch into celebrities. While lots of people have turned themselves into household names through endeavors in social media like Mr Beast and Logan Paul, it seems as though as time has gone on, and controversies have accumulated, people may finally be realizing that kids and adults alike don’t need to support everything these celebrities do, and can realize that just because something has a big name attached to it doesn’t always make it better for consumers.
