Several Nigerian content creators are mimicking American superstar YouTuber MrBeast by publishing charitable deeds as content online.
I’m against it because it is making money at the expense of others dignity. Also it is an appropriation and conflation of kindness and generosity with wealth, which undermines people’s self-esteem and celebrates consumerism as a solution to the problem of poverty, which has deeper systemic roots.
Is it worth being “against?” Seems like the kind of act that is best met with apathy at worst.
Oh, you gave some money away to make money. Okay?
For me it’s not just about money. It’s also about dignity and about universal human qualities. At best this kind of thing is an unfair trade and at worst it is material perversion of what is good about human nature.
Even though it’s often just for content and publicity, I’d much rather have that type of content than for example rage bait
They both are bad and would not get much views if exposed for their real nature, just to quote from the article:
“What creators like Omotayo are doing looks good on the surface, [but] it is ethically wrong because the aim of such content is to generate more engagement and followers, which in turn result in wider fame and sponsorship deals for the creator,” Suraj Olunifesi, an associate professor and social media researcher at the University of Lagos, told Rest of World. “These creators should rather be called business people and not philanthropists.”
Olunifesi compared stunt philanthropy creators to Big Tech companies: They “may allow their platforms to be used for free, but they, in turn, exploit users’ data for profit.”
How long until they will be outed for similar abuses?