i feel like even people who are not influencers have enough tote bags, water bottles and notebooks cluttering up their homes because they get given out at every corner and event. none of these things are inherently sustainable and companies using them to advertise how sustainable they are is really frustrating
TBH I will always use free fabric totes (i never throw those out since they're washable and i sew, so I can repair them) but most events give you so much light-duty plastic junk that hardly anybody is going to use, it's depressing :(
Yess! I worked in marketing/PR/events, and the amount of trash produced is terryfing. And the way people want more, and are happy to receive a hundreth tote bag - dude, are we living in the same century?
@@xiolaCotton totes still need to be used thousands of times each to off set the environmental impact of producing them. I can't speak for you but personally I have roo many free cotton totes to ever use them all enough times to offset their production.
I was given a bag of items as thanks for speaking at a school career day. Items included a flimsy water bottle with the school logo, a notebook with an ENORMOUS branded sticker slapped on the cover (which did NOT peel off well), and a Hershey's milk chocolate bar. I would have rather had a simple thank-you card, if anything. (I wouldn't have minded a $5 bill inside this imaginary card either 😅 but I understand why they can't do that)
I feel like another aspect of it is that when you are gifted products for free that you would otherwise buy yourself (even if you would personally buy cheaper alternatives), it leaves you with more spare money to spend on items you haven't been gifted. So all of a sudden you have an increased budget for other things furthering the ability to buy (more) expensive things yourself. Loved the video and very grateful for your honesty and insight into a very complicated topic that really is shaping our society and people's beliefs/desires as to what they need to be able to own.
omg yes that is a great point I hadn't thought of but so true!! being gifted things for our home or clothes saves us money that we would have otherwise had to spend so frees us up for saving that money or making more expensive purchases
There is currently a discussion happening in Italy about gifted and supplied things (materials stuff but also dinners, holidays, services etc). What has being said recently is that influencers should pay taxes on gifts and supplied things as they pay taxes on their in income because it is indeed another way to be paid and have an overall higher income
@@mMarty9696 That's interesting since in Finland where I live, influencers already have to pay taxes for gifted stuff that exceeds a certain amount of €€€ (although not everyone does this or is even aware of this). For some reason I though this is the practice everywhere but I guess I was naive lol
Yes this has always been the thing I’ve thought of with beauty products for instance! Influencers are quick to say they would buy it themselves and it’s worth the money but that’s because they get tons of other stuff for free or discounted that frees up more money to spend on the more expensive beauty items etc!
For some reason the free/sponsored art was the most shocking part of this video to me. It's quite literally in the background of all your videos- great example of the "how many times do I disclose this" example because we've been seeing your same art for years and I also forgot they weren't paid for. Also hit hard because I love slowly collecting art over the years - scouring flea markets, saving up to buy from an artist I love, etc - and the thought of getting a whole handful at once for free felt so foreign. Fascinating video, appreciate the extreme transparency!
I think that there is something beautiful in collecting an art collection over the years, bit by bit, memory by memory. However the weird thing is with the sponsored art, it makes it look like it's normal to have a full collection at an early stage. Which also make a slow growing collection feel less valid/worthy, which is a shame!!
This is really interesting! I’m loving the more thoughtful, deep dive content. I’m finding it hard that influencer culture is permeating every part of life now. I love to sew and do dressmaking, and a few years ago people started making videos sharing their projects, talking about fabric they’d bought (like hauls, so getting similar to the consumerism of fashion content but still related to the hobby) but now so many more creators are being sponsored by brands, being gifted free fabric, patterns, subscription boxes etc so even when I’m trying to just zone out and enjoy watching content related to my hobby, I’m being sold to. And as it’s still a fairly small community, they’re all sponsored/gifted by the same companies so every video has the same sponsored content! Which makes me actively not want to buy the thing because I’m sick of hearing about it! I just want a nice hobby that doesn’t keep costing me money and that I can share with friends and fellow enthusiasts without always being sold to!
I don't really mind that people who create free content online do ads and sponsorhips. They need to be paid too, and clearly I'm not the one paying them so ads it is. I do mostly skip the ads before and the sponsored part during the video because I'm just not interested in it. And I'd love for creators to only do ads and spons for stuff they can get behind too. I don't like it when they do them for random nonsense.
@@lenausesyoutube I mean, if they choose to do RUclips as a their main job, sure, they "need to be paid". And that's fair. Also fair to point out that ads can be skipped. At the same time, I remember how different RUclips felt maybe 10, 15 years ago. There were still a lot of people sharing their hobbies and stuff, but it wasn't a (somewhat) normal job or career path, so most people just did it for fun. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that it can be turned into an income now, it has definitely given some people a lot more work options. At the same time, it does mean that another thing that just used to be fun is now commodified. And yes, it can be annoying for people to constantly be sold to, and it can also be annoying for creators because it being a source of income adds pressure. I mean, there's a lot of creators (Hannah being one of them) who have said that they feel like they're stuck in a hamster wheel of constantly having to put things out, having to compromise on content so it can still be monetized... so I do think like everything, RUclips being a possible career has its pros and cons for everyone involved and it's fair to point them out.
@@morehannahExactly! I think the original comment here has to do with tone change. I follow a lot of knitters and they definitely talk about which yarns they’re using for a project (and highlight indie dyers) or what their favorite sock yarn is, but it’s not a sales pitch, nor a haul. When they’re suddenly promoting (whether affiliate links* or constant gifts from one or many yarn and tool companies) the tone changes and becomes uncomfortable. *I don’t mind when creators have affiliate links. I do when there are new ones every time they post. When creators have websites with links to the things they love and use, that’s great. That way I know where to find something I see them use that interests me without the feeling of being constantly marketed to.
I wouldn't label your thoughts as overthinking but interrorgating. Reconizing that's still a strong word, but influencer culture needs both inside and outside interrogation to keep it moderated. I really appreciate this video concept. And i enjoyed the vid!
I've always had a weird ick feeling when influencers (not Hannah in particular here!) refer to receiving items from brands as "gifts". I think it triggers a subconscious impression of warmth and generosity from a brand, and implies that nothing given in return, like a gift from a friend. Whereas in reality, of course, the brand is buying compliments and promotion from an influencer, or at least semi-bribing the influencer to review a product favourably. "PR product" has always sat better with me, as it feels more honest about the nature of the influencer-brand relationship. I don't know if it's even that deep, but I'm currently in a "brands are not your friends and never have been" mood, so 🤷♀️ food for thought! (This is no shade to any influencers with PR products/gifts btw, gotta do what we gotta do in this capitalist nightmare) Also 2:50 - a what kind of scheme, Hannah?! 😄
a pyramid scheme!! and oooh yes I really resonate with this shift in language and actually think I will use PR-product instead of #gifted in future posts!! that definitely reflects better what the relationship is!
so in the UK, I believe that gifted is according to the ASA where a product is sent without any need to feature it on the feed or at all, whereas Pr Product is something you have been sent specifically with deliverables such as a review or a feature
Yes! You've stated it much more elegantly, but to piggyback, I feel the same way when someone says that a brand was "so kind as to gift me x." I don't think kindness has much to do with it 😂
Love that you're diving into the influencer topic more recently! When you did your errands video I commented that I love that type of content from a handful of creators - the ones who aren't selling me a lifestyle I can't afford bc that would just bum me out! This is so transparant and honest and that's why I'm drawn to your content ❤️. One thing you have absolutely influenced me to do is be waaay more careful about clothes shopping and being less wasteful. About the "mommy influencer" and not really getting any gifted items for it - do you think it has something to do with not sharing your son's face online? That was the first thing that came to mind when you mentioned it but who knows, maybe I'm grasping at straws (I in no way think you should share his face online, just an observation 😉). I also think we've all gotten gifts we LOVE but would never have paid for ourselves. That can be either through a job or from a family member or friend. To me it is so much nicer to know from an influencer that they genuinely love something they were gifted and then add that they wouldn't have bought it themselves. I don't know how much the brands working with them would love that though 😉🤷🏻♀️.
Oh my goodness I LOVE this video so much. It’s everything I’ve thought about influencer culture for a long time. People think that influencers being ‘open’ means declaring their ads and maybe sharing/hinting at money information, but THIS is the open conversation that’s so sorely needed! I strongly believe things are going to be very different in 10-20 years time. This industry started out so wild and free but I see it becoming heavily regulated, especially the sharing of children in monetised online content (but that’s a conversation for another time!) thank you for always being open, honest, and treating your viewers like adults - love from a mostly silent viewer ❤
Not that you need tips for getting more things to hang on your wall -- but one thing my husband and I do to prevent us from having constant wasteful turnover with wall hangings is that we keep multiple prints/posters in each frame and cycle through them as the seasons change/as we get bored of what's in there. Then we can buy more prints from artists we love and maybe as souvenirs on trips, but don't have to store the extras or feel like we have to get rid of old ones to put up new ones.
As someone who works in picture framing I tell my customers to do a very similar thing. Get a good, standard sized frame that won't fall apart, and replace the prints to keep the space feeling fresh. Makes you feel like it's all new and exciting without being wasteful.
I really appreciate this deep dive into something that, frankly, I find many influencers shy away from. Ultimately, and although you didn't say this exactly you allude to it, part of your role as an influencer is to be creating ads. Consumers have to remember 1) sometimes it's people with no professional experience doing this advertising so they don't follow the guidelines, laws etc and companies are more than happy to let them take the fall for this issue. 2) not everyone is super conscious, ethical and mindful of consumption, influence, power dynamics and "the pyramid", but the businesses behind it sure are and want us to buy (literally) into it. 3) it's also just someone's job at the end of the day, and we all gotta eat.
This is so interesting! I often think when looking particularly at my favourite home accounts on Instagram, that the only reason their homes are able to look so beautiful is because it is gifted. Yes I might make some expensive house purchases but that might be once a year rather weekly which often is the rate people are posting gifted stuff. It's so unattainable!
Interior accounts are huge for this. i've recently been renovating my first home on a budget and it's really opened my eyes to how much influencers are saving, so many £20-40k kitchens for free!
This is so interesting. I always remember someone saying that when they go to buy anything they literally just search the company name and ad in RUclips to try and get a discount code and honestly that really changed how I looked at this shit
Thank you so much for speaking about this! I've been bothered by this aspect of influencer/celebrity culture for a long time and even though there were times when I was so poor that I would have been grateful for anything gifted, I don't think your complaining is inappropriate at all! Reducing over-consumption is the only way forward, and I hate how this selling lifestyle pyramid scheme exists in a bubble that is not real, where people who can't afford it still give away all their money in hopes for a lifestyle that resembles those of people who do not even pay for it.. Instead of creating a society where everyone can have their basic needs covered and products are selected based on quality and longevity. Love this video reflection format, please keep doing these :)
I’d say that when you need to pay for all of your clothes full price - that restricts you from developing a style that you may have aquired if money wasn’t a problem. I get the part where you can be wasteful and irresponsible, but you also can just have things that you like. More freely (as it should be). So maybe it’s not somehow representative of your financial situation, but it can very well be what you really wanna look like and well that’s nice. Also I always paid attention to art on your walls, especially London related, was good to know about those pictures more (they really suit this room and your general vibe)
@@morehannah friend of mine has one and swears by it! but very much a "fun if it is given to you" kind of item, god knows it's nowhere near my own budget
As a side note: I love this analysis of the influencer world of things coming from your channel. I think diving into this more or even "the history of XYZ on YT," or "why content creators stopped/started doing XYZ," or "how YT changed over the years" would be so interesting, esp since it aligns with your current consulting job :).
Hey! I’m usually a watcher and not a commenter but I felt compelled to comment on this video. Hannah, you’re great. This was such an interesting video. I love that there is no bulls*** with you. You’re such a good advocate for just showing everyone behind the scenes of how it works to be an influencer. You also just own it. You don’t try and pretend to be something you’re not or hide anything. It’s very refreshing. I would say this makes you more trustworthy to brands!
I saw a creator recently post on their story that they really wanted to try bike-packing and asked “are there any brands out there who would be up for sponsoring/gifting me some equipment, it’s all very expensive!” ? Blew my mind! Knowing that they will then post about how cool bike-packing was but I’ll know they couldn’t even afford the equipment themselves just means that content isn’t at all attainable for their (likely substantially less well off) followers…
Didn't they also receive a bunch of stuff that they already had and we're annoyed by? So they kept getting gifted these items which they didn't need, so that was their sort of sassy response (essentially, if you're going to gift me things at least make it useful)?
This is my favorite RUclips video ever. I’m so nosy and love house tours, especially when I like someone’s aesthetic. But the discussion was even more interesting. Stuff like this needs to be taught in schools.
YES!! I love and appreciate her honesty! It also made me aware to even take the creators that - so far - have made a genuine and authentic impression on me, need to be taken with a grain of salt in the future.
I actually kinda understand your rant about unsolicited gifts... I was at ikea the other day and they were giving out sleep masks for free. When one employee approached me and wanted to give me a mask I said "No thank you, I don't need that" and she was completely taken aback. I even heard her repeat what I said to her coworker in an almost offended tone. And I don't understand that, like, what am I supposed to do with this thing that I'll never use? It's essentially trash for me and no thank you, I don't want to get trash for free.
I have such respect for you - that you are able to self reflect and watch content like TFD and see how you are part of the “problem”. This video is brilliant, one I’ll watch many times. I’ve watched your channel since you were at Uni and as your content has changed, it has always appealed to me because at its heart, it comes from a place of self reflection, and thought. If anything, I’d say that is your brand :)
I almost didn't click on it because I thought wait I know Hannah's flat already :D And it was so interesting! Mentioning Lucy&Yak made me thinking because few times I almost got influenced by you to buy from them as they're exactly my style, I absolutely adore their colors... But not only I kind of can't afford it, ALSO my currency is weaker than UK pound so it's even more expensive to me. So I'm clearly one of those people that are being sold the lifestyle that's not even within their national experience :D
Glad you mentioned this bc I have also almost been “influenced” on multiple occasions by watching Hannah’s content to buy Lucy & Yak, even though I can’t afford their products with our currency plus import taxes
Love this! As a gen z viewer, something that I'm thinking about as I'm watching this video is how weird it is to grow up in an influencer age. When I think back to some of the YT channels that I watched when I was 14 and just wanted to learn how to do makeup, I realize that I had no frame of reference for if something was "worth the money", and was really too young to understand how the influencer/subscriber relationship worked. Also YT was a very different place 10 years ago and I didn't understand parasocial relationships the way I do now. Relatability/vulnerability was marketed to an extreme, which made it harder as a teenager to understand that creators were selling a lifestyle that even they couldn't really afford. Recently, when I needed to buy a new mattress, I asked my family and friends for recommendations first. At 14, I thought the influencers telling me which beauty products to buy WERE my friends.
This is such an interesting topic! I'm not actually "influenced" by the people I follow because a) I truly can't afford it and b) even if I could, I live in Argentina, and the brands most publicized are not available here. I think it's totally fine for influencers to make money with their brand deals; however, how wasteful the whole process is tends to bother me. Brands should gift products to people who actually ask for them. Unsolicited gifts don't even seem like a good marketing strategy.
I'm a relatively small sewing/knitting RUclipsr. I've had a couple of brands contact me about deals and even though they've been high profile companies, the terms have been RIDICULOUS. No I'm not going to make a minimum 15 minutes tutorial style video FOR FREE, even if I do get to keep £60 worth of yarn! I'm also disabled and there was a big controversy a few years ago after a big knitting website had a restyle which was very inaccessible to the point of triggering seizures and they just doubled down on it. A wave of criticism and advocacy for disabled knitters followed, rightly so, but suddenly my inbox is full of requests for brand deals. It's literally like they all googled Disabled Knitting Influencer and I was the top result. Needless to say, it's put me right off 😂
15:44 this is amazing honesty that I've never heard before. I do not and never will be able to relate but it is very insightful. This content feels both very honest and somehow kind of awkward. Good on you ma'am.
Also.. at least with me this video gives you credibility. I always assume influencers are lieing anyway. Even this video feels like you are branding yourself but in an ? More honest? Way.
@@morehannah To be absolutely clear, I did not mean that to sound as insulting as it did. I was half asleep when I wrote it. I really do respect someone in your position doing something like this. It COULD be a huge risk, I hope it doesn't hurt your business.
You and Leena talking about Catch Rhys is a positive example of influencer culture being helpful. I was genuinely looking for gold hoops and was impressed by the brand. Since they only ship to the UK, a fellow TCR member let me ship to them and they shipped them on to me. 🥰 I love my hoops and wear them every day!
One thing that I didn’t think about before I was really broke was opportunity cost. Cooking used to be so high stakes because if I messed up our night of food, we were either eating it anyway or we were eating a peanut butter sandwich as dinner. You might like (just a random example) a trendy wallpaper a whole lot more because you know that you’ll at least have the opportunity to get gifted more wallpaper in the future if you get tired of the style. You might even truly buy it with your own money - since you know you can change it when the trends change.
The carry potty is a game changer, they’re 30 quid and worth their weight in gold imo! I’m a childminder who has done the whole put a potty in a bag and carry it around, but then comes the need to empty it… no need with the carry potty. There it hangs, perfectly sealed and full of piss, on my wagon, waiting for the next pee emergency to come along 😅
The thing you said about not taking a sponsorship from batiste was so interesting to me! For most of us, a recommendation for a less expensive, everyday use product is so much more practical. I miss when influencers advertised brands like NYX and Elf. Those were brands that were in my budget and I loved seeing what influencers thought about their products! For me, large purchases like mattresses (I seem to get advertised the Emma mattress so often!) TVs or meal subscriptions are made based on what's in my budget. Loved this vid hannah! It was so interesting to see around your home and hear your thoughts!
I found this video really interesting and I think it does make you more credible to pull back the curtain and talk about this stuff. Hearing you break down the stages was great analysis and totally aligns with how I've seen other creators I watch with different audience sizes interact with gifts over the years. Figuring out what to do with things I have that I don't want (Re-gift? Donate? Sell? Throw away? Most likely just let it sit in a closet for years) is like one of my least favorite tasks and takes effort and work, so it totally makes sense that you deal with that and it's annoying when you get gifted stuff you never asked for and didn't want. Throughout the video though, I couldn't get over the comparison of lifestyle influencer marketing to doctors smoking in the delivery room. That just seems so extreme and fear-mongery to me, and I just had a very negative knee-jerk reaction to that. I'm having trouble articulating why exactly I feel that way, but I think it boils down to me really not liking that these online parasocial relationships I have that I value could be boiled down to pyramid schemes where I'm the victim being sold to and these people that I watch and trust are the villains. I don't watch your content because I want to buy your lifestyle. I watch because I enjoy it and am entertained by it and often find value in you sharing your thoughts and experiences. I love hearing other people's stories, but that doesn't mean I'm trying to be other people, y'know? I understand that you advertise to make money, but I don't see that as your main function. I think there's loads of things in my life that advertise to make money but advertisement isn't their main function, from traditional cable television to product placement in movies to ads on websites and social media. I feel like I understand that. So I don't want to feel victimized for being the target of an ad and I don't think the influencers I watch are doing anything wrong for participating in that system. I do think videos like this where you pull back the curtain and explain things like gifting culture are super helpful and make me feel like I understand and am therefore not a victim. I think your yearly income videos were a huge part of me learning and understanding how advertising and brand deals play a role in the finances of content creation. So I think you're doing a great job with how you approach it all. I just have this automatic almost basal defensive and negative reaction when I feel like people I trust and have parasocial relationships with are being unfairly criticized!
I love the openness and transparency in this video, it's really eye opening! The thing that drives me crazy is when influencers gush over a gift (from big businesses) and say how thoughtful and generous it is, when really it's all about more exposure for the brands!
Hannah Louise Poston, a beauty RUclipsr, also frequently discusses her relationship with PR and brands compared to her audience. She is very honest about the fact that her makeup collection contains luxury products she wouldn’t have bought herself and that she shifts through makeup faster than others, cause a part of the job is also staying relevant. I like seeing that kind of honesty and behind the scenes, similar to what you’re doing in this video :) It would be very interested to see how much money the gifted items add up to over a month or year in comparison with other income streams
You're amazing, as always! Similarly to your financial breakdowns, I literally know of no other influencer doing the kind of transparency work that you engage with so regularly and enthusiastically. Also, the restraint you have developed over the years while trying to never deprive yourself of nice things has been so influential to me in my own life.
For me those kinds of unsolicited gifts, which are somewhat forced on you or just don't have something to do with who you are or what you like, are just rude. For me that anger is absolutely relatable, even though I don't get anything sent to me for free.
It makes me think of those spam emails that somehow got your email address from somewhere and signed you up for their newsletter without you subscribing yourself. Even if it's a subject I would be interested in, I automatically dislike the brand, just because they've decided for me instead of me making the decision to sign up (basically like in childhood, when your mum asked you to clean your room when you were just about to do it and then you didn't want to do it anymore lol). So although we can't relate to specifically receiving branded products for free, the general anger towards unsolicited stuff is relatable!
This was such an interesting video! The term "influencers" is o strange to me. It is like saying, "this person's job is to get you to buy things." I much prefer the term "content creator" because I like to think of the people I follow as giving value to my life beyond telling me what to buy. I really appreciate watching people who are aware of what it is like to be a *regular person* and respectful of their audience. This is why I love you and all the other creators you recommend/pair with (Leena, Melanie, etc). It feels like you all are thinking actively about whether what you are doing will help your audience -- if it provides value to their lives-- in a much deeper way than many other millennial/gen-z creators. As a Gen-Z person, watching you all makes me feel way happier and more content about my life rather than always feeling like I need to buy more and more in the same way so many people of my generation do. This is why (as soon as I get out of uni) I really want to subscribe to Patreon because that just feels like a much more transparent interaction than this whole brand deal, gifted, influencing, consumerism thing.
I think there's actually a bit of a difference from someone who is primarily an influencer vs someone who's moreso a content creator. Some people really do make creating Amazon content their literal job, and every post is effectively an add or has affiliate links. Compared to people who mostly do creative stuff or lifestyle stuff which is mostly dissociated from specific products. It feels different to me, though by definition I'm sure they're the same.
That video was so good, I thoroughly enjoyed how different it is from what we see around socials and YT at the mo. Love your originality, you are passionate about your work which makes your content fascinating ✨ The specific topics touched upon in this video resonated so well with me, I actually watched and actively listened to the whole thing from beginning to end which is a LOT for me. So thank you, Hannah!
I forgot to say - I have worked in Affiliate marketing and influencer marketing for 7 years corporate side which might have also helped as I very much hear about these topics a lot in my work. Absolutely loved it regardless!
This was very interesting! One of the things I find frustrating is brands who are sustainable doing brand deals with influencers where they market new 'styles' of a reusable item. Wild are always doing these, I like wild products and use them but the point of a sustainable reusable case is that you shouldn't need to keep buying new versions of the case for its looks!
Such an interesting video, thank you Hannah! The things and challenges you talk about are quite understandable even if they aren't intimately relatable. I have never thought too much about the consequences of the influencer/brand symbiosis, but it all makes sense the way you explain it. I can imagine that quite a few people can empathise at least in principle, even if it is just remembering tote bags in uni or at conferences etc. The tradition of giving out random crap as gifts, even at a much smaller, less significant scale is relatable to several professions. I remember working in video games and the tech industry and getting loads of merch from things I didn't want like strange socks to things I was excited about/ grateful for like free AAA games.....
I feel like including an affiliate link for the potty you haven't even tried yet in a video about the ick of influencer gifting culture was kind of an odd choice but I appreciated the honestly otherwise.
I loved this! It used to pain me growing up with RUclips seeing influences makeup routines and adding up the cost of each look to be in their hundreds possibly thousands of pounds. And yet they don’t buy the products theyre gifted. It’s so much better for my mental health to reflect on the unrealistic expectations of these influencers lifestyles. They don’t reflect an average income or day to day privileges of being handed boxes and boxes of PR packages.
Oh it’d be so intriguing if you did a duplicate yearly budget that included gifted items. The analysis would be so so fun during your normal end of year round ups
One thing I notice as someone who helps to moderate a large parenting group online is that people are really passionate about talking about certain products that I know they were influenced on social media to buy. For example, the Nugget. If anyone posts asking about them, there are always a million responses of people saying how much they love theirs. It almost feels like because they were influenced to spend a large amount of money on something, they really need to sell it to themselves and others that it was worth it. I mean, I know people genuinely like the product, but it's striking to me how posts about products such as this are always waaaay more popular than other types of posts.
Ohhhh so this is what's going on with the obsession with loops earplugs in the autistic facebook group I'm in... I'm like.... They're just nice looking earplugs! Builders earplugs do approximately the same job if you can find comfortable ones
Honestly I really love your videos because you are really honest and transparent with us. The gifting things is really out of hand, I just watched leenas video on the tote bags. Consumerism seems more rampant than ever now
I don't get the people telling influencers to shut up and be grateful for useless shit appearing at their door or being thrust into their hands at events. Imagine constantly having to de-clutter crap that you've been given and also deal with the weird feelings of guilt/figuring out how to feel about it at all. I don't think it's something to feel sorry about on someone's behalf, because it's all very first-world problems, but being sent stuff you don't want or need is not as fun as people seem to think it is. Of all the things for non-influencers to get upset about, that one is the stupidest one. And I say that as a non-influencer who is often 100% done with influencer shit, but even I can see that this part of the job is in no way an advantage (unless you're gonna go on to sell the free stuff or save money on gift-giving, but even that is only helpful in very specific senarios)
right?! and it can be a lot of work figuring out offloading everything - gifting it to friends, finding new homes for everything. One friend of mine who gets a lot of skincare and makeup will have a re-gifting night and invite friends over and they can pick what they want and also everyone who attends donates some money that goes to charity
So true! I'm already so upset when for chrismas/birthdays my mum just loves to add tons of small gifts, just so you can "open stuff", and then I don't even know what to do with all these... I can't even imagine when it's everyday and it comes in huge boxes that you then have to recycle... Remember that time when influencers would get free make up/beauty products in huge boxes with screens in them, only for the package to contain like 3 lipsticks and one mascara in it? 😱🤯 I always wondered what they did with all of that, because it would be such a pain in the ass to have to figure out the logistics of where to recycle and throw all this so you're not too wasteful 😳 And it's not like you can just throw eveything in the trash it would take too much space, so you would just have to make constant trips to the waste disposal site. NIGHTMARE. You spend time decluttering and reorganising your home, only for people to gift you stuff that you don't want or need and don't have space to? No thank you 😂
I feel like if I had a company and I was going to hand out things like pens, water bottles, etc I’d try to have any branding be discreet and just make things maybe coloured with brand appropriate colours or something, because that just feels like it would be more sustainable and useful, but also more memorable. It’s certainly a very nuanced topic but I think you explained it quite well
so, i work in publishing and used to have a literary content project. sometimes i got free books and arcs through this project and work. and yes, it got me great reads. however, as a book industry girlie, i am not able to afford the amount of books i was getting. like, books are kinda expensive and publishing pays very little, this is wild. my 2024 financial goal was to gwt through an entire year of no book buys. i am benefitting a lot from my library, my tbr and book swap boxes (we have them here at subway stops). but this opened my eyes, like i wonder how often people in fashion cannot afford their outfits, advertisers not being able to pay for things they work on, etc. the pyramid is a great analogy, chelsea is amazing
I really apreaciate your honesty, leaning more and more towards ethical and sustainable consumerism and making it a key part of your content. Your overthinking is very much relatable. Thank you :)
I’m 31 now & I’ve been watching you since forever (maybe 11-12 years ago?) and i always come back for a catch up because you are so real!! & this was just perfect. Refreshing as always. Heads up, I had a look at your website and some of the links are broken on the software pages :) (I’m a graphic designer so got nosey 😂)
I loooved this video, I remember being a student and wanting to buy clothes from Lucy and Yak because they are amazing and you had so many cool looks but I simply could not afford it. So happy to get your thoughts on it and I do think it makes you more trust worthy
I really like how you've been going more into topics about being an influencer on this channel. I love your typical content too (fashion, books, organization). These have been really interesting and thought provoking addition!
I loved this video!!! I’ve always loved the concept of RUclipsrs being like a portable friend that you can bring with you anywhere, but it’s been easy for me to see that since I am not literally a personal friend of a RUclipsr, that when they tell me I would like a product, that’s basically a well-meant commercial. But what took me a lot longer to figure out is that when people I knew in person who worked for a multi-level marketing company, when they told me I would like a product, for a long time I thought they were so nice to be recommending me a product that I would love - and then I would often buy it. It took a long time for me to really understand that an in-person acquaintance was selling something that they made money selling. They were not a true friend, just a friendly in-person ad!
I didn't know that Big sister swap closed, it was such a cool idea. 😐 I love all the artwork you have, it's very cohesive with the apartment and your color scheme in general. 😊
I so like the transparency you are bringing! This whole ecosystem is so complex and filled with nuances that sometimes are dificult to understand! I personally stopped following certain influencers because of the ads and the gifts there were receiving! I mean how many lipsticks can one person use or how many clothes does one person need? Definetly I do not think you ‘distroyed’ your career I personally think is commendable that you talk about it!
This is absolutely fascinating! Thanks so much for your honesty. I think it really helps with comparison online as a consumer, because it hadn’t occurred to me that not every gifted item is labeled as being gifted every time it’s shown. It makes perfect sense though!
This video was so interesting and as always your honesty is so valued! It’s refreshing to hear influencers talk about this in such a heavy consumerism based world. We recently bought a house and this is the perfect reminder that I can be inspired by influencer style but don’t have to be encouraged to buy outside our means just to furnish.
Such an interesting video. You've thoughts lots without being critical of others which is really tricky to do. I really found this interesting. Thanks Hannah!
I love this video. I'm not really super surprised by anything but I didn't know a lot of the nuance of stuff. Like booked gifted by work connections who gifted them to you as a person not as an influencer.
HANNAH! This was so fascinating and thought provoking! Thank you for sharing these ideas. I feel like it makes me more equipped to consume social media. I love this video essay style video from you!
In the absolute best way possible, your yellow undershirt gives me strong corn-on-the-cob vibes and as someone who regularly cries when I see especially stunning produce, I truly appreciate the resemblance
As usual I really appreciate your honesty Hannah. When I started my youtube channel I knew that I might one day have to deal with an influx of unasked for stuff (as well as the more positive excitement of being gifted coveted items) because I struggle to get rid of and stay on top of decluttering the stuff I already have. 😂 It was interesting to hear someone share that how I imagined it…. is pretty accurate. You’ve given me so much to think about though. I never thought about who the marketing was truly targeting…. People who cannot afford the marketed items.
I'm so sorry for how much I probably wreck your stats, because I started this video ages ago and only just finished (I believe the distraction was "stopping the toddler from climbing in the freezer" 🤣), but this really was so fascinating!!
Thank you for talking about this! I'm taking a bit of a break with social media atm, except with RUclips... And I find that I'm really adapting my style to the creators I'm watching. I'm French but I'm still buying so much from UK brands because I watch mostly UK creators. I find that if I'm looking for a specific product but I have no idea what brands exist locally, I try to find what creators use. I can't count the number of times I've resisted the urge to buy from Lucy&Yak, Wild, Emma... It's really unhealthy and also very unsustainable!
Love the transparency and as someone with a channel and enough followers to do product placements but reluctant to sell, it's an interesting to hear your thoughts on this that mirror a lot of mine.
I guess honesty is my kind of taste and style and you cannot buy it anywhere! That’s why I follow you because you question things and your circumstances and you are so so compassionate with yourself and there is so much joy in your videos - even in this craziness of world! Your upbeat and optimistic view whilst being critical is so inspiring - thank you Hannah! ❤️🦋🦦🐘🐋🪿🦆🩵💛
Wow. The takeaway for me is that it would feel kind of depressing for my home to be full of brand gifts- like, I didn’t pay for a lot of what’s in my house (especially art but also other stuff) because it was gifted to me by a loved one, or found in my local buy nothing, or I or my partner or a friend made it. Not having that tactile relationship with the things I’m surrounded by would be such a loss for me (obv not everything can operate that way, I don’t have a handmade razor for example). When the stories in your home are primarily “this was a brand deal” vs “this is something that connects me to my interests/creativity/loved ones” that seems tricky, like it might be hard not to feel like you’re always at work. Just thinking as I’m typing here, not a full thought. Thanks for peeling back the curtain!
I really liked this video. I loved that you talked about the whole issue with the people who can afford products get them for free to sell to people who can’t really. I always feel a bit suspicious of sponsored or gifted content from influencers and I really appreciate when influencers are upfront about how they choose sponsors etc. Personally I quite like affiliate links as a way to help contribute to a creator if they’re for a company I would want to buy from anyway. I am sometimes influenced to get something I wouldn’t otherwise though, but mainly I use them if I wanted something already.
REFRESHING wow, thanks for this. I don't believe I am very influenceable, I usually never buy products advertised by anyone precisely because they are advertised 😂 but this video can be eyeopening for so many people, and we just love you more for it ❤
Love this video so much! I've become so suspicious of gifted and sponsored items/brands now, especially when all of a sudden a new one pops up and everyone and their dog is promoting them. The part that stands out most to me is the dilemma with the tv example, that is a really interesting point 🤔
Really interesting video with a cool topic. I remember watching a PewDiePie vid a couple of years back where he briefly mentioned this and Im glad you're diving into it in this vid. I wish more youtubers would do that so there could be a more honest and frank conversation around the topic.
Ohh the free totebags, note books and bottles is a thing even as a non-influencer for everyone who goes to networking events and conferences. And yes, completely agree I am so annoyed at my 500eth tote bag that I do not need and all the waste created in this process.
I love this video! Thank you for this! I felt like I have seen a pattern with influencers, also influencers I really like and want to support, but I was never able to put this into words. Your video has really helped me out a lot with this, especially the pyramid.
Thank you so much for sharing this! This is one of my favourite videos you've made recently. I appreciate the transparency and honesty, especially since I am constantly questioning how people can afford so much (weeping on a grad student stipend 😅). My friends/family, colleagues, and even my work mentors are always telling me I should "make content" but I'm hesitant, and this content is so refreshing to get a peek behind the curtain into that lifestyle and live vicariously through what you share. Thank you!
Very interesting!!! And also the fact that influencers don't pay for certain things gives them room in their budget to buy other things or make different choices!
I think you're great anyways but I think you're also specifically great for this! Somehow I didn't even learn that many new things (probably bc most content creators I watch are also tending towards carefully picking sponsorships/ being relatively open about stuff like that), but it still felt like a revolutionary video to me. Maybe because you were being really specific about the products and brands and that felt kinda scandalous? Maybe because it is indeed fun to nose through your stuff? Probably a combination of the two and the fact that I just really enjoy your thoughts on stuff. Fantastic video!
Such an interesting video! Thank you for being so honest RE asking for product. I have a hard time with it because creators that I once loved just feel so contrived now and fit that bill of selling a life they also couldn’t afford. I love watching Michael Janse but she falls into this category x1000
i feel like even people who are not influencers have enough tote bags, water bottles and notebooks cluttering up their homes because they get given out at every corner and event. none of these things are inherently sustainable and companies using them to advertise how sustainable they are is really frustrating
Leena Norms did a delicious video on this recently
TBH I will always use free fabric totes (i never throw those out since they're washable and i sew, so I can repair them) but most events give you so much light-duty plastic junk that hardly anybody is going to use, it's depressing :(
Yess! I worked in marketing/PR/events, and the amount of trash produced is terryfing. And the way people want more, and are happy to receive a hundreth tote bag - dude, are we living in the same century?
@@xiolaCotton totes still need to be used thousands of times each to off set the environmental impact of producing them. I can't speak for you but personally I have roo many free cotton totes to ever use them all enough times to offset their production.
I was given a bag of items as thanks for speaking at a school career day. Items included a flimsy water bottle with the school logo, a notebook with an ENORMOUS branded sticker slapped on the cover (which did NOT peel off well), and a Hershey's milk chocolate bar. I would have rather had a simple thank-you card, if anything. (I wouldn't have minded a $5 bill inside this imaginary card either 😅 but I understand why they can't do that)
I feel like another aspect of it is that when you are gifted products for free that you would otherwise buy yourself (even if you would personally buy cheaper alternatives), it leaves you with more spare money to spend on items you haven't been gifted. So all of a sudden you have an increased budget for other things furthering the ability to buy (more) expensive things yourself.
Loved the video and very grateful for your honesty and insight into a very complicated topic that really is shaping our society and people's beliefs/desires as to what they need to be able to own.
omg yes that is a great point I hadn't thought of but so true!! being gifted things for our home or clothes saves us money that we would have otherwise had to spend so frees us up for saving that money or making more expensive purchases
There is currently a discussion happening in Italy about gifted and supplied things (materials stuff but also dinners, holidays, services etc). What has being said recently is that influencers should pay taxes on gifts and supplied things as they pay taxes on their in income because it is indeed another way to be paid and have an overall higher income
@@mMarty9696 That's interesting since in Finland where I live, influencers already have to pay taxes for gifted stuff that exceeds a certain amount of €€€ (although not everyone does this or is even aware of this). For some reason I though this is the practice everywhere but I guess I was naive lol
Yes this has always been the thing I’ve thought of with beauty products for instance! Influencers are quick to say they would buy it themselves and it’s worth the money but that’s because they get tons of other stuff for free or discounted that frees up more money to spend on the more expensive beauty items etc!
For some reason the free/sponsored art was the most shocking part of this video to me. It's quite literally in the background of all your videos- great example of the "how many times do I disclose this" example because we've been seeing your same art for years and I also forgot they weren't paid for.
Also hit hard because I love slowly collecting art over the years - scouring flea markets, saving up to buy from an artist I love, etc - and the thought of getting a whole handful at once for free felt so foreign.
Fascinating video, appreciate the extreme transparency!
the way you do it is definitely how I'm more keen to collect art going forward (and have done a bit of!) but there's no space left on our walls!! 😭
Valid 😂😂
I think that there is something beautiful in collecting an art collection over the years, bit by bit, memory by memory. However the weird thing is with the sponsored art, it makes it look like it's normal to have a full collection at an early stage. Which also make a slow growing collection feel less valid/worthy, which is a shame!!
I (we all) need this honest influencer house tour to become a trend!
This is really interesting! I’m loving the more thoughtful, deep dive content. I’m finding it hard that influencer culture is permeating every part of life now. I love to sew and do dressmaking, and a few years ago people started making videos sharing their projects, talking about fabric they’d bought (like hauls, so getting similar to the consumerism of fashion content but still related to the hobby) but now so many more creators are being sponsored by brands, being gifted free fabric, patterns, subscription boxes etc so even when I’m trying to just zone out and enjoy watching content related to my hobby, I’m being sold to. And as it’s still a fairly small community, they’re all sponsored/gifted by the same companies so every video has the same sponsored content! Which makes me actively not want to buy the thing because I’m sick of hearing about it! I just want a nice hobby that doesn’t keep costing me money and that I can share with friends and fellow enthusiasts without always being sold to!
totally understand that!! capitalism and consumerism eventually gets to everything 😅
I don't really mind that people who create free content online do ads and sponsorhips. They need to be paid too, and clearly I'm not the one paying them so ads it is. I do mostly skip the ads before and the sponsored part during the video because I'm just not interested in it. And I'd love for creators to only do ads and spons for stuff they can get behind too. I don't like it when they do them for random nonsense.
@@lenausesyoutube I mean, if they choose to do RUclips as a their main job, sure, they "need to be paid". And that's fair. Also fair to point out that ads can be skipped. At the same time, I remember how different RUclips felt maybe 10, 15 years ago. There were still a lot of people sharing their hobbies and stuff, but it wasn't a (somewhat) normal job or career path, so most people just did it for fun. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that it can be turned into an income now, it has definitely given some people a lot more work options. At the same time, it does mean that another thing that just used to be fun is now commodified. And yes, it can be annoying for people to constantly be sold to, and it can also be annoying for creators because it being a source of income adds pressure. I mean, there's a lot of creators (Hannah being one of them) who have said that they feel like they're stuck in a hamster wheel of constantly having to put things out, having to compromise on content so it can still be monetized... so I do think like everything, RUclips being a possible career has its pros and cons for everyone involved and it's fair to point them out.
@@morehannahExactly!
I think the original comment here has to do with tone change. I follow a lot of knitters and they definitely talk about which yarns they’re using for a project (and highlight indie dyers) or what their favorite sock yarn is, but it’s not a sales pitch, nor a haul. When they’re suddenly promoting (whether affiliate links* or constant gifts from one or many yarn and tool companies) the tone changes and becomes uncomfortable.
*I don’t mind when creators have affiliate links. I do when there are new ones every time they post. When creators have websites with links to the things they love and use, that’s great. That way I know where to find something I see them use that interests me without the feeling of being constantly marketed to.
I wouldn't label your thoughts as overthinking but interrorgating. Reconizing that's still a strong word, but influencer culture needs both inside and outside interrogation to keep it moderated. I really appreciate this video concept. And i enjoyed the vid!
oooh yes interrogating love it
@@morehannah glad to hear!
agreed. it's very important to interrogate our privileges
I've always had a weird ick feeling when influencers (not Hannah in particular here!) refer to receiving items from brands as "gifts". I think it triggers a subconscious impression of warmth and generosity from a brand, and implies that nothing given in return, like a gift from a friend. Whereas in reality, of course, the brand is buying compliments and promotion from an influencer, or at least semi-bribing the influencer to review a product favourably. "PR product" has always sat better with me, as it feels more honest about the nature of the influencer-brand relationship.
I don't know if it's even that deep, but I'm currently in a "brands are not your friends and never have been" mood, so 🤷♀️ food for thought! (This is no shade to any influencers with PR products/gifts btw, gotta do what we gotta do in this capitalist nightmare)
Also 2:50 - a what kind of scheme, Hannah?! 😄
a pyramid scheme!! and oooh yes I really resonate with this shift in language and actually think I will use PR-product instead of #gifted in future posts!! that definitely reflects better what the relationship is!
so in the UK, I believe that gifted is according to the ASA where a product is sent without any need to feature it on the feed or at all, whereas Pr Product is something you have been sent specifically with deliverables such as a review or a feature
this is such a great point!
Yes! You've stated it much more elegantly, but to piggyback, I feel the same way when someone says that a brand was "so kind as to gift me x." I don't think kindness has much to do with it 😂
Love that you're diving into the influencer topic more recently! When you did your errands video I commented that I love that type of content from a handful of creators - the ones who aren't selling me a lifestyle I can't afford bc that would just bum me out! This is so transparant and honest and that's why I'm drawn to your content ❤️. One thing you have absolutely influenced me to do is be waaay more careful about clothes shopping and being less wasteful.
About the "mommy influencer" and not really getting any gifted items for it - do you think it has something to do with not sharing your son's face online? That was the first thing that came to mind when you mentioned it but who knows, maybe I'm grasping at straws (I in no way think you should share his face online, just an observation 😉).
I also think we've all gotten gifts we LOVE but would never have paid for ourselves. That can be either through a job or from a family member or friend. To me it is so much nicer to know from an influencer that they genuinely love something they were gifted and then add that they wouldn't have bought it themselves. I don't know how much the brands working with them would love that though 😉🤷🏻♀️.
it might be because I don't show his face but maybe also because in terms of the parenting content I do make I'm not really talking about products
Oh my goodness I LOVE this video so much. It’s everything I’ve thought about influencer culture for a long time. People think that influencers being ‘open’ means declaring their ads and maybe sharing/hinting at money information, but THIS is the open conversation that’s so sorely needed!
I strongly believe things are going to be very different in 10-20 years time. This industry started out so wild and free but I see it becoming heavily regulated, especially the sharing of children in monetised online content (but that’s a conversation for another time!) thank you for always being open, honest, and treating your viewers like adults - love from a mostly silent viewer ❤
Not that you need tips for getting more things to hang on your wall -- but one thing my husband and I do to prevent us from having constant wasteful turnover with wall hangings is that we keep multiple prints/posters in each frame and cycle through them as the seasons change/as we get bored of what's in there. Then we can buy more prints from artists we love and maybe as souvenirs on trips, but don't have to store the extras or feel like we have to get rid of old ones to put up new ones.
oooh love that!! I've got some prints currently rolled up away because I don't know where to put them!!
Such a good idea
As someone who works in picture framing I tell my customers to do a very similar thing. Get a good, standard sized frame that won't fall apart, and replace the prints to keep the space feeling fresh. Makes you feel like it's all new and exciting without being wasteful.
I really appreciate this deep dive into something that, frankly, I find many influencers shy away from.
Ultimately, and although you didn't say this exactly you allude to it, part of your role as an influencer is to be creating ads. Consumers have to remember 1) sometimes it's people with no professional experience doing this advertising so they don't follow the guidelines, laws etc and companies are more than happy to let them take the fall for this issue. 2) not everyone is super conscious, ethical and mindful of consumption, influence, power dynamics and "the pyramid", but the businesses behind it sure are and want us to buy (literally) into it. 3) it's also just someone's job at the end of the day, and we all gotta eat.
This is so interesting! I often think when looking particularly at my favourite home accounts on Instagram, that the only reason their homes are able to look so beautiful is because it is gifted. Yes I might make some expensive house purchases but that might be once a year rather weekly which often is the rate people are posting gifted stuff. It's so unattainable!
Yes especially for influencers who’s niche is home and interior stuff! It can very quickly become unattainable!
Interior accounts are huge for this. i've recently been renovating my first home on a budget and it's really opened my eyes to how much influencers are saving, so many £20-40k kitchens for free!
This is so interesting. I always remember someone saying that when they go to buy anything they literally just search the company name and ad in RUclips to try and get a discount code and honestly that really changed how I looked at this shit
Thank you so much for speaking about this! I've been bothered by this aspect of influencer/celebrity culture for a long time and even though there were times when I was so poor that I would have been grateful for anything gifted, I don't think your complaining is inappropriate at all! Reducing over-consumption is the only way forward, and I hate how this selling lifestyle pyramid scheme exists in a bubble that is not real, where people who can't afford it still give away all their money in hopes for a lifestyle that resembles those of people who do not even pay for it.. Instead of creating a society where everyone can have their basic needs covered and products are selected based on quality and longevity. Love this video reflection format, please keep doing these :)
I’d say that when you need to pay for all of your clothes full price - that restricts you from developing a style that you may have aquired if money wasn’t a problem. I get the part where you can be wasteful and irresponsible, but you also can just have things that you like. More freely (as it should be). So maybe it’s not somehow representative of your financial situation, but it can very well be what you really wanna look like and well that’s nice.
Also I always paid attention to art on your walls, especially London related, was good to know about those pictures more (they really suit this room and your general vibe)
This was the most unrelatable but relatable video I’ve ever watched on RUclips. I really appreciate your openness and honesty THANK YOU
wishing you that sky glass tv, hannah!
hahah thanks are they good?😅
@@morehannah friend of mine has one and swears by it! but very much a "fun if it is given to you" kind of item, god knows it's nowhere near my own budget
As a side note: I love this analysis of the influencer world of things coming from your channel. I think diving into this more or even "the history of XYZ on YT," or "why content creators stopped/started doing XYZ," or "how YT changed over the years" would be so interesting, esp since it aligns with your current consulting job :).
Hey! I’m usually a watcher and not a commenter but I felt compelled to comment on this video. Hannah, you’re great. This was such an interesting video. I love that there is no bulls*** with you. You’re such a good advocate for just showing everyone behind the scenes of how it works to be an influencer. You also just own it. You don’t try and pretend to be something you’re not or hide anything. It’s very refreshing. I would say this makes you more trustworthy to brands!
I saw a creator recently post on their story that they really wanted to try bike-packing and asked “are there any brands out there who would be up for sponsoring/gifting me some equipment, it’s all very expensive!” ?
Blew my mind! Knowing that they will then post about how cool bike-packing was but I’ll know they couldn’t even afford the equipment themselves just means that content isn’t at all attainable for their (likely substantially less well off) followers…
Didn't they also receive a bunch of stuff that they already had and we're annoyed by? So they kept getting gifted these items which they didn't need, so that was their sort of sassy response (essentially, if you're going to gift me things at least make it useful)?
This is my favorite RUclips video ever. I’m so nosy and love house tours, especially when I like someone’s aesthetic. But the discussion was even more interesting. Stuff like this needs to be taught in schools.
YES!! I love and appreciate her honesty! It also made me aware to even take the creators that - so far - have made a genuine and authentic impression on me, need to be taken with a grain of salt in the future.
I actually kinda understand your rant about unsolicited gifts...
I was at ikea the other day and they were giving out sleep masks for free. When one employee approached me and wanted to give me a mask I said "No thank you, I don't need that" and she was completely taken aback. I even heard her repeat what I said to her coworker in an almost offended tone. And I don't understand that, like, what am I supposed to do with this thing that I'll never use? It's essentially trash for me and no thank you, I don't want to get trash for free.
I have such respect for you - that you are able to self reflect and watch content like TFD and see how you are part of the “problem”. This video is brilliant, one I’ll watch many times. I’ve watched your channel since you were at Uni and as your content has changed, it has always appealed to me because at its heart, it comes from a place of self reflection, and thought. If anything, I’d say that is your brand :)
I almost didn't click on it because I thought wait I know Hannah's flat already :D And it was so interesting! Mentioning Lucy&Yak made me thinking because few times I almost got influenced by you to buy from them as they're exactly my style, I absolutely adore their colors... But not only I kind of can't afford it, ALSO my currency is weaker than UK pound so it's even more expensive to me. So I'm clearly one of those people that are being sold the lifestyle that's not even within their national experience :D
Glad you mentioned this bc I have also almost been “influenced” on multiple occasions by watching Hannah’s content to buy Lucy & Yak, even though I can’t afford their products with our currency plus import taxes
Same!! So expensive from Germany even!
Same!
I love Lucy & Yak but I only buy off Vinted or if they have a substantial sale on
Love this! As a gen z viewer, something that I'm thinking about as I'm watching this video is how weird it is to grow up in an influencer age. When I think back to some of the YT channels that I watched when I was 14 and just wanted to learn how to do makeup, I realize that I had no frame of reference for if something was "worth the money", and was really too young to understand how the influencer/subscriber relationship worked. Also YT was a very different place 10 years ago and I didn't understand parasocial relationships the way I do now. Relatability/vulnerability was marketed to an extreme, which made it harder as a teenager to understand that creators were selling a lifestyle that even they couldn't really afford. Recently, when I needed to buy a new mattress, I asked my family and friends for recommendations first. At 14, I thought the influencers telling me which beauty products to buy WERE my friends.
This is such an interesting topic! I'm not actually "influenced" by the people I follow because a) I truly can't afford it and b) even if I could, I live in Argentina, and the brands most publicized are not available here. I think it's totally fine for influencers to make money with their brand deals; however, how wasteful the whole process is tends to bother me. Brands should gift products to people who actually ask for them. Unsolicited gifts don't even seem like a good marketing strategy.
influencer with a moral compass! didn't know they still existed. I appreciate that you're so honest about this stuff.
I haven't seen anything like this from people I'm subscribed to or even on my home page. This is a great video!
I'm a relatively small sewing/knitting RUclipsr. I've had a couple of brands contact me about deals and even though they've been high profile companies, the terms have been RIDICULOUS. No I'm not going to make a minimum 15 minutes tutorial style video FOR FREE, even if I do get to keep £60 worth of yarn!
I'm also disabled and there was a big controversy a few years ago after a big knitting website had a restyle which was very inaccessible to the point of triggering seizures and they just doubled down on it. A wave of criticism and advocacy for disabled knitters followed, rightly so, but suddenly my inbox is full of requests for brand deals. It's literally like they all googled Disabled Knitting Influencer and I was the top result. Needless to say, it's put me right off 😂
Thank you so much for your honesty and all that insight!
15:44 this is amazing honesty that I've never heard before. I do not and never will be able to relate but it is very insightful. This content feels both very honest and somehow kind of awkward. Good on you ma'am.
Also.. at least with me this video gives you credibility. I always assume influencers are lieing anyway. Even this video feels like you are branding yourself but in an ? More honest? Way.
I am a more honest liar 😅
@@morehannah To be absolutely clear, I did not mean that to sound as insulting as it did. I was half asleep when I wrote it. I really do respect someone in your position doing something like this. It COULD be a huge risk, I hope it doesn't hurt your business.
You and Leena talking about Catch Rhys is a positive example of influencer culture being helpful. I was genuinely looking for gold hoops and was impressed by the brand. Since they only ship to the UK, a fellow TCR member let me ship to them and they shipped them on to me. 🥰 I love my hoops and wear them every day!
I learned about Catch Rhys from Leena!!
One thing that I didn’t think about before I was really broke was opportunity cost. Cooking used to be so high stakes because if I messed up our night of food, we were either eating it anyway or we were eating a peanut butter sandwich as dinner. You might like (just a random example) a trendy wallpaper a whole lot more because you know that you’ll at least have the opportunity to get gifted more wallpaper in the future if you get tired of the style. You might even truly buy it with your own money - since you know you can change it when the trends change.
The carry potty is a game changer, they’re 30 quid and worth their weight in gold imo! I’m a childminder who has done the whole put a potty in a bag and carry it around, but then comes the need to empty it… no need with the carry potty. There it hangs, perfectly sealed and full of piss, on my wagon, waiting for the next pee emergency to come along 😅
Your excitement and joy talking about that art work is so special 🤗
The thing you said about not taking a sponsorship from batiste was so interesting to me! For most of us, a recommendation for a less expensive, everyday use product is so much more practical. I miss when influencers advertised brands like NYX and Elf. Those were brands that were in my budget and I loved seeing what influencers thought about their products! For me, large purchases like mattresses (I seem to get advertised the Emma mattress so often!) TVs or meal subscriptions are made based on what's in my budget.
Loved this vid hannah! It was so interesting to see around your home and hear your thoughts!
this is such a great point!!
Loved this video, super insightful and you're so genuine about it Hannah!
Similar to what Ben Folds once wrote in the song "Free Coffee":
"When I was broke, I needed it more.
But now that I'm rich, they give me coffee."
I found this video really interesting and I think it does make you more credible to pull back the curtain and talk about this stuff. Hearing you break down the stages was great analysis and totally aligns with how I've seen other creators I watch with different audience sizes interact with gifts over the years. Figuring out what to do with things I have that I don't want (Re-gift? Donate? Sell? Throw away? Most likely just let it sit in a closet for years) is like one of my least favorite tasks and takes effort and work, so it totally makes sense that you deal with that and it's annoying when you get gifted stuff you never asked for and didn't want.
Throughout the video though, I couldn't get over the comparison of lifestyle influencer marketing to doctors smoking in the delivery room. That just seems so extreme and fear-mongery to me, and I just had a very negative knee-jerk reaction to that. I'm having trouble articulating why exactly I feel that way, but I think it boils down to me really not liking that these online parasocial relationships I have that I value could be boiled down to pyramid schemes where I'm the victim being sold to and these people that I watch and trust are the villains. I don't watch your content because I want to buy your lifestyle. I watch because I enjoy it and am entertained by it and often find value in you sharing your thoughts and experiences. I love hearing other people's stories, but that doesn't mean I'm trying to be other people, y'know? I understand that you advertise to make money, but I don't see that as your main function. I think there's loads of things in my life that advertise to make money but advertisement isn't their main function, from traditional cable television to product placement in movies to ads on websites and social media. I feel like I understand that. So I don't want to feel victimized for being the target of an ad and I don't think the influencers I watch are doing anything wrong for participating in that system.
I do think videos like this where you pull back the curtain and explain things like gifting culture are super helpful and make me feel like I understand and am therefore not a victim. I think your yearly income videos were a huge part of me learning and understanding how advertising and brand deals play a role in the finances of content creation. So I think you're doing a great job with how you approach it all. I just have this automatic almost basal defensive and negative reaction when I feel like people I trust and have parasocial relationships with are being unfairly criticized!
WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE
(saving to my watch later playlist but just wanted to share my excitement)
hahaha!! thanks for workshopping it with me 🥰
Lucy gonna do this too??
I love the openness and transparency in this video, it's really eye opening! The thing that drives me crazy is when influencers gush over a gift (from big businesses) and say how thoughtful and generous it is, when really it's all about more exposure for the brands!
Hannah Louise Poston, a beauty RUclipsr, also frequently discusses her relationship with PR and brands compared to her audience. She is very honest about the fact that her makeup collection contains luxury products she wouldn’t have bought herself and that she shifts through makeup faster than others, cause a part of the job is also staying relevant. I like seeing that kind of honesty and behind the scenes, similar to what you’re doing in this video :)
It would be very interested to see how much money the gifted items add up to over a month or year in comparison with other income streams
LOVE Hannah's videos!
@@leenanorms Thanks for introducing me to her five years ago!!
Vhbbbh
You're amazing, as always! Similarly to your financial breakdowns, I literally know of no other influencer doing the kind of transparency work that you engage with so regularly and enthusiastically. Also, the restraint you have developed over the years while trying to never deprive yourself of nice things has been so influential to me in my own life.
For me those kinds of unsolicited gifts, which are somewhat forced on you or just don't have something to do with who you are or what you like, are just rude. For me that anger is absolutely relatable, even though I don't get anything sent to me for free.
It makes me think of those spam emails that somehow got your email address from somewhere and signed you up for their newsletter without you subscribing yourself. Even if it's a subject I would be interested in, I automatically dislike the brand, just because they've decided for me instead of me making the decision to sign up (basically like in childhood, when your mum asked you to clean your room when you were just about to do it and then you didn't want to do it anymore lol).
So although we can't relate to specifically receiving branded products for free, the general anger towards unsolicited stuff is relatable!
I love how genuine and honest your content is
This was such an interesting video! The term "influencers" is o strange to me. It is like saying, "this person's job is to get you to buy things." I much prefer the term "content creator" because I like to think of the people I follow as giving value to my life beyond telling me what to buy. I really appreciate watching people who are aware of what it is like to be a *regular person* and respectful of their audience. This is why I love you and all the other creators you recommend/pair with (Leena, Melanie, etc). It feels like you all are thinking actively about whether what you are doing will help your audience -- if it provides value to their lives-- in a much deeper way than many other millennial/gen-z creators. As a Gen-Z person, watching you all makes me feel way happier and more content about my life rather than always feeling like I need to buy more and more in the same way so many people of my generation do.
This is why (as soon as I get out of uni) I really want to subscribe to Patreon because that just feels like a much more transparent interaction than this whole brand deal, gifted, influencing, consumerism thing.
I think there's actually a bit of a difference from someone who is primarily an influencer vs someone who's moreso a content creator. Some people really do make creating Amazon content their literal job, and every post is effectively an add or has affiliate links. Compared to people who mostly do creative stuff or lifestyle stuff which is mostly dissociated from specific products. It feels different to me, though by definition I'm sure they're the same.
For a LONG time I haven't seen such an authentic, interesting and honest video. Thank you very much!
That video was so good, I thoroughly enjoyed how different it is from what we see around socials and YT at the mo. Love your originality, you are passionate about your work which makes your content fascinating ✨ The specific topics touched upon in this video resonated so well with me, I actually watched and actively listened to the whole thing from beginning to end which is a LOT for me. So thank you, Hannah!
I forgot to say - I have worked in Affiliate marketing and influencer marketing for 7 years corporate side which might have also helped as I very much hear about these topics a lot in my work. Absolutely loved it regardless!
Absolutely loved this video! So so good 🎉 more of these please! Such a clever way of doing this 👌
This was very interesting! One of the things I find frustrating is brands who are sustainable doing brand deals with influencers where they market new 'styles' of a reusable item. Wild are always doing these, I like wild products and use them but the point of a sustainable reusable case is that you shouldn't need to keep buying new versions of the case for its looks!
Such an interesting video, thank you Hannah! The things and challenges you talk about are quite understandable even if they aren't intimately relatable. I have never thought too much about the consequences of the influencer/brand symbiosis, but it all makes sense the way you explain it.
I can imagine that quite a few people can empathise at least in principle, even if it is just remembering tote bags in uni or at conferences etc. The tradition of giving out random crap as gifts, even at a much smaller, less significant scale is relatable to several professions. I remember working in video games and the tech industry and getting loads of merch from things I didn't want like strange socks to things I was excited about/ grateful for like free AAA games.....
hahaha yeah give me the good shit not the merch!!
I feel like including an affiliate link for the potty you haven't even tried yet in a video about the ick of influencer gifting culture was kind of an odd choice but I appreciated the honestly otherwise.
I loved this! It used to pain me growing up with RUclips seeing influences makeup routines and adding up the cost of each look to be in their hundreds possibly thousands of pounds. And yet they don’t buy the products theyre gifted. It’s so much better for my mental health to reflect on the unrealistic expectations of these influencers lifestyles. They don’t reflect an average income or day to day privileges of being handed boxes and boxes of PR packages.
Oh it’d be so intriguing if you did a duplicate yearly budget that included gifted items. The analysis would be so so fun during your normal end of year round ups
One thing I notice as someone who helps to moderate a large parenting group online is that people are really passionate about talking about certain products that I know they were influenced on social media to buy. For example, the Nugget. If anyone posts asking about them, there are always a million responses of people saying how much they love theirs. It almost feels like because they were influenced to spend a large amount of money on something, they really need to sell it to themselves and others that it was worth it. I mean, I know people genuinely like the product, but it's striking to me how posts about products such as this are always waaaay more popular than other types of posts.
Ohhhh so this is what's going on with the obsession with loops earplugs in the autistic facebook group I'm in... I'm like.... They're just nice looking earplugs! Builders earplugs do approximately the same job if you can find comfortable ones
Yes! And they're now a part of a in-group of people who love it. Like Lululemon, there's a bit of social capital associated with having the item.
Honestly I really love your videos because you are really honest and transparent with us.
The gifting things is really out of hand, I just watched leenas video on the tote bags.
Consumerism seems more rampant than ever now
I don't get the people telling influencers to shut up and be grateful for useless shit appearing at their door or being thrust into their hands at events. Imagine constantly having to de-clutter crap that you've been given and also deal with the weird feelings of guilt/figuring out how to feel about it at all. I don't think it's something to feel sorry about on someone's behalf, because it's all very first-world problems, but being sent stuff you don't want or need is not as fun as people seem to think it is. Of all the things for non-influencers to get upset about, that one is the stupidest one. And I say that as a non-influencer who is often 100% done with influencer shit, but even I can see that this part of the job is in no way an advantage (unless you're gonna go on to sell the free stuff or save money on gift-giving, but even that is only helpful in very specific senarios)
right?! and it can be a lot of work figuring out offloading everything - gifting it to friends, finding new homes for everything. One friend of mine who gets a lot of skincare and makeup will have a re-gifting night and invite friends over and they can pick what they want and also everyone who attends donates some money that goes to charity
So true! I'm already so upset when for chrismas/birthdays my mum just loves to add tons of small gifts, just so you can "open stuff", and then I don't even know what to do with all these... I can't even imagine when it's everyday and it comes in huge boxes that you then have to recycle...
Remember that time when influencers would get free make up/beauty products in huge boxes with screens in them, only for the package to contain like 3 lipsticks and one mascara in it? 😱🤯 I always wondered what they did with all of that, because it would be such a pain in the ass to have to figure out the logistics of where to recycle and throw all this so you're not too wasteful 😳 And it's not like you can just throw eveything in the trash it would take too much space, so you would just have to make constant trips to the waste disposal site. NIGHTMARE. You spend time decluttering and reorganising your home, only for people to gift you stuff that you don't want or need and don't have space to? No thank you 😂
I feel like if I had a company and I was going to hand out things like pens, water bottles, etc I’d try to have any branding be discreet and just make things maybe coloured with brand appropriate colours or something, because that just feels like it would be more sustainable and useful, but also more memorable. It’s certainly a very nuanced topic but I think you explained it quite well
so, i work in publishing and used to have a literary content project. sometimes i got free books and arcs through this project and work. and yes, it got me great reads. however, as a book industry girlie, i am not able to afford the amount of books i was getting. like, books are kinda expensive and publishing pays very little, this is wild. my 2024 financial goal was to gwt through an entire year of no book buys. i am benefitting a lot from my library, my tbr and book swap boxes (we have them here at subway stops). but this opened my eyes, like i wonder how often people in fashion cannot afford their outfits, advertisers not being able to pay for things they work on, etc. the pyramid is a great analogy, chelsea is amazing
This definitely made your content so much more authentic!!
I really apreaciate your honesty, leaning more and more towards ethical and sustainable consumerism and making it a key part of your content. Your overthinking is very much relatable. Thank you :)
I’m 31 now & I’ve been watching you since forever (maybe 11-12 years ago?) and i always come back for a catch up because you are so real!! & this was just perfect. Refreshing as always.
Heads up, I had a look at your website and some of the links are broken on the software pages :) (I’m a graphic designer so got nosey 😂)
I loooved this video, I remember being a student and wanting to buy clothes from Lucy and Yak because they are amazing and you had so many cool looks but I simply could not afford it. So happy to get your thoughts on it and I do think it makes you more trust worthy
Hannah, thank you! I always appreciate your transparency. It’s so necessary in this weird world of influencing we’ve entered into online.
more trustworthy! I also don't think this is overthinking, I really appreciate you sharing your take on this - it is definitely not an innocent system
I really like how you've been going more into topics about being an influencer on this channel. I love your typical content too (fashion, books, organization). These have been really interesting and thought provoking addition!
I loved this video!!! I’ve always loved the concept of RUclipsrs being like a portable friend that you can bring with you anywhere, but it’s been easy for me to see that since I am not literally a personal friend of a RUclipsr, that when they tell me I would like a product, that’s basically a well-meant commercial. But what took me a lot longer to figure out is that when people I knew in person who worked for a multi-level marketing company, when they told me I would like a product, for a long time I thought they were so nice to be recommending me a product that I would love - and then I would often buy it. It took a long time for me to really understand that an in-person acquaintance was selling something that they made money selling. They were not a true friend, just a friendly in-person ad!
I didn't know that Big sister swap closed, it was such a cool idea. 😐
I love all the artwork you have, it's very cohesive with the apartment and your color scheme in general. 😊
I know so sad! 😞 and thank you!!
It's a difficult business.
I personally might want to "rent" some toddler items as a home daycare teacher, working in people's routines
I so like the transparency you are bringing! This whole ecosystem is so complex and filled with nuances that sometimes are dificult to understand!
I personally stopped following certain influencers because of the ads and the gifts there were receiving! I mean how many lipsticks can one person use or how many clothes does one person need?
Definetly I do not think you ‘distroyed’ your career I personally think is commendable that you talk about it!
This is absolutely fascinating! Thanks so much for your honesty. I think it really helps with comparison online as a consumer, because it hadn’t occurred to me that not every gifted item is labeled as being gifted every time it’s shown. It makes perfect sense though!
Love the art piece gift to yourself idea for new moms to commemorate this significant life stage!
This video was so interesting and as always your honesty is so valued! It’s refreshing to hear influencers talk about this in such a heavy consumerism based world. We recently bought a house and this is the perfect reminder that I can be inspired by influencer style but don’t have to be encouraged to buy outside our means just to furnish.
Such an interesting video. You've thoughts lots without being critical of others which is really tricky to do. I really found this interesting. Thanks Hannah!
I love this video. I'm not really super surprised by anything but I didn't know a lot of the nuance of stuff. Like booked gifted by work connections who gifted them to you as a person not as an influencer.
HANNAH! This was so fascinating and thought provoking! Thank you for sharing these ideas. I feel like it makes me more equipped to consume social media. I love this video essay style video from you!
Absolutely loved this! Thank out so much for the transparency ❤️ This is the moral dilemma that I’ve had for years so I just avoid brands 🤣
In the absolute best way possible, your yellow undershirt gives me strong corn-on-the-cob vibes and as someone who regularly cries when I see especially stunning produce, I truly appreciate the resemblance
As usual I really appreciate your honesty Hannah. When I started my youtube channel I knew that I might one day have to deal with an influx of unasked for stuff (as well as the more positive excitement of being gifted coveted items) because I struggle to get rid of and stay on top of decluttering the stuff I already have. 😂 It was interesting to hear someone share that how I imagined it…. is pretty accurate. You’ve given me so much to think about though. I never thought about who the marketing was truly targeting…. People who cannot afford the marketed items.
I'm so sorry for how much I probably wreck your stats, because I started this video ages ago and only just finished (I believe the distraction was "stopping the toddler from climbing in the freezer" 🤣), but this really was so fascinating!!
Thank you for talking about this! I'm taking a bit of a break with social media atm, except with RUclips... And I find that I'm really adapting my style to the creators I'm watching. I'm French but I'm still buying so much from UK brands because I watch mostly UK creators. I find that if I'm looking for a specific product but I have no idea what brands exist locally, I try to find what creators use. I can't count the number of times I've resisted the urge to buy from Lucy&Yak, Wild, Emma... It's really unhealthy and also very unsustainable!
Love the transparency and as someone with a channel and enough followers to do product placements but reluctant to sell, it's an interesting to hear your thoughts on this that mirror a lot of mine.
You are a very awesome and inspiring person! So goood to see somebody talking honestly about this craziness
I guess honesty is my kind of taste and style and you cannot buy it anywhere! That’s why I follow you because you question things and your circumstances and you are so so compassionate with yourself and there is so much joy in your videos - even in this craziness of world! Your upbeat and optimistic view whilst being critical is so inspiring - thank you Hannah! ❤️🦋🦦🐘🐋🪿🦆🩵💛
Wow. The takeaway for me is that it would feel kind of depressing for my home to be full of brand gifts- like, I didn’t pay for a lot of what’s in my house (especially art but also other stuff) because it was gifted to me by a loved one, or found in my local buy nothing, or I or my partner or a friend made it. Not having that tactile relationship with the things I’m surrounded by would be such a loss for me (obv not everything can operate that way, I don’t have a handmade razor for example). When the stories in your home are primarily “this was a brand deal” vs “this is something that connects me to my interests/creativity/loved ones” that seems tricky, like it might be hard not to feel like you’re always at work. Just thinking as I’m typing here, not a full thought. Thanks for peeling back the curtain!
I really liked this video.
I loved that you talked about the whole issue with the people who can afford products get them for free to sell to people who can’t really.
I always feel a bit suspicious of sponsored or gifted content from influencers and I really appreciate when influencers are upfront about how they choose sponsors etc.
Personally I quite like affiliate links as a way to help contribute to a creator if they’re for a company I would want to buy from anyway. I am sometimes influenced to get something I wouldn’t otherwise though, but mainly I use them if I wanted something already.
REFRESHING wow, thanks for this.
I don't believe I am very influenceable, I usually never buy products advertised by anyone precisely because they are advertised 😂 but this video can be eyeopening for so many people, and we just love you more for it ❤
Love this video so much! I've become so suspicious of gifted and sponsored items/brands now, especially when all of a sudden a new one pops up and everyone and their dog is promoting them.
The part that stands out most to me is the dilemma with the tv example, that is a really interesting point 🤔
This was so transparent and cool! ♥✨
Really interesting video with a cool topic. I remember watching a PewDiePie vid a couple of years back where he briefly mentioned this and Im glad you're diving into it in this vid. I wish more youtubers would do that so there could be a more honest and frank conversation around the topic.
Ohh the free totebags, note books and bottles is a thing even as a non-influencer for everyone who goes to networking events and conferences. And yes, completely agree I am so annoyed at my 500eth tote bag that I do not need and all the waste created in this process.
I love this video! Thank you for this! I felt like I have seen a pattern with influencers, also influencers I really like and want to support, but I was never able to put this into words. Your video has really helped me out a lot with this, especially the pyramid.
Thank you so much for sharing this! This is one of my favourite videos you've made recently. I appreciate the transparency and honesty, especially since I am constantly questioning how people can afford so much (weeping on a grad student stipend 😅). My friends/family, colleagues, and even my work mentors are always telling me I should "make content" but I'm hesitant, and this content is so refreshing to get a peek behind the curtain into that lifestyle and live vicariously through what you share. Thank you!
Absolutely love this video. Thank you!
Very interesting!!!
And also the fact that influencers don't pay for certain things gives them room in their budget to buy other things or make different choices!
I think you're great anyways but I think you're also specifically great for this! Somehow I didn't even learn that many new things (probably bc most content creators I watch are also tending towards carefully picking sponsorships/ being relatively open about stuff like that), but it still felt like a revolutionary video to me. Maybe because you were being really specific about the products and brands and that felt kinda scandalous? Maybe because it is indeed fun to nose through your stuff? Probably a combination of the two and the fact that I just really enjoy your thoughts on stuff. Fantastic video!
This video is so insightful and eye-opening, Hannah. Thank you! ❤
Such a fascinating peek behind the influencer curtain!
Such an interesting video! Thank you for being so honest RE asking for product. I have a hard time with it because creators that I once loved just feel so contrived now and fit that bill of selling a life they also couldn’t afford. I love watching Michael Janse but she falls into this category x1000
Loved this video. Lots of things I had wondered about wrt influencers. I love your transparency ❤
Amazing video! Thank you for being so honest and responsible with your "influence"
I didn’t expect to enjoy this video so much, was so interesting! A lot of “ahhh so it IS like that” moments 👀