I never bothered to ask and now i’m afraid of being outed as an old for asking.
I’m old. Not old enough to need a prostate exam, but old enough to potentially have children in his target demographic. That being said, he essentially has found a winning formula for videos that amounts to “give away lots of money and make it entertaining.” I’ve watched a lot of his videos; they are entertaining and a decent way to kill 10 minutes.
I’m assuming you asked this question because of all the recent information that came to light calling him a fraud, and to be honest, it’s kind of a big deal. Part of his brand has always been “these are random people, competing or doing a challenge to win a life-changing wad of cash.” He’s made a point on multiple occasions to say that his videos are never faked. It’s not too dissimilar to any cable TV game show. The fact that these aren’t random people and are employees or actors, and that the outcomes are fixed, makes the audience feel deceived.
It’s the difference between why people watch pro wrestling vs MMA or boxing. With pro wrestling, we all know it’s a show; it’s a scripted performance, just like a movie or a play. People still watch it and enjoy it, but they know it’s no different than watching a fictional TV show or going to the theater. In MMA or boxing, you’re watching two people compete to see who’s the better fighter. It doesn’t have a predetermined outcome; you’re watching a real competition.
The problem is that he has always presented himself as being “boxing” when in reality, he’s “pro wrestling.” The people featured in his videos aren’t random subscribers trying to win money to send their kids to college or put a down payment on a house. They’re employees or paid actors who are putting on a show for our entertainment. There’s nothing wrong with mindless entertainment, but call it what it is.
TLDR: Fake videos, unsubscribed.
The fact that these aren’t random people and are employees or actors, and that the outcomes are fixed, makes the audience feel deceived.
Oh I had no idea. I know some people seemed like friends/ other content creators, didn’t know others were faked too
poor people’s shoenice
A celebrity who embodies boredom and has made a fortune off of that.
A guy who sells chocolate bars or something
@KingThrillgore @asklemmy YouTuber who make money off of throwing money at people to do ridiculous things.
I do not like his content cause it feels like a billionaire playing with the little people for his amusement.I enjoyed a few when I first came across the channel because it reminded me of those shows from decades ago. The ones where someone comes up to you in a toy / electronics store and you have a minute to grab whatever you can for free. That was a fun concept.
billionaire playing with the little people for his amusement
However a lot more of the videos feel like this, especially with how well known he is now. I don’t think I’m the target age group regardless.
Some youtuber who first gained fame counting to a million. Then he pivoted to posting videos of him doing large amounts of altruistic acts such as paying for people’s surgeries et al.
Beyond that I don’t know.
Altruistic implies he was doing it out of the kindness of his heart and got nothing out of it, when in reality he was making poverty porn for profit and to further his own career.
Ehh, it’s better than “the person who can stay in the circle the longest wins 1 million”
How? How is directly and unashamedly exploiting poor people for views and profit (while promoting yourself as “self made” no less) better than whatever it is you’re referencing (presumably just another version of poor people being exploited for views and profit)??
Why do you feel the need to defend the indefensible?
Why do you feel the need to make it so black and white? Clearly, helping people is a good thing, even if done with another motive in mind. To ignore this and say it’s all bad is simply dishonest.
When the “other motives” are literal propaganda that helps maintain inequality at the expense of the people it exploits under the pretence of “help”, it is black and white to anyone who isn’t too busy licking boot.
First, fuck off with the name calling. Lame and uncalled for, and not indicative of good faith in discussion.
Second: How do his videos constitute propaganda that maintains inequality? Is he not literally preventing inequality by giving away money or assistance? He also serves as a role model to encourage his viewers to do the same.
He’s also probably doing “altruistic acts” to defend himself against criticism.
My top vote as the YouTuber who looks the least like his actual handle implies.
Fun fact he actually started out by making minecraft videos in middle school. “Mr Beast” is literally a name thought up by a 12 year old trying to look cool on the internet.
I think it’s someone only kids or people who have kids know.
I think you could happily live your life not knowing who he is. I will say that he’s a master at knowing what will make someone click on his videos.
He’s a master at knowing what will make someone click
He effectively dedicated a couple years to “study” this, which is exactly what you can do with your life when you live in Greenville, NC.
He’s a master at knowing what will make someone click on his videos
Spoiler alert: it’s this face 😲
It is 2024 and I am upset that there still isn’t a
Punchoption in the right click menu.
I will say that he’s a master at knowing what will make someone click on his videos.
Well, his methods haven’t caught OP and me.
He’s a master at making children click his videos
a master at knowing what will make someone click on his videos
Coincidentally also a master at knowing what will make me never click on them (yes it’s the horrifying face he makes)
Lots of YT creators edit their face to look strange or unsettling. I’m the same as you, though I think it’s more the gimmicky nature of his content I’m a bit put off by.
On that note, there is this browser extension
DeArrow is an open source browser extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails on YouTube. The goal is to make titles accurate and reduce sensationalism. No more arrows, ridiculous faces, and no more clickbait.
It’s nice because it will affect all the videos equally. I didn’t want to use it initially because it was messing with my ability to remember which videos I had already seen. I might give it a try again since people keep changing video thumbnails now
You also have the opposite here to add MrBeast to every YouTube thumbnail https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/youtube-mrbeastify/dbmaeobgdodeimjdjnkipbfhgeldnmeb?hl=en
Perfect.
A charlatan.
What I gather from working in retail is that “Mr. Beast” is an incantation that brainwashes children into begging for candy bars they’d normally hate.
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Mr beast is popping up in various internet news circles lately because one of his friends/"co-star"s in his youtube videos was just caught grooming a 12 year old. To make things even worse, Mr beast was aware that this friend of his was pedo for years and continued to make videos with him(her). She recently transitioned last year and that was a minor controversy of its own for Mr beast cause most of his audience is cringey transphobic teens and tweens.
Holy shit…
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Yeah I was only vaguely aware of him - popular YT guy with younger folks, did some stunts, etc, not my thing. But this is a rabbit hole that keeps getting more and more disturbing.
Never seen his videos nor will I
A YouTuber who is now selling cookies. I can tell from the thumbnails of his videos that I am way too much an old, curmudgeonly, jaded millennial to be his target demographic. It must be more the youths that enjoy him and I wish them all well.
They won’t be well if they watch him. One of his main money makers is dishonest and probably illegal lotteries where he suggests almost everyone who buys something from him will get some kind of big prize. In reality, the odds are like 1 in 60000, and the requirement of a purchase for a chance to get the prize is probably illegal.
He also sells chocolate and cookies as “healthy” using similar underhanded promises of rewards. He also runs contests and game shows that are staged and rigged which, again, is illegal on broadcast TV.
I’m not defending him or his actions. All I wanted to comment on is his candy bars have a handful of ingredients compared to 50+ unpronounceables (exaggerating somewhat) in competitor bars. Sugar and candy is never healthy, but if I have to get one, I usually grab those because it seems like a better option.
The bars were originally 5 compared to 9 ingredients in a Hersheys bar. They’ve since expanded and now both have 9 from what I’ve heard
No idea. And I’m perfectly fine with that.
