Influencers' Emotions Are Ruled by Money
If you have found yourself on social media at any point in the past few weeks– especially on Twitter– you’ve probably seen the topic #WhatsATryGuy? The simple answer to this trending tag is: a ‘Try Guy’ is a member of an influencer collective that started on Buzzfeed and subsequently migrated over to YouTube. Their content is as simple as their name suggests; the four guys try almost anything and everything, then film their reactions and reviews.
Unfortunately, the reason they were trending as of late was because one of them decided to try having an extra marital affair. Sadly, neither the internet nor his content co-creators had a good reaction to this unwarranted experiment in adultery. The cheating Try Guy, Ned, was swiftly let go from the group. As quickly as the scandal came to surface, the remaining Try Guys posted an apology video on his behalf.
The concept of the apology video is becoming more and more common within the influencer space, especially on YouTube. Often held up alongside Twitter’s “notes app apology,” the phenomenon often leads people to question whether or not these videos are legitimate apologies or just an attempt to save face and not lose their business assets.
My friend Chuck Emerson and I sat down recently to talk about this trend and our thoughts on the topic. For context, he just started working on the studio side of Hollywood. I’ve been working in entertainment for the past four years, managing and representing digital talent similar to The Try Guys. As two people with hands-on experience in the field, you might imagine how much we have to say on the issue.
Emerson explained some of the fundamental truths he has already understood about the industry. “The quickest thing I’ve picked up on in Hollywood is that you need to protect the project and the assets the best you can,” he said. I can agree with him wholeheartedly. When there is bad news on the horizon or an obstacle threatening a project, you have to get ahead of it as soon as possible and clear the way–that’s just Public Relations 101.
While we predominantly discussed The Try Guys and their apology video, we also talked about the mighty who have fallen before: names like Logan Paul, David Dobrik, James Charles, and– most unfortunately– Jenna Marbles, who have all gone through similar events in each of their careers.
“Honestly, it feels like they made those videos, and then kind of left the YouTube space and found a new project to work on,” continued Emerson. “Like the apology video was made and then the mic was dropped.”
Here, Emerson raises a very fair point. All of these creators– with the exception of Jenna Marbles– have left the YouTube space after posting some sort of apology video. Most, if not all, have gone on to more lucrative careers within the media industry. For example, Dobrik has gone on to partner with Discovery and now only uploads small promos of each episode in the form of vlogs from time to time. Paul had a brief YouTube comeback before shifting to energy drinks and the WWE.
Now, you’re probably reading this and thinking: ‘So what? If they posted their apology video and left the platform, then they did what they were supposed to do and what they owed to their fans. So why do we care?’
To this I say, yes; these creators did owe their fans apologies, and they gave them what was vehemently demanded. However, we cannot ignore the fact that the way in which these apologies were delivered may not have been fully transparent and genuine in emotion.
In Dobrik’s video, he turned off the comments– effectively silencing any potential interaction between him and viewers. Paul’s video was posted, and he then immediately posted a video that was flagged for animal cruelty. Returning to our friends The Try Guys, Eugene– one of the remaining members– seems to be going off script during the video, and has been criticized for pulling all the attention of the video to him and not the apology.
It’s important to note that unlike other businesses, a Youtuber’s business relies uniquely on themselves. Once their brand takes a hit, their entire enterprise is at risk. These videos might become common industry practice, but it seems like it is now done less in the interest of genuinely repenting for their actions, and more in the interest of moving from YouTube to bigger and better things.
Does one apology video fix every single problem for every single fan? Absolutely not. However, we also can’t ignore the fact that not every single fan is a die-hard worshiper of these creators. The majority of viewers are just watching because they have a mild appreciation of the creator’s content, they use it for background noise. So, while these apology videos seem very surface level, that is exactly the point: they do the job of retaining all those fans who just care about the content, and not all aspects of the creator's personal life. They end up retaining a large portion of the viewership base and can pivot from YouTube to Discovery, WWE, or whatever else it might be.
Lastly, I think there’s a very relevant saying that people always forget when interacting with influencers, especially when it comes to these scandals or apology videos. Don’t believe everything you see on the internet. Yes, these are people with jokes and cameras, but they also have teams of people managing and optimizing them so that they can run a legitimate business. And as Emerson said, the main goal is to always protect the business or the project to the best of your ability.
