At that time, “there was another thing with which I had to face,” said Evan. We were sitting in a study room in the Loyola Marymount library. Long wide windows have forgotten a colonnade of palm trees. Evan has the same deep dimples and the same unshakable visual contact as his younger self, but he wears his long and shaggy hair and his nice and oversized clothes, like a character in a skater comic. He recalled that in college, the enemies in the comments called him “spoiled” and people told him things that he had never considered before. His parents “took advantage” of him, they said, or “used money for money,” said Evan. “It definitely made me sad. Like, sad. ” He started telling his parents that he no longer wanted to see the toys again and retired to his room.
Children as “products”
Evan Lee mature when all parents, it seems, publish videos of their online children, an incalculable number in the hope of earning money. The current Titan of influencers for children, inspired by Evantube, is a 13 -year -old child named Ryan Kaji who started unpacking toys at the age of 3. His global brand of Ryan has had advertising agreements with lunches and Legoland, a line of merch – pajamas and backpacks sporting the image of Ryan – and a Nickelodeon television program. Conservative estimates put the family gains from Ryan to 25 million dollars annually. And although posters on Reddit gather around Ryan, saying that he is exploited by his parents and deserves a chance for a normal life, his associates are in disagreement.
In an influence economy – that McKinsey values More than $ 21 billion worldwide – a range of range or a family brand can change their life. In the cases of influencers of the most prosperous children, “their great grandchildren are fixed in life,” said Chris Williams, managing director of Pocketwatch, who joins forces with Ryan’s World and Evantube to conclude content and license agreements.
Ryan is an aberrant value, of course. Influencers of budding children are far more numerous than successes; Even the most charismatic children and enterprising parents have no idea the difficulty of making money online, say the agents of the talents. On my own social media flows, the children I have never met with dance and sing and drop wisdom like mini-philosophers. Their parents manage their pages, which also sell arches of hair and connect Donkey Kong video games. I am fascinated by them, but I also receive the implicit exchange of kindness for money, perhaps because the base of the transaction feels blurred: are these children authentically themselves? Or do they act a strange version of authenticity?
New documentaries highlight horrible abuses: parents who hungry and linked Their children, forced children to kiss on the screen, adopted a child and SO gave him. The predence of children’s predators who follow children online well -documentedJust like the Parents collusion Who sell pornographic images of their children, and even their used, online leotard. Train wrecks attract attention, parents therefore publish videos of their young children who have anger attacks, pot training and be disciplined or punished.