Lets see if its gonna pay off for him

@@ecp711 you're telling me he's sponsored by big thinking?! I knew it was too good to be true

KZfaq has a pretty big audience. I'm guessing most people who watch him are not idiots. Joshua Weissman on the other hand......

Reddit should chase him out of town

Take that back!

especially when it’s “Text MYNAME to” and then an impossibly short phone number that can only be the US

Yknow what, that’s a good point I never thought about. KZfaq as a career is far more accessible to those in the West, not just because of socio-economic reasons and inherent privileges that come from being born there, but also because the majority of sponsorships are intended for US/Western audiences, so the money is really only circulating for Western creators. Makes sense why all the richest KZfaqrs are American

I'm not from the US but there are sponsorships that are still accessible to me but in most cases it's something that I'm not even remotely interested in

Same, not from the US so absolutely none of it applies to me. Plus, if those that could, my currency isn't strong enough to even think about impulse buying them.

I usually just end up skipping their sponsorship if it doesnt interest me (which it always mostly does). I already have an adblocker for the usual ads and dont want more ads in my life.

Yeah, most people are suspicious of perfect 5 star reviews, so even scam products will make sure that they throw some 4 star reviews too to make it look more realistic

It's like the kind of person who goes for a job interview and answers the question "what are your weaknesses?" with stuff like "I'm a workaholic" or "I'm a perfectionist" which are primarily problems for the employee and not the employer. Having sat on interview panels before there are few things that will put me off a candidate more than this kind of disingenuous shite

@@dm9910 what are they supposed to do? people don’t want to make themselves look bad to an employer; of course they’ll list things that won’t be a problem for them.

@@novelle.27 The point of the question is to see if the candidate is capable of introspection and handling their flaws. If you go in there and disingenuously list things that are not weaknesses, you did not understand the assignment. Zero marks. Obviously you shouldn't say something that makes you look like an arsehole, but you should come up with a genuine weakness, and then explain what you're going to do about it (or what you need from the employer) to make sure it doesn't cause major problems. For example "I'm prone to getting tunnel-vision, so I like to set reminders for myself to make sure I don't forget secondary tasks". Or "I'm not very familiar with the tech stack you use here. I've started reading up about Rust in my spare time, but I would appreciate support from more experienced colleagues until I'm up to speed". There's plenty of time in the rest of the interview to boast about your strengths, this is the time to take your foot off the gas for 2 seconds and show that you're also capable of honesty, humility, self-awareness, and recognizing when you need help.

@@novelle.27The secret is to list a flaw that is relevant to the work environment (not a character flaw) AND to mention specific examples of how you are working to improve. For example “My biggest weakness in the workplace is verbal communication. As a shy and quiet person, I often find it difficult to verbally explain when I need something from my coworkers. Often my skill in written communication can make up for it, but I acknowledge that there are times when verbal communication is better. I recently joined [social group] to improve my social skills and get more comfortable talking to other people. I noticed that after joining the group, I sought out conversation with my coworkers more often at my last job. I still have a long way to go, but I am making progress.” Hopefully that helps. This advice came from my dad, who is a career counselor and has been on many hiring committees. However, according to him, the real secret is that the best workplaces have realized it is a stupid question and have stopped asking it.

What I especially dislike about those ads, is how they frame it like some new revolutionary thing. "It's scientifically proven to work and here's the papers to prove it!" It's Minoxidil, of course it works! It's been used for decades and you can get multiple brands at your local pharmacy! People even get prescriptions for it! And because it's a pharmaceutical drug, they didn't even have to do any of the initial research and development.

I think men should genuinly be okay with wearing wigs when they get older, its fun!

@@nekomancer4821 yeah, that or just being bald in general - I don’t think baldness should be as stigmatized as it is

​@@novelle.27 Breaking bad did some heavily lifting helping with that

only person who actually shows his results with this kinda thing is wavywebsurf since keeps is a real longtime sponsor of his and he actively uses the product

And then there are channels like Held der Steine who mercilessly tears into Lego products and all other block products when he dislikes them. So the few times he praises a product all around or when he mentions upsides for certain people, you can be sure that it is pretty close to his own opinion.

This is a problem with film reviews in a smaller scale. Lego is more of a controlled market.

So interesting, though not surprising - to see these kinds of relationships and driving factors in all sorts of human communities, even LEGO) Thank you for sharing!

don't forget to mention that LEGO actually sued him. it was, as I recall, about his logo. they tried to silence him, but it didn't stop him and he still produces.

To be a little fair to the Lego guys, what you described is true of any one who does reviews for a living. Even gaming companies do similar things where they send early review copies. And the kinda messed up part is that they don't necessarily need to include additional payments or advertisements to incentivizes more positive reviews. Like example, if your partnered with lets say Nintendo and they send you early review copies. That means you get to have a well structured review up before every one else. And being early is important. And if you happen to give them a lot of critical reviews, why would they continue? They could just end the partnership and now you will have your review either uploaded much later than the rest or your forced to upload an first impressions type of video to stay on top. Like it's bonkers.

That's giving big "my biggest flaw is I work too hard" answer energy in an interview

Jeffree star

Saying "it didn't work for me" doesn't sound negative to me and I wouldn't use it to conclude that the influencer doesn't like it. It's more of a fake negative to fake genuinity

But that's not a negative, it doesn't sway opinion against the product

For Patreon

This video is sponsored by: good will

Yes

same here, i look up almost anything for reviews on reddit. but reddit is also filled with astroturfing im sure, especially as it’s reputation for reviews becomes more common 😔

​@@gulliver517You can look at the profile history to see if it is a bot. Plus astroturfing usually occurs in highly upvoted posts.

No site is better for collecting the general feelings a specific group of people has towards something. There will be trolls and shills and such but it's pretty rare that I don't walk away from reddit with an accurate understanding of whatever product I'm looking into.

Before almost every purchase I make, I look up “X product Reddit review” because most people share their honest opinions in situations like me

Same. Especially regarding something like skincare or which air fryer is the best, I think it is miles better than KZfaq, Instagram and TikTok. Realistically, lots of individual normal people aren't going be lying about secret advertising. As insufferable as the people on reddit are, it does feel nice that most reviews are reviews and nit ads.

he glosses over the moral aspect of it.

I think it's questionable regardless of age. A good portion of people will end up being addicts and those are the main revenue generators and they lose so much that the gambling sponsors pay big money for it

as if over 18 people can't have horrible gambling addictopn anyway

@@MGX93dotwhy wouldn’t you really?

You can't even gamble legally if you're underage, so i don't see a big issue

Because the majority of content online is designed to appeal to the majority user base, children.

Not only that but they’re all 2+ hours long. Sorry I don’t want to watch a movie about your high school level essay

editing is fine

It’s crazy how well spoken he is. Like he never uses filler words, he always speaks clearly, there are hardly any cuts, and it doesn’t seem like he’s reading from a script. Pretty impressive!

10:58

I'm sorry but 14 minutes long video is not "long-form content"

I used to be a nobody, but now with Established Titles, I’m a Lord nobody

@@uglypinkeraser laird

Mental health issues? Your insurance has a list of in-network certified counsillors and psychiatrists who are gauranteed to show to appointments. There are also services which aggregrate listings of licensed therapists and psychiatrists for the uninsured. Monthly therapy is still cheaper than insurance. Financial trouble? Track your money and figure out exactly why. Tip, berries, meat and alcohol are expensive, and you really don't need five monthly subscriptions. No career? Your home state's Department of Labor can help for free, and there are almost certainly local groups who can help with your resume. I know my home state has a website for finding apprenticeships in your choice of field. Also, KhanAcademy is both free and thorough. Edited for thoroughness and to be less sarcastic.

Also - offloading your ability to confront every material and social issue onto a prepackaged service makes you a generally less capable person in daily life.

Brilliant actually has good courses and I've not seen it sold as a 'career finder/builder'. It's very useful for people who want to learn outside of their professional field. Teaching well is difficult (as I've observed both doing it and being the learner). Yes, you can find free videos and pirated textbooks, but no one is putting together interactive aids and doodads, quizzes etc and packaging it all for you for free. Brilliant has a very decent value proposition and ins't usually sold as a crutch for a life problem.

+

It's pretty ridiculous his good his command of language is.

I want him and Adam Ragusea to do a podcast together

In today's social media, it's rare to come across someone who not only speaks slowly and concisely, but also doesn't speak like the audience is a baby. No dumb distractions, just a man sharing his well-articulated thoughts. If I decide to get into content creation i'd want to be like this guy.

+++

fr that’s insane, talk about envy

Straight up that’s awesome. Some dudes would see that as the finish line😂

Same, thats my only gripe with this video

I advertise alcohol, which is addictive and life-ruining

@@netshaq2 ok if you think alcohol is as bad as gambling, don’t advertise either.

@@netshaq2 don’t advertise anything I’m not buying your crap

​@@netshaq2 Solution: Don't advertise something that ruins lives. If this is Your only source of money, find a job (any, for that matter) instead of promoting something harmful to others.

Honestly, I feel like any healthcare/financial type of ad is going to be risky.

@@Rhaifha financial /gambling / crypto ads are a strict no - no.

​@@shadow_realm47 what about tax apps?

@@FranziskaNagel445 learn to do your own taxes👀 If you learn to the tax code in your country it'll benefit you when you decide to run a farm, business or even are a salaried person. Once you understand how deductions work you'll understand how to better keep your money for the long term. If an app does the job for you, you'll get the job done but miss out on the education and potential wealth.

Hasnt betterhelp improved? Ive seen a least 5 other youtube regularly being sponsored by them, on occasion.

Not just product reviews but almost any search benefits from adding reddit

@@timon240 Exactly. Straight searches suck if it isn't a carbon copy question that is very likely to be asked by hundreds of thousands of people.

Not to mention some topics having very drawn out + clickbaity websites/articles and even some that seem AI-generated sigh Appending Reddit to searches truly saves us a lot of sanity and time

@@harkonar4093 "How do I disable gestures Pixel 7" I click the article and it starts, "When I was a kid, tech wasn't really...." I made that up.. but similar has happened to me many times

@@Gandhi_Physique DIY homeowner stuff is even worse as 90% of the time it directs to some HVAC/plumbing/electrician/etc. company giving superfical advice just so they can ultimately say "Ehhhhhh it's better you just call us and let us charge you $1000+" just to replace a $40 part that takes 20 minutes and a short youtube video or tip from reddit.

Thats by design, remember any limits on digital content is totally artificial

You can circumvent this by getting multiple library cards for different libraries. Just look up like a fake name and address generator and use the zip code for the area the library is in. I’ve never seen them ask for actual verification you live in that area.

its by design if the copyright holder, not the library in that case. ​@@CallMeRabbitzUSVI

Just pirate books and later pay for the ones you liked, same with music. I never bothered with any of those apps and subscriptions.

l L

If I as a car enthusiast and auto mechanic review a car, then even if I love 99% of it, I should be able to find a flaw or something that someone else may perceive as a flaw. Like my 2015 Honda Fit LX. It's simple, basic, easy to work on, and fun to drive. I don't mind the lack of integrated infotainment, but for some that's a negative. I wouldn't be doing my due diligence if I didn't at least acknowledge my own biases as they come up.

“Bad for consumers” is way too broad. Candy? Alcohol? Social media?

this is me but with creators that endorse VPN apps/sites

That is an utterly bizarre perspective for me that left me stunned for a few seconds after reading it, but it does give me a good perspective on how effective these ads are, as it is actually the popular point of view. It's just that it's shocking to me that people give these ads any weight in the first place. They're just ads, of fucking COURSE the creator is just doing it because a check is involved. You mean to tell me that you willingly watch ad reads and sincerely believe that this creator you like wants you to buy the product? Are you telling me that this stupid "influencer" marketing strategy just works THAT fucking easily??? In the first place, how can you even come out of watching this video and still think this? Shaq basically just told you that the advertised products aren't something he would actually recommend. Like, no shit, all of it is "selling out" and being a "spokesperson for anything so long as there is a check involved". How are you so stupid as to believe otherwise? I guess I'm insane for thinking that everyone just skipped all ads cause they understood that the creator is just doing it for their livelihood.

@@tree_tape 1) Lol, stunned? Calm down. You’re flying off the handle over someone sharing their opinion, an opinion which by no means warrants your reaction. Unless you regularly participate and benefit from the influencer ad scheme, your being offended by my comment makes zero sense. “Ahhhh this guy doesn’t like when people blindly endorse anything and everything! I’m stunned! STUNNED!” 2) Many, many KZfaq creators and influencers vehemently reject product placements and ad endorsements because they, correctly, believe that it will diminish their credibility when they sincerely do want to promote a product or service. Dave Murray has talked about this many times on his channel. I suggest you branch out and start watching a wider range of content and creators.

Their endorsement should almost always carry zero weight. Just treat it as an introduction but whether you actually every send money the sponsors way should be separate. That’s why I almost appreciate raid, like no one takes it serious and the people who do accept that sponsor know that and there’s not really any deceit going on. Other sponsors though get so much worse than raid

@@tree_tape I am utterly baffled that some people watch ANY ad in general be it on TV, youtube or anything, and actually think to buy it without doing research first. The VERY few times i've actually listened to an ad, I only save it for later to do research on it which i've only done around 4 times to my recollection.

If the product looks interesting, research it, and if it seems like a genuine worthwhile product that fulfills a need you really need fulfilled and isn’t something you can get somewhere else for cheaper or better quality, then sure go ahead and use the influencer’s link and get the product you need. Otherwise don’t bother, which is 99% of all cases

Yes, companies that advertise gets that money for selling overpassed bad products, or doing other shady businesses like lies. If you find a product you find interesting, find it from a different brand, you'll likely get it for cheaper and for higher quality.

Also if the creator is in a field or position where they have reason to use that product on their channel normally. Like if I watch South Main Auto Repair and I see Eric O speak positively or negatively about a tool, it makes sense for him to do so.

It's not stupidity, it's visibility and novelty. This is why simply people knowing you exist is the biggest hurdle. Both for companies and youtubers. If no one knows you are even a thing, they can't engage at all. When we know something exists, we think about it. This is why feeding trolls is ill advised, this is why drama channels talking about crappy people doing crappy things gives those crappy people and the crappy things they do more power. The most powerful thing you can do is to ignore something or someone. Adverts are entirely about stealing your attention. It's why they are the way they are. Once that's stolen, they have you to some degree. That's why billions of dollars go into studying how to do this, best way to psychologically manipulate. Ask any advertiser, they'll tell you they aren't immune. It's not something someone can best. No one is immune to advertising. No one is smarter or more able to recognize their own biases, that's why we need others to tell us when we're doing something dumb, because we all do it. Just a you knowing about the stupid pepper grinder makes you more likely to buy it than not knowing it even exists. That's more powerful than people realize. You can think you're better or smarter, but that actually makes you more prone to falling for even more obvious adverts. Companies love people who think they're savvy and appeal to it constantly. I'm not savvy. I've been fooled more times than I can count by a variety of things and been angry every time I realized I "fell for it". Most recent one was an admittedly funny and very clever commercial for a credit card. I'm mad that I can't forget it because we don't choose those things. Instead, I simply vouch for not letting possibly genuinely stupid people get fooled or smart, but still human people get fooled and say the entire thing is too manipulative and the way we advertise shouldn't be legal outright. Let things go to word of mouth and pretty packaging with intentionally boring af adverts that can only show product on a turn table, an AI voice informs viewer where to buy, what product is (no flowery or subjective language. IE this is a dark chocolate bar. It is square shaped, 100 grams) price, ingredients if applicable, legal warnings. That's it. That's all you get to say. No attractive person to show it to you, to give paid for opinions, no imagery to call on the primal brains response to food (IE using condensation or shiny particles to make us subconsciously associate soft drinks as thirst quenching because we relate shiny to water sources.) nothing. Just a boring advert to let you know it exists in the exact same way everything else is advertised. Seeing a 200 dollar pepper grinder spinning on a turn table with boring elevator music while an AI voice tells you that it's a pepper grinder that's 200 dollars and can't go on about how it's got 4 rotating grinding 8k patented action wheels for the smoothest grind possible, because none of that is factual and is opinion based, is absolutely going to reduce sales. People would buy it for the novelty or because they like the design or possible social status, which will be a thing regardless.

Easiest way to do that is only support creators that you like who have less than 100k subs or get less than 100k views( basically they don't make much money from this and put forward genuine quality videos) And only get products that won't harm you ( no addictive gaming gambling crypto or financial stuff) Most big influencers don't need our money they're already Richy rich and they get paid up front for ad reads.

This. The washing of the hands as to say “that’s on you bro if you buy this product I present to you” is kind of … icky. Like , I appreciate the information of the video, but saying something like that is indicative of one’s mindset. It’s a bit, “a check is a check, and I won’t pass up money.”

His day job is some sort of educational communication . He is obviously very good at it.

He was paid to be honest. I wonder how many of the brands he mentioned paid for this video. I bet it was the pepper cannon /s

This is what Tim Berners Lee wanted.

Almost nothing is deserved, except things like human rights.

i literally get annoyed sometimes just from going out and having to see car logos on every vehicle everywhere i look but what am i gonna do about that. scratch out every logo? call the ceo of ford?? its easier to take it out on an individual person who has their comments open like at least you have somewhere to aim lol

Credit card users go into debt to buy groceries every week

@@netshaq2Yeah, but there’s no inner-monologue saying that you’ll have a chance to get out of debt, if only you buy 1 more box of cereal. All gambling is built on warping people’s sense of value, chance, and risk. There’s also the fact that gambling companies business models aren’t built around tricking a large group of people with a useless item, it’s primary money makers are a small percentage of “whales” that will spend literally everything into ruin. Put everything together and instead of resembling an add for overpriced cereal it becomes, more comparable to an advertisement for opioids or Mlm’s

​@@netshaq2 it's kind of weird reading this type of "gotcha" comment after you repeatedly talked about how bad impulsive buying is I agree with most of the video but the gambling segment feels a bit misguided at best, you can't treat gambling the same way you treat a cereal brand, gambling, smoking and alcohol companies have a vested interest in an addicted consumer base that physiologically can't stop buying their products,, you can't even argue that is pure chance because the companies that produce these apps and sites put algorithms specifically designed to give just enough wins for the consumer to believe it outweighs their loses

​@@netshaq2 but they do get groceries, domt they? Sounds better to me than crppling debt through gambling addictions.