Greed. It’s something that’s always lying beneath the surface. Even the most scrupulous people can find themselves overcome by their desires when the opportunity to make easy money or get something good quickly surfaces. We’re all only human, after all. Now, thanks to investigations by the FTC and other, ordinary people, we’re learning that people like Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg have been taking advantage of such shady offers and deals, without properly letting us know what’s up.
Instead of letting people know their involvement and that money is changing hands, they’re improperly notifying people. Yet, people are defending them instead of acknowledging these are people who may be flawed and imperfect. We need to wake up, stop letting our infatuation with celebrity blind us, and think before we start blindly supporting people who don’t honestly care about us, only the money our views represent.
Of course we’re going to focus on PewDiePie, since this is the most recent incident and he’s the most famous name associated with this scandal. The FTC has been going after Warner Bros. for the way the company promoted Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor back in 2014. It was sponsoring YouTubers, paying over $10,000 to each one and giving them access to the game, to get them to play and only talk about the best parts of the game. PewDiePie was one of the people who took the deal and made such a video. Now, this in and of itself is pretty shady. Getting a preview/review copy of a game is standard procedure, but the additional funding? Not so much. It’s what’s made certain groups of people, who we won’t name, angry at certain people who write about games, who we also won’t name, for corruption. PewDiePie took the game and the money, buried a one sentence line in the description of his video about it , and went on his way.
The problem? It was only one sentence. “This video was sponsored by Warner Brother.” It didn’t mention he was given the game, upwards of $10,000, and guidelines about what to say. Also, you didn’t see it unless you actually clicked the “Show More” button. It was improper disclosure, hidden away. He did it, but didn’t do it right, and even though he absolutely has a right to defend himself and say he did technically, sort-of, actually do it, we’d be smart and justified to do more digging before we automatically leap to his defense.
Companies don’t typically joke around about this sort of thing. When preview/review copies of games are given out, there are often directions that say the site or organization covering it must include a sentence stating that a product was provided for this review. That’s when you’re only getting something with a value of $60 or less. Don’t you think a YouTuber who’s telling you to buy and play a game and getting $10,000 or more to do so should also clearly say, “Warner Bros. paid me $10,000 and gave me a copy of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor ?” It’s common sense.
I know you may see PewDiePie as more of a friend and everyman than a celebrity sometimes. He’s become famous for doing something many of us do, and we’ve been there as he rose to glory. But, we can’t idolize people. He’s not like us anymore. His video prior to this one attempting to brush off this scandal is one shilling Revelmode, his entertainment network with Maker Studios. The day before trying to show he’s in the right, he’s trying to drum up more hits and money. I’m not saying PewDiePie isn’t a good guy, but I am saying in this instance, he messed up. Rather than make excuses and shift blame, he should stand up, do what’s right, and make a better effort to prevent such behavior in the future.