is waif
SOLD OUT
Social media is the beating heart of our society and culture — the good, the bad, and the ugly. We want to have all of the information all of the time and we want it now. We want to know what our coworker’s sister’s friend wore to her prom and to see if her date really did look like a female version of Adam Driver. Update: She did and they were gorgeous together. Hour after hour we scroll through status updates, pictures of people we wish were our friends, and makeup tutorials, that it has become embedded in our DNA to constantly want content to consume. And even though I can never get that smokey eye (it comes out more of a dark fog, to be honest), my claws are quick to click on Jeffree Star’s new video to fail again. Due to this constant content we are drinking up and spitting out, Millennials get a bad reputation for contributing to this new age of technology. People tend to throw influencers under the bus when they see them mentioning products in their videos or any type of ad on their platform. In fact, there are articles written about how this generation is the sellout generation. I mean that’s a little harsh, but honestly, what choice did we really have?
“Sponsorship has not turned us into sellouts; in fact it is because of sponsorships that we are allowed to profit off our loud and unique voices.”
Now hop in your hot tub time machine for a second and think about the last time critics would call musicians or actors sellouts. Now that we have arrived back to the present day, the first thing we need to dissect is what we mean when we use the term “sellout.” When the term is thrown into conversation, it’s usually used to describe someone who has given up their moral values in order to become rich and famous. I apologize for mansplaining, but here we are. Being a called a sellout usually leaves a bad taste in people’s mouth because it coincides with the idea of basically doing anything if it meant it would lead to fame. It’s not a good brand to have. However, the reason people think we are the sellout generation is because we now have an entirely new platform to create our own content and sell products: the Internet. It’s a world where you can do just about anything if it means you’ll get a retweet or a like. YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter are crawling with online celebrities that sit in front of a camera or behind a keyboard and provide entertainment for those like me, laying in my bed surrounded by Chipotle wrappers. These content creators are in charge of their own platform and can potentially post whatever they want for our viewing pleasure. Since a lot of our favorite YouTube stars create for a living and have an audience that wants to follow along, there needs to be a way that they can create what they want to create and still be able to afford to pay their bills. That is where sponsorship comes in to play.
Sponsorships and ads are what keep content creators able to continue to create, which allows us to stay entertained. It’s a beautiful circle. What comes into question is whether or not being sponsored is the same as selling out. Are these content creators giving up their moral integrity in order to climb the online celebrity ladder? Much like my smokey eye, it’s a gray area. Yes, you do have those that will sell anything for a like or a view, but there are others that will only sell products that they actually love. In this economy, beggars can’t be choosers sometimes. Remember, we are the generation of kids that were sold the American dream that getting an education and working a 9-5 job will solve all our financial problems. Now that we have those jobs, and since the cost of breathing has skyrocketed, we have to find any way we can to pay our rent. If that means talking about your annoying detox tea for second before you show us your nightly skin care routine, have at it, girl. People who want to continue to create on their platform for a living, almost always have to turn themselves into a business. Just because they have to sell a product does not mean that their moral integrity has burst in flames. Our generation has just figured out a way to be able to “make that money” and create what we want to create. Sponsorship has not turned us into sellouts; in fact it is because of sponsorships that we are allowed to profit off our loud and unique voices.
Being called a sellout in this day and age doesn’t sting as much as it did when our parents were growing up. Sticking it to the man has changed from blasting rock ‘n’ roll music through a town that outlawed dancing to retweets, recording ourselves doing stupid stuff, and voting. It’s still a name that is thrown at our generation a little too much, but times are different. We’ve had to adapt quickly to the alien world of the internet and we have transformed it into a space where our voices can be heard. Just because we get paid for it sometimes, doesn’t mean we are corrupt. It just means we are smart.