FOLLOWING ON FROM THE VIDEO: I wanted to include this in the video after the editing process but decided against it as it would be WAY too long otherwise I just want to make it clear that I actually understand and see value in PR as a marketing strategy and think it holds an important place, however what I DO take issue with is this over the top almost wasteful packaging, the buying of opinions (like Tarte sending people more than just makeup that could potentially sway their reviews) and these huge brands sending out PR to every Tom, Dick and Harry. I also think some influencers (not all) seem to come off completely tone deaf and I think sometimes they forget the audience watching is the reason they are on camera unboxing 50+ packages a week and able to do amazing things like fly private to Bora Bora. I also want to clarify I advocate for small businesses who send out products to a select few who are a good fit more than these large brands who send out these extravagant and sometimes unrelated packages to 100s with no real authentic alignment - it seems they are just essentially throwing out a huge net and hoping to catch some fish (I suppose because they have the money to do so) I would love to see more change in the industry and brands slowing down on these extravagant PR packages, I understand in an ever growing competitive space they may feel like they need to outdo their competitors- call me naive but sometimes I think if a product is that amazing it will sell itself and a brand won’t need to resort to outlandish tactics (like my beloved Omnilux I rave about lol) Anyway I wanted to clear that up incase maybe it wasn’t super clear in the video :) Thankyou for watching! I know it was a long one- can’t wait to hear your thoughts xo
Totally agree. Also would love to hear what your favourite brands are. Not to have you start influencing 😂 but I feel it would be a genuine recommendation
Seeing these over the top gifts to influencers does not make me want to buy the product at all. If anything it makes me think “why am I the idiot spending my money which then goes to giving influencers free shit?!”
Exactly. If they’re jacking up the price of goods so they can afford to gift all these grifters, well I don’t want to be funding free shit for influencers by paying inflated prices. I’d rather boycott in that case.
That's why I've been saying it's wrong marketing for ages and people accused me of "envy" no, it's not envy 😅 why should I go broke while these people get richer thanks to me?! It's self respect, no one is willing to sacrifice for you so you shouldn't either! But I guess it's not bad marketing if they keep going, that means they still sell somehow 🤷🏻♀️
I usually quit watching UA-camrs when they start getting too big. The whole reason to watch them was they seemed like average people that you could relate to, then they morph into these greedy, money hungry hustlers, always trying sell you something. It's gross.
Yes I can't stand GLAMZILLA or Mikayla anymore!!! GLAMZILLA claimed she didn't do a review because it was bought by a LV purse LMFAO 😂😆 she is such a lier !!! Her or Mikayla won't do a review that they're not getting paid for period !!!
Same. My first example was Zoella loooooong time ago. When she started, i liked her videos. But when she got big, i stopped watching because there was nothing for me anymore. It was all just rich lifestyle and out of touch things. Same with some others later on and now.
As someone who worked in marketing I can tell you a bad review will stop stuff having been send to you, or at least the volume/ popular products so I wouldn’t trust any reviews from influencers lol.
Places that offer free review copies of books are pretty upfront about this. You're expected to give a five stars review in exchange for the free product. They don't include the "or else ..." part but it doesn't require much reading between the lines to get it. Your past reviews will be considered when you apply for the next book after all.
Do you happen to know how the clothing PR boxes work? Do they send the same size to everyone or do they have a way of knowing every influencers size somehow?
@@MissJoyce88 It would surprise me if they didnt have the sizes from influencers as we had lists of preferences etc. You are not going to send XS sizes to someone who has an M or an L. Wouldnt make sense.
These types of marketing strategies have the effect on me that I become disgusted with these brands and products and boycott them. This makes them less valuable to me.
I think these influencers are the one broken because of the fame or just being used to the free stuff. I believe there are so many more beautiful people out there that are not as FAKE as the ones showed in this video
@@UniverseBlackHolepeople who can afford buying stuff get it for free and judge people who can't buy it if they want to eat this month. Something like that.
@@irregularstuff5290 I think getting it for free is also a skil ,job or someones smartness. It's not easy to be picked among all people to get free stuff. If it's easy then people from this comment should try this too. And even tho I follow lot of UA-camrs or ig persons , they rarely "laugh" at other people. I mean yeah there are some people that do act like that. But I wouldn't say it like the og comment. Edit : mistakes in writing
I spent this last Christmas watching Advent calendar unboxings from luxury brands. Like Chanel. And the amount of PR and free trips and a BUTLER to influencers, while companies are putting FREE SAMPLES and bag tags and stickers and coupons and even past products that didn't sell well, in their Advent calendars that regular people pay their hard earned cash for is really disgusting. It makes me never want to trust another company for as long as I live. Or spend money in their shops.
Right? I was into it right at first but it didn’t take long for it to gross me out. Just grotesque excess in the midst of so many people struggling? Ew.
Alexandria is the best for advent calendar unboxing. I don't think she ever recommended anything though 😂 probably the brands worst nightmare influencer. So if you ever think about buying some, watch her videos and you won't 😅
Last year's YSL advent calendar was worth it in terms of what you got. Chanel was the worst. Dior was ok if you like collecting the boxes for reusing as jewelry/accessories/makeup boxes. It's a thing. People do collect Dior printed packaging since they are usually very pretty.
This is a level of gluttony, materialism, and shopping addiction that is sad. It's overdone. People need to mature, focus on what's important in life, but what do i know?
You sound like one of the more sane people out there! This younger generation is frightening! These Tik Tok people are out of their minds and these ridiculous companies throwing product at them is ridiculous!
I absolutely agree with you…it’s obscene…naked greed. Not a word about them donating the products to people in need etc…women in shelters need to feel beautiful too!,,
Sorry I missed the part where donating was mentioned. I still hate this tone deaf consumerism…so shallow and so at odds with our current lives of struggle and social problems.
@@janeharris5568 Well said. I wish those women were at a place where they considered the needs of others... I'd love to see one of them give a ton of beauty/hygiene products to a women's shelter. That would be so great but I doubt it will happen.
I wish Tarte or similar brands who offer influencers lavish trips/products would lower the price of their products for the average person to enjoy more of their products. I love Tarte, but seeing this makes me not want to use their products.
@@nomanejane5766exactly!! They wouldn’t reduce the prices of products because influencer trips are part of tartes advertising budget, which helps them to sell more product
Interesting video! I wrote my master’s dissertation on beauty influencers and the qualitative research showed that people who watched influencers with large followings did so for fun and enjoyment whereas influencers with small followings were trusted and people watched them for reviews of products that they were thinking about buying (not exactly revolutionary 😅, but was interesting how clear the distinction was)
That’s really interesting and makes total sense! I don’t go to the big beauty influencers for reviews because they get these over the top trips and gifts. It’s been so long I’ve looked for a review from a big influencer vs a microinfluencer. Thank you for sharing!
That’s funny because thats exactly what I do in my other channel it’s small but I review things with honesty because I bought them with my money and I wouldn’t want to convince someone that’s it’s amazing when it’s not. That’s what big influencers lack is honesty
I would LOVE to see that! Is there anywhere that I can see the dissertation or studies associated with it? I work with a lot of smaller influencers so I think seeing this will make them feel a lot better!
omg YES, except I was in 6thth. But YES there was this one girl that I went to her house when my mom was too busy at work to get me, and it was just a FREAKING TOUR of how rich she was and what all her parents got her and how much extra curricular activities they could afford for her to do.
To me, the fact that so many influencers are gifted designer bags and clothing just reminds me of how fake TikTok is. Like, it's easy to compare yourself and be like "I'm not doing as well as these other people because I don't have any designer bags, let alone this many", but knowing now that they're gifted so much, it's easier to be like, I don't actually want those and I am doing just fine. The only reason it's all over social media is marketing and fake demand, they're telling me I want something they didn't even want until a brand gave it to them.
When I heard TikTok is a soft marketing platform that told me all I needed to know. People are not only getting free products like famous people get, but they are making high salaries showing the items. Can't knock the hustle, but it's hard to trust it. We don't need anything but food and shelter.
It’s disgusting what these companies are doing… people are struggling so much all over the world.. can hardly afford food, not to mention countries struck by war etc and seeing this is just heartbreaking
Eh, brands have always had large marketing budgets - they are just spending differently now and in a way that looks so gross. If it didn't work and people weren't buying the products they wouldn't do it. What you can do is vote with your dollars and buy them.
Just looking at the boxes and packaging for a single influencer makes me cringe. Let alone all the products that will be barely used before expiration. The waste is unconscionable! And in the name of vanity, money, and the unending need for more. It’s like an addiction. The older I get, the sillier it all seems.
I do not want to buy from Tarte (+ others), as it appears the profits from my sale could be better used to upgrade dated formulas, develop new technologies, pay employee better, give paying customers better value, or donate to worthy causes. I do not want my sales profit to go to girlies trips to Bora Bora, or to get lavender Nikes, Hello Kitty bags and cameras… gross, just gross. Your video helped, helped me to know whom not to buy from. PR at those levels are just gross and deceiving.
Seeing these people have brand trips just feels like I'm directly paying for their trips. I'd rather donate to charity to people who actually need help than someone who already has everything they need just to waste money on things they don't need
These crazy unboxings and brand trips don't make me want to buy the products at all. If anything, I feel disgusted. Between this and companies destroying their own products before trashing them, I'm like, why would I give you my hard earned money. I think it's gross!
In all honesty the whole influencer trend thing has gotten out of control. I totally agree with you. I couldn’t imagine bragging about living lavishly while the people who helped build me can’t even afford the products I’m endorsing. This narcissistic way of life needs to be cancelled.
I don't watch unboxings for make-up. I find them tedious and sometimes annoying. I absolutely do not relate to them. I am glad that content creators such as yourself are speaking publicly about this topic.
Exactly! Seeing those piles of boxes gives me anxiety. Just thinking about where would I put all that stuff or what would I do with it all makes me anxious. I enjoy watching the decluttering videos for inspiration.
Thank you Caitlin for another video that hits the nail on the head. Ultimately I don’t think these influencers can be truly happy living such a materialistic, consumer obsessed existence. It’s so empty and hollow, surely at some point STUFF just becomes more STUFF…with no real appreciation for any of it.
All these brands and influencers make luxury items seem so cheap!!! There is no real luxury without class, elegance and manners. Wealth is quiet, rich is loud.
Great video, Caitlin. I love all your videos. I’m 71 years old and had no idea these influencers get this stuff! I clean houses for a living here in NYS. There is no way I could afford any of these things they are pushing. What a life! Technically they don’t even have to work. They could push every product out there. I feel sorry for young girls who don’t have the “look” these girls have to push products. Let’s face it…..these companies only accept them if they are hot, sexy, gorgeous, full of personality and young. Thanks for opening up a bit more of my world. I don’t like these influencers. My apologies if there are any in here. I’m old.
I agree, what ever happened to gift with purchase. I remember, most high end brands used to always give those minis they bow sell at the check out at Sephora as gifts with purchase. Now, theimake us buy them, its crazy!
This also completely explains the Shape Tape craze. A lackluster product (I ended up returning to the store )hyped up by every influencer under the sun.
I work for a company that produces a lot of the custom packaging for these PR packages. The amount that brands spend on shipping alone is mind-boggling, not to even mention custom design fees, manufacturing, and everything else that goes into it. I'm personally anti-overconsumption so I have a bit of a moral dilemma at times because I know it's wasteful but it also gives me a job lol. I was watching some of the hauls you showed in this video and was like "Hah I remember working on that project"
Influencer marketing is probably cheaper than traditional marketing (network TV ads, magazine ads, etc.), but while the authenticity of the influencer reviews and recommendations do resonate, the authenticity is lost with the PR hauls and big influencer trips.
Yes it is. Having an advertisement on TV during primetime can costs 10k a second or more depending on the channel and the event on tv. During the olympic games it will be more expensive then in between a random talkshow. Instead of 10k per second you can send 1000 big influencers some free goodies that will give your products a lot more exposure for a much lower cost.
Ugh. Yeah, I’m with you here. Unboxings in general disinterest me, but the PR ones ESPECIALLY annoy me. Seeing influencers get these expensive products for free, piles of them, most of which’ll end up collecting dust in a drawer somewhere, when I’m feeling bad for spending like $60 on just ONE of them…it feels dystopian, the gap between influencers & regular people. Especially when they’re like, “oH mY gOD, tHeRe’S sO mAnY, i DoN’t EvEn KnOw WhErE tO sTaRt”🙄🙄🙄
This. Hate how I feel so guilty and can’t stop thinking about the times I treat myself to the 60 dollar product and can’t stop wishing I’d have saved it or spent it on something I ‘really needed’ instead. Like meanwhile they’re drowning in all this shit that would have us unable to pay our rent yet they don’t even use it after the initial unboxing. Unreal
The Tarte influencer trip reminds me of the film The Menu - in fact taking a bunch of ‘influencers’ to a remote island and making them survive on the free sh&t they get would make a great movie - it would soon turn into Lord of the Flies in grey tracksuits 😂
I remember maybe 7 years ago enjoying LV reviews and unboxings and the people doing them made a point of saying how LV never really even acknowleged the free PR. Now LV gives gifts to influencers. It is interesting how much the brand has changed.
I agree with this on many levels. the number one I have noticed that gives influencers away is how they throw the item once they have shown it on camera. When they open a package or present an item, they speak enthusiastically and the nanosecond they finish they just throw it back, on the floor, or wherever...This gives away how much that put an act for their job...like they are actors!
It has an effect on me in not wanting all this materialistic crap. I‘m 33 and I’ve always wanted a LV bag but they are just EVERYWHERE now so i got sick of it seeing it-now i know i wont ever get one…same with lots of other things. I just buy things when I need it and only good materials and Lots of preowned things. I feel like everything is an add now and it pisses me off. I guess most of 30+ ppl are immune to it but the younger generations seem to be lost in overconsumption.
omg I missed that. Reminds me of the 12 year olds taking over Sephora and making their moms buy $$$ products with retinol, hylaraunic (sp?) acid etc 🤦♀️
I'm surprised that YSL sends their products to these TikTok people. It lowers their prestige. It was hilarious to see the one woman unbox it all and pile it all together in a heap on the (dirty) floor. How is that good advertising? It was fitting though. Totally excessive. Makes one long for the days of sitting quietly and slowly turning the pages of Vogue, admiring the photography, contemplating the product. I agree, the prestige is decreased.
@cs8712 as someone who worked in the biz, no they're not lol. "Poor people" pre social marketing just didn't buy expensive makeup and did drugstore products or bought at off retail stores
i like imagining the la mer pr came through the mail like the rest of the pr packages do, and the influencer was out of town on their tarte trip so the butler and hand massage person were just stuck in a cardboard shopping box til she came back and decided to do an unboxing day 😅😅
I am so glad someone is talking about Darcy McQueen, what’s even worse is she got popular by hauling a TON of stuff she would buy herself, so now she’s shown she has the money to spend so she just gets sent MORE!??? The overconsumption with her drives me crazy. She buys almost every color of Lululemon scuba, the shorts, the tanks, etc…. It’s insane and I can’t stand to watch it. I had to block her. But this just goes back to the rich get richer
It's so weird how one part of the world is over consuming where as others are struggling for the bare minimum. It's no individuals fault but why can't they balance gifting with helping society as well through influencers where it sends a more positive message.
Thank you, Caitlin, for putting this kind of content together. I wasn't familiar with all of the extravagant PR and tone deaf influencers, but now I am so disgusted by the whole thing. As these people are flaunting their luxury vacations and so much PR they have to throw it away, I can't help but be reminded of so much poverty in so much of our world. The expense of that LaMer vanity box no doubt could feed an entire village for a month. I am currently reevaluating the content creators I watch and the brands that participate in this extravagance are ones I will no longer purchase from. It's awful the way they price gauge their own loyal customers. If they spent less on flooding these creators with PR, they could lower their prices for the average consumer like me. Yes, PLEASE do more content like this!
I am over the PR unboxing- there is no way I am buying anything you got for free! It’s annoying to watch people get tons of stuff for the sake of getting you to buy it!! Nope. Its out of hand.
PS I found your channel when I searched "shopping addiction" because I have been there and have wasted a fortune on products and clothes. When these brands send these over-the-top packages to these influencers to push in everyone's face, it creates envy and covetousness, which is problematic. (They should run a giveaway or contest where anyone has a chance to win the product.)
Yeah and when they say “I got all this stuff and it’s all thanks to YOU!” (meaning us the viewers), I’m like well dang, what exactly are we getting out of this? To watch you get richer and continue to show off all your free crap? 🤦♀️
The Darcy one has a good attitude about it, she seems humble and I LOVE that she give most of that stuff to her followers, thats what every one od them should do
Caitlin your videos really give me confidence because now I see that what these tiktokers do isn’t normal or even inspirational, it’s entertaining but in a dystopian way I think
A mother of a friend(60) joined instagram and was flabbergasted that people make money from wearing clothes and taking pictures. That’s the reaction everyone should have.
Also, the luxury brands are being produced in the same factories often with the same materials the only thing is the profit is way more for the brand. I’m also in a point in time where I find these big logos tacky. Regarding La Mere they play songs to the creams that’s why they’re so much more expensive. Keep all that in mind. But it’s just easier to listen to that voice that wants all that instead of the mindful approach of using and consuming what is good or less worse for you and the planet.
You mentioned enjoying skincare from a scientific perspective, and it's funny in Korea there's a law that protects the factory from needing to release their specific percentages of ingredients (not sure, but might be normal practice? I don't know the percentages of ingredients in Heinz ketchup.) But normal practice or not, the concept blew my mind. I worked with a popular cosmetic company teaching as a freelancer. In a discussion of daily work tasks for the legal team, product names came up. The student’s job is to check existing product names and then after researching name their own product. It's not a brand name that they were researching, it's the subname (Brand: moisturizing renewal nighttime cream). The goal is to have a different subname than other products. And there is some legal restrictions of what is allowed (I don't know the details.) I asked well than what differs from product to product? The discussion lead to the factory. As mentioned, factories in Korea are legally protected from disclosing specific ingredient amounts Basically the cosmetic company tells the factory what they want the skincare to do. The factory has a base formula and slightly change it based on the clients requests. Using sunscreen as an example, the client can ask for a more oily product, color can be changed, they can add something like manuka honey (for extra costs), scent, and so on. So the legal name could be something like "BRAND: moisturizing sunscreen with manuka & coconut extract". What blew me away even further is the fact that the base of the product is THE SAME ACROSS THE INDUSTRY. Korea is small, I'm assuming there's not a lot of cosmetic factories. So customers are paying extra for brand names and 0.000000000001% manuka extract in a beige coconut scented sunscreen. The discussion went on to Chinese factories which have different rules and legal protection for a factory's ingredient details in base products. China has less restrictive laws. But the problem at the particular company I was working for was that they wanted to be able to say "made in Korea" however they also wanted a very specific ingredient that the Korean factory couldn't provide / didn't have to disclose percentage to the client. So they were looking into producing in China instead. Crazy.
Honestly, whenever I see these PR stunts I just think that if they didn't do it, the product cost to the consumer could be lower (because, let's be honest we are paying for all of that), and they could focus on developing the product. Also, as someone who tries to reduce waste as much as possible, I cannot support brands who do things like this. It's ridiculous, it's tone deaf, and like you said creates biased reviews. It's all ridiculous and we need to stop supporting these brands and stop watching these "influencers"
I couldn’t agree with this more!! This is getting insane, so much WASTE & like you said, there’s absolutely no way that these influencers would dare to bite the hand that feeds them. It would be incredibly difficult to give an unbiased review after being showered in gifts.
That’s really disappointing that luxe brands do PR for influencers, I think it cheapens the brand. I would have never thought that LV would do PR gifts 😢
To be honest, my head really ached literally from watching the PR unboxing videos, lol! These packaging really have a significant impact. They take up so much space. I'm not impressed with this kind of practice because I don't accept items I won't use. It's a pity for those who might be tempted by products I show, but haven't tested and proven effective. It's so unreal for me. Nice content and eyeopener Caitlin! You're young and so intelligent! More success on your channel! I love it! 💕
I don’t think it makes me want to buy the brand but I think it makes ppl want to become influencers…I have a son who wants to be a UA-camr when he grows up. Trying to explain to him about all the things I observe as an adult but he’s a teenager so he just rolls his eyes at me. I think it’s the like reality tv the celebrity swag and it’s meant to keep us distracted & hemorrhaging money. But that’s just me 🤷🏻♀️
It's so hard, especially if you have kids who don't have the life experience to see how toxic the online culture can be. They don't want to listen to mom and dad.
@@Mizz.Person that is a good point. My son doesn’t see the hauls but the gamers he follows boast elaborate lifestyles for how young they are & he definitely mentions that.
I love my little pony and the rainbow dash clip made my day! And yeah I’m honestly tired of this overconsumption and wastefulness of influencers nowadays, it’s just reached a point where you can’t ignore it.
While i understand that PR is a marketing tool, it seems so backwards for them to be giving free stuff to people who can very much afford it themselves. Sure, higher prices can be attributed to quality etc, but when it's going towards paying for already affluent people to receive gifts on top of the monetary cuts theyre already getting, its disgusting
35:37 I've fallen in love with a lot of things I've never actually experienced (fancy houses on rightmove, the northern lights, many dogs) but never a cosmetic brand
I think Dior, Louis Vuitton, etc. are making a big mistake when it comes to gifting bags to influencers. It might be working for now, but I think it will ultimately backfire. It's giving me "Michael Kors in TJ Maxx" vibes. Just a cheapening of the brand really.
I’ve got a couple of designer bags (both gifted…not by the company for pr), but there’s zero allure to buy one if they’re just handing them out like candy. People spend good money on their bags, it’s a slap in the face to the customers.
Watching this just in time when I do another semi-annual purge of my small apartment. Makes me sick to my stomach to imagine how much more clutter it would've add to my place
If you weren't convinced that all these beauty products are 99% marketing crap with an insane uptick for the brands, then I hope this opens the eyes of y'all ladies.
It’s so infuriating to work hard and have everything already be soooo expensive and to see people get send stuff for free who don’t even buy from the brands! The people who are actually buying the products and are actual customers are choosing to spend their hard earned money on their brands aren’t even important to the companies. It’s sad.
That's what I love about french UA-camr, even though they receive pr unboxing some of them don't hesitate to tell us if the products are good or not ♥️♥️♥️ and it does not other the brand at all that they are honest about it. A couple of years ago I used to looooove unboxing but right now it makes me feel out f place and uneasy
As someone who lives paycheck to paycheck, and not because my partner and I don't work hard-we live in a state (TN) with an abysmal minimum wage, for starters-this makes me actually physically sick. I think you hit the nail on the head by saying this all feels tone-deaf. Like there is nothing remotely enticing to me about seeing content like this anymore. I noticed a huge shift in my perspective shortly before and *especially* during the pandemi to where I just started mass-unfollowing beauty influencers who once felt at least moderately relatable and honestly stopped watching YT altogether because the overconsumption alone just felt...gross. I'm just not impressed by brands when they do these exorbitant trips with hundreds or thousands of "free gifts" leading up to them or the PR boxes filled with entire lines of FULL-SIZED products. It feels so very bribey and so very pre-French Revolution to me lol Like we're barely affording literal bread out here. The ick this gives me is monumental. *Editing to add:* The thought of my nieces seeing content like this and feeling inadequate because they can't afford these expensive products or trips legitimately makes me want to cry. I just think about the implications of this crap on the teens and tweens that are growing up consuming this content. I don't want them to think that this is the norm or an indication of someone's worth or the value of their productivity, and that something is wrong with them because they may not ever have this level of nice, designer, elite brand things.
I don’t think I’ve ever been influenced by anything on a social media platform (even yours Caitlin!). I think the reason a) I don’t know you (the influencer) and I have no idea who you are as a person and whether we have anything in common and b) anything that is clearly gifted or some kind of transaction is just already inherently biased and dishonest. I have the same reaction when people are raving about a show. Edit: loving your new content Caitlin. It’s interesting and eye-opening. Keep up the good work. You’re the only influencer I watch who I feel has genuinely changed for the better; the others who apparently are no longer doing luxury seem fake.
I'm happy some of these influencers started to think and speak openly on the ecological and personal problems that is caused by the amount of waste generated of pr packages
Quite a few influencers I follow have stopped accepting PR boxes and don't really go on those brand trips anymore unless it's a brand they really really enjoy using for years and even then not all. They didn't feel comfortable anymore due the over consumption and all the clutter. There is only so much you can keep yourself, give to your friends or charity. So I thought this trend did die a bit by now but it seems it didn't. And honestly those brand trips and PR packages kind of makes me so angry. It always makes me think instead of giving over the top gifts and free trips to a select group of people you could also make your products a bit cheaper so more people can actually afford them and enjoy them too. Ohh and watching this video I realized it got even more and more extreme. But maybe that's also depending on the country. I assume in the VS there is a lot more competition then the Netherlands, UK or whatever other country.
I couldn't even imagine. Sometimes I order a lot of things in one given period and receiving 3-5 things in one week would stress me out so much. This is insanity the amount of packages these influencers get. Proud of the ones who limit their PR's.
The freebies are getting ridiculous. No wonder skin care & beauty products are increasingly unaffordable for those of us who want to buy them. The companies need to recoup the costs for their over the top influencer giveaways, and this is put back onto the customer.
Omg, i am to old for this world, 63 years old lady, from denmark, i would never have the mony for those product, and would never by them. I dont use those lotions and other things, i just walk against the wind, then my wrinkels disaper in the wind, and i am looking like a 35 old woman, it is for free, and it is naturel..... i just saw your UA-cam, just love it.
Whether people realise it or not, everything in life has a cost... no matter how how good (or 'free') it may seem. If I learned that any of my preferred brands started giving products to these people, so they'd be seen and associated with them, I'd change in a flash. Good video, Caitlin. P. S. What an obnoxious bunch of people, on that jet. One would think it was their jet, from the way they're gesturing. P. P. S. Virtually everyone featured was obnoxious. Who on earth sits there and watches those people??
Seeing the mountain of stuff in these videos stresses me out. I haven’t watch these kinds of creators since like 2015/16, and I had no idea it has gotten this bad. Also, not really for cosmetics, but whenever there has been a big gifting campaign from luxury brands my view of that brand goes down. Gifting some makeup is one thing, but a whole bag?? That would cost consumers at least 1.5k and over to buy?? Feels really strange.
I’m with you on feeling like the value of something a brand likes to gift to other people is diminished. When I see expensive merchandise given to people who don’t need it, I feel resentful. on the other hand, I enjoy seeing people receive gifts that aren’t as accustomed to it or for whom the gift is genuinely a good match. I never going to be a person that brands gives things to for free. I don’t like to think that my purchases are subsidizing those freebies to these influencers.
When you hear so much about the allegation against Dior etc, imagine if the people who made the clothing were paid fairly instead of giving so much free stuff to influencers. I get it can be cheaper to gift to a few influencers than a TV commercial. However, I don't want to pay a premium for products, to fund influencer lifestyles. Then the sheer about of plastic wastage, is hardly good for the old environment.
25:43 'I love you' about every brand is kiling me, surely that devalues it so much. No review beyond the aesthetic , no asmr or 'satisfaction' style unboxing just powering through like a kid on christmas who ate all their sweets before tearing into the boxes
I loved this video and would like to see a video on the issue that you mentioned towards the end. I am too old (45) for tiktok and watching that sh*te, it just irritates me. There is so much waste and a great example of how we are killing the planet. I would like to know how many of these brands actually fail or succeed. I am assuming they send out so many products to multiple influencers to actually get into the marketplace? It also makes me feel terrified for my kids who are 6 and 8. The crap that they already watch on UA-cam (Mr. Beast, etc) is awful, and they are exposed to so much. It isn't the real world, but try explaining that to kids who don't know any different (but know it all and have zero understanding of money 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️). It is a real struggle and worry ❤
personally whenever i watch unboxings all i can think of is how much waste is being created. every time i get a delivery it bothers me that there's so much cardboard and/or plastic that i have to dispose of and i always wish there was a way i could return some of the packaging to be reused or honestly just march up to the factory, buy the thing i need/want to use, and leave without anything i need to throw away. and that bothers me even with my one package every two or three weeks because even though it's not that much stuff it's still packaging that needs to be disposed of. seeing the piles and piles of boxes in these unboxing videos makes me nauseous
I'm well past the age that these influencers are trying to appeal to, and while I enjoy a well made product (even a luxury one), I despise this kind of consumerism and waste that we see in these PR unboxings. When I comes to my cosmetics and skin care, influencers and these brand product dumps have zero impact on my buying habits. I've reached the point that I am as likely to buy a drugstore brand as I am a luxury band. As far as the designer bags and clothing, I no longer choose to pay for the privilege of being a walking advertisement for these brands so nothing I own have anything more than a discrete logo. My favorite bag is one that I bought from a craftsman in Spain and I've had it for over 10 years. Glad that my shopping habits were established well before the age of social media.
I completely agree with your take. The waste is astronomical. (I loved the little interstitial videos that you used. So funny! "What if we speed it up?!")
FOLLOWING ON FROM THE VIDEO:
I wanted to include this in the video after the editing process but decided against it as it would be WAY too long otherwise
I just want to make it clear that I actually understand and see value in PR as a marketing strategy and think it holds an important place, however what I DO take issue with is this over the top almost wasteful packaging, the buying of opinions (like Tarte sending people more than just makeup that could potentially sway their reviews) and these huge brands sending out PR to every Tom, Dick and Harry. I also think some influencers (not all) seem to come off completely tone deaf and I think sometimes they forget the audience watching is the reason they are on camera unboxing 50+ packages a week and able to do amazing things like fly private to Bora Bora.
I also want to clarify I advocate for small businesses who send out products to a select few who are a good fit more than these large brands who send out these extravagant and sometimes unrelated packages to 100s with no real authentic alignment - it seems they are just essentially throwing out a huge net and hoping to catch some fish (I suppose because they have the money to do so)
I would love to see more change in the industry and brands slowing down on these extravagant PR packages, I understand in an ever growing competitive space they may feel like they need to outdo their competitors- call me naive but sometimes I think if a product is that amazing it will sell itself and a brand won’t need to resort to outlandish tactics (like my beloved Omnilux I rave about lol)
Anyway I wanted to clear that up incase maybe it wasn’t super clear in the video :)
Thankyou for watching! I know it was a long one- can’t wait to hear your thoughts xo
I think the fact that companies EXPECT positive reviews is gross. I hate how brands would rather lie and cheat their customers. It's grotesque.
Welcome to the cranky old lady club.😂😂 I think PR Unboxings are definitely targeted towards younger consumers. Probably around 13 to 25....
@@thesavvyaphrodite5806
I don't get how they don't get overwhelmed. Like every influencer is like "OMG 😳😳😳. Look at this free stuff 😁 😁 guys 😜😜🥹😊"
@@thesavvyaphrodite5806this!!!!! You summed it up perfectly.
Totally agree. Also would love to hear what your favourite brands are. Not to have you start influencing 😂 but I feel it would be a genuine recommendation
It's time to realize, influencers are not consumers of these brands, they are SALES advisors.
Very good distinction.
Yes!! 👏🏾👏🏾
Exactly, because they get paid for their work....
this not being common knowledge actually baffles me like what
Paid actors
Seeing these over the top gifts to influencers does not make me want to buy the product at all. If anything it makes me think “why am I the idiot spending my money which then goes to giving influencers free shit?!”
Exactly. If they’re jacking up the price of goods so they can afford to gift all these grifters, well I don’t want to be funding free shit for influencers by paying inflated prices. I’d rather boycott in that case.
Same.
Same, you said it perfectly!
Ikr
That's why I've been saying it's wrong marketing for ages and people accused me of "envy" no, it's not envy 😅 why should I go broke while these people get richer thanks to me?! It's self respect, no one is willing to sacrifice for you so you shouldn't either! But I guess it's not bad marketing if they keep going, that means they still sell somehow 🤷🏻♀️
I usually quit watching UA-camrs when they start getting too big. The whole reason to watch them was they seemed like average people that you could relate to, then they morph into these greedy, money hungry hustlers, always trying sell you something. It's gross.
Yes I can't stand GLAMZILLA or Mikayla anymore!!! GLAMZILLA claimed she didn't do a review because it was bought by a LV purse LMFAO 😂😆 she is such a lier !!! Her or Mikayla won't do a review that they're not getting paid for period !!!
Same. My first example was Zoella loooooong time ago. When she started, i liked her videos. But when she got big, i stopped watching because there was nothing for me anymore. It was all just rich lifestyle and out of touch things. Same with some others later on and now.
You hit the nail on the head!
I couldn't agree more.
I completely agree! Their opinions can’t be trusted anymore! They’re corrupted like politicians!
As someone who worked in marketing I can tell you a bad review will stop stuff having been send to you, or at least the volume/ popular products so I wouldn’t trust any reviews from influencers lol.
As soon as I hear the "gasp" I'm out
Places that offer free review copies of books are pretty upfront about this. You're expected to give a five stars review in exchange for the free product. They don't include the "or else ..." part but it doesn't require much reading between the lines to get it. Your past reviews will be considered when you apply for the next book after all.
Do you happen to know how the clothing PR boxes work? Do they send the same size to everyone or do they have a way of knowing every influencers size somehow?
@@MissJoyce88 It would surprise me if they didnt have the sizes from influencers as we had lists of preferences etc. You are not going to send XS sizes to someone who has an M or an L. Wouldnt make sense.
Exactly. The idiot influencers are being played and don’t even realize it 😂
These types of marketing strategies have the effect on me that I become disgusted with these brands and products and boycott them. This makes them less valuable to me.
Same.
LOL being on a paid trip with paid drinks, paid food, paid clothes, paid everything, ranting about broke people. What a vibe
I don't understand your comment
I think these influencers are the one broken because of the fame or just being used to the free stuff. I believe there are so many more beautiful people out there that are not as FAKE as the ones showed in this video
She meant these people have everything for free and they are mocking poor ppl who cannot afford the same.
@@UniverseBlackHolepeople who can afford buying stuff get it for free and judge people who can't buy it if they want to eat this month. Something like that.
@@irregularstuff5290 I think getting it for free is also a skil ,job or someones smartness. It's not easy to be picked among all people to get free stuff. If it's easy then people from this comment should try this too. And even tho I follow lot of UA-camrs or ig persons , they rarely "laugh" at other people. I mean yeah there are some people that do act like that. But I wouldn't say it like the og comment.
Edit : mistakes in writing
I spent this last Christmas watching Advent calendar unboxings from luxury brands. Like Chanel.
And the amount of PR and free trips and a BUTLER to influencers, while companies are putting FREE SAMPLES and bag tags and stickers and coupons and even past products that didn't sell well, in their Advent calendars that regular people pay their hard earned cash for is really disgusting.
It makes me never want to trust another company for as long as I live. Or spend money in their shops.
Excellent point. I keep wanting to get a fancy niche advent calendar but I have been sadly underwhelmed on value
Right? I was into it right at first but it didn’t take long for it to gross me out. Just grotesque excess in the midst of so many people struggling? Ew.
Alexandria is the best for advent calendar unboxing. I don't think she ever recommended anything though 😂 probably the brands worst nightmare influencer. So if you ever think about buying some, watch her videos and you won't 😅
Last year's YSL advent calendar was worth it in terms of what you got. Chanel was the worst. Dior was ok if you like collecting the boxes for reusing as jewelry/accessories/makeup boxes. It's a thing. People do collect Dior printed packaging since they are usually very pretty.
It’s not working for me! It’s disgusting! I’m glad you brought awareness to this. I will no longer put these brands on a pedestal! So tone deaf!!!
This is a level of gluttony, materialism, and shopping addiction that is sad. It's overdone.
People need to mature, focus on what's important in life, but what do i know?
You sound like one of the more sane people out there! This younger generation is frightening! These Tik Tok people are out of their minds and these ridiculous companies throwing product at them is ridiculous!
I absolutely agree with you…it’s obscene…naked greed. Not a word about them donating the products to people in need etc…women in shelters need to feel beautiful too!,,
Sorry I missed the part where donating was mentioned. I still hate this tone deaf consumerism…so shallow and so at odds with our current lives of struggle and social problems.
@@janeharris5568 Well said. I wish those women were at a place where they considered the needs of others... I'd love to see one of them give a ton of beauty/hygiene products to a women's shelter. That would be so great but I doubt it will happen.
@@janeharris5568That part 💯
I wish Tarte or similar brands who offer influencers lavish trips/products would lower the price of their products for the average person to enjoy more of their products. I love Tarte, but seeing this makes me not want to use their products.
Argh. I cannot function without their Maracuja eye cream. Disappointed to discover how wasteful and crass their influencer marketing is.
I walked into target and their concealer was +$30?!?! I almost fell out of my shoes
Why wouldthey lower their prices? Ifthey weren't doing influencer trips, the money would've been spent on tv and magazine ads
@@nomanejane5766exactly
@@nomanejane5766exactly!! They wouldn’t reduce the prices of products because influencer trips are part of tartes advertising budget, which helps them to sell more product
Interesting video! I wrote my master’s dissertation on beauty influencers and the qualitative research showed that people who watched influencers with large followings did so for fun and enjoyment whereas influencers with small followings were trusted and people watched them for reviews of products that they were thinking about buying (not exactly revolutionary 😅, but was interesting how clear the distinction was)
That’s really interesting and makes total sense! I don’t go to the big beauty influencers for reviews because they get these over the top trips and gifts. It’s been so long I’ve looked for a review from a big influencer vs a microinfluencer. Thank you for sharing!
Your Masters Dissertation is super interesting to me. Congrats! Wish I could read it 👍🏽
That’s funny because thats exactly what I do in my other channel it’s small but I review things with honesty because I bought them with my money and I wouldn’t want to convince someone that’s it’s amazing when it’s not. That’s what big influencers lack is honesty
I would LOVE to see that! Is there anywhere that I can see the dissertation or studies associated with it? I work with a lot of smaller influencers so I think seeing this will make them feel a lot better!
@@Krystal_Kitty7 I subscribed!! I do self love content and psychic things if you are interested feel free to follow as well
It’s not age, im literally 23 and I’m over it
I feel like age has much to do with it, but you can see through this non-sense.
Smart girl!
hell I’m 17 and I’m done with it too
I get suffocated just seeing all these boxes and packages. I couldn’t handle all the stuff!
16:13 it’s giving…me watching my rich friend talk about what they got for Xmas in 8th grade
omg YES, except I was in 6thth. But YES there was this one girl that I went to her house when my mom was too busy at work to get me, and it was just a FREAKING TOUR of how rich she was and what all her parents got her and how much extra curricular activities they could afford for her to do.
@@AerynKDesigns OOOF i feel that
To me, the fact that so many influencers are gifted designer bags and clothing just reminds me of how fake TikTok is. Like, it's easy to compare yourself and be like "I'm not doing as well as these other people because I don't have any designer bags, let alone this many", but knowing now that they're gifted so much, it's easier to be like, I don't actually want those and I am doing just fine. The only reason it's all over social media is marketing and fake demand, they're telling me I want something they didn't even want until a brand gave it to them.
When I heard TikTok is a soft marketing platform that told me all I needed to know. People are not only getting free products like famous people get, but they are making high salaries showing the items. Can't knock the hustle, but it's hard to trust it. We don't need anything but food and shelter.
It’s disgusting what these companies are doing… people are struggling so much all over the world.. can hardly afford food, not to mention countries struck by war etc and seeing this is just heartbreaking
Exactly my thoughts
Eh, brands have always had large marketing budgets - they are just spending differently now and in a way that looks so gross. If it didn't work and people weren't buying the products they wouldn't do it. What you can do is vote with your dollars and buy them.
@kimberlyf4888 100%
Just looking at the boxes and packaging for a single influencer makes me cringe. Let alone all the products that will be barely used before expiration. The waste is unconscionable! And in the name of vanity, money, and the unending need for more. It’s like an addiction. The older I get, the sillier it all seems.
We have moved from a world of opening people's minds via new inventions, books, music, art, ideas, to a world where we applaud the opening of boxes...
I do not want to buy from Tarte (+ others), as it appears the profits from my sale could be better used to upgrade dated formulas, develop new technologies, pay employee better, give paying customers better value, or donate to worthy causes. I do not want my sales profit to go to girlies trips to Bora Bora, or to get lavender Nikes, Hello Kitty bags and cameras… gross, just gross.
Your video helped, helped me to know whom not to buy from. PR at those levels are just gross and deceiving.
Gross is the world that comes to mind for me too.
The whole giving influencers the world in order to entice us is insane! What does a ‘brand trip’ do for us???? Never understood it
They’re enticing people to try to do the same IMO
Seeing these people have brand trips just feels like I'm directly paying for their trips. I'd rather donate to charity to people who actually need help than someone who already has everything they need just to waste money on things they don't need
If I am an influencer, instead of sending "stuffs", it would be nicer for the brand to send a butler to my house to cook and clean for me for a day 😂.
Ain't that the truth 😂
These crazy unboxings and brand trips don't make me want to buy the products at all. If anything, I feel disgusted. Between this and companies destroying their own products before trashing them, I'm like, why would I give you my hard earned money. I think it's gross!
Hey Tarte...So THAT is what I actually pay for with the 37 bucks for my blush 😂 I had no idea this was happening as I am too old for tiktok...
Yes. You sponsor trips for dumb influencers
Ouch. Me too. I feel u😂😂 not gonna buy brands which i know is doing that now.
I LOVE watching unboxing videos. They show me all of the crap that i THOUGHT i needed. The videos deter my consumerism.
In all honesty the whole influencer trend thing has gotten out of control. I totally agree with you. I couldn’t imagine bragging about living lavishly while the people who helped build me can’t even afford the products I’m endorsing. This narcissistic way of life needs to be cancelled.
I don't watch unboxings for make-up. I find them tedious and sometimes annoying. I absolutely do not relate to them. I am glad that content creators such as yourself are speaking publicly about this topic.
exactly!!!
Exactly! Seeing those piles of boxes gives me anxiety. Just thinking about where would I put all that stuff or what would I do with it all makes me anxious.
I enjoy watching the decluttering videos for inspiration.
0:22 "they sent a literal butler to my house"
I sure hope you recycle that butler when you're done with it
🤣🤣🤣
sustainably sourced, biodegradable
@@AerynKDesigns😬😂
@@AerynKDesigns all-natural, no artificial chemicals (unless the butler suit is made or synthetic fabric 😅)
😂😂😂 for the win 😂😂😂
Thank you Caitlin for another video that hits the nail on the head. Ultimately I don’t think these influencers can be truly happy living such a materialistic, consumer obsessed existence. It’s so empty and hollow, surely at some point STUFF just becomes more STUFF…with no real appreciation for any of it.
Constant dopamine hits needed, never any contentment from what you already have. How much is "enough" already?
My friends have corporate jobs but have started doing micro-influencing on the side in order to pay for their weddings. It’s giving dystopian society
That sounds like the plot of a Margaret Atwood novel 😮
All these brands and influencers make luxury items seem so cheap!!! There is no real luxury without class, elegance and manners. Wealth is quiet, rich is loud.
This would explain why brand new bags end up on resell sites like fashionphile
Great video, Caitlin. I love all your videos. I’m 71 years old and had no idea these influencers get this stuff! I clean houses for a living here in NYS. There is no way I could afford any of these things they are pushing. What a life! Technically they don’t even have to work. They could push every product out there. I feel sorry for young girls who don’t have the “look” these girls have to push products. Let’s face it…..these companies only accept them if they are hot, sexy, gorgeous, full of personality and young. Thanks for opening up a bit more of my world. I don’t like these influencers. My apologies if there are any in here. I’m old.
And THIN.
They work. Their job is in fact advertising stuff online which has been a job since way before social media came around
I agree, what ever happened to gift with purchase. I remember, most high end brands used to always give those minis they bow sell at the check out at Sephora as gifts with purchase. Now, theimake us buy them, its crazy!
This also completely explains the Shape Tape craze. A lackluster product (I ended up returning to the store )hyped up by every influencer under the sun.
I get overwhelmed when I get a few boxes delivered. I could not live like that.
I work for a company that produces a lot of the custom packaging for these PR packages. The amount that brands spend on shipping alone is mind-boggling, not to even mention custom design fees, manufacturing, and everything else that goes into it. I'm personally anti-overconsumption so I have a bit of a moral dilemma at times because I know it's wasteful but it also gives me a job lol. I was watching some of the hauls you showed in this video and was like "Hah I remember working on that project"
To echo Caitlin’s question in the video, does it work?
@@danielledavenport9907 I have no idea, I just handle the shipping. It must do something though because otherwise they wouldn't spend so much on it!
Influencer marketing is probably cheaper than traditional marketing (network TV ads, magazine ads, etc.), but while the authenticity of the influencer reviews and recommendations do resonate, the authenticity is lost with the PR hauls and big influencer trips.
Yes it is. Having an advertisement on TV during primetime can costs 10k a second or more depending on the channel and the event on tv. During the olympic games it will be more expensive then in between a random talkshow. Instead of 10k per second you can send 1000 big influencers some free goodies that will give your products a lot more exposure for a much lower cost.
Ugh. Yeah, I’m with you here. Unboxings in general disinterest me, but the PR ones ESPECIALLY annoy me. Seeing influencers get these expensive products for free, piles of them, most of which’ll end up collecting dust in a drawer somewhere, when I’m feeling bad for spending like $60 on just ONE of them…it feels dystopian, the gap between influencers & regular people. Especially when they’re like, “oH mY gOD, tHeRe’S sO mAnY, i DoN’t EvEn KnOw WhErE tO sTaRt”🙄🙄🙄
This. Hate how I feel so guilty and can’t stop thinking about the times I treat myself to the 60 dollar product and can’t stop wishing I’d have saved it or spent it on something I ‘really needed’ instead. Like meanwhile they’re drowning in all this shit that would have us unable to pay our rent yet they don’t even use it after the initial unboxing. Unreal
Yeah
The Tarte influencer trip reminds me of the film The Menu - in fact taking a bunch of ‘influencers’ to a remote island and making them survive on the free sh&t they get would make a great movie - it would soon turn into Lord of the Flies in grey tracksuits 😂
On the bags, if I see every influencer flexing it I don’t want it. No matter if it’s gifted or not. I just don’t want to wear stuff everybody has.
All the influencers should donate all that pr to homeless shelters or battered women shelters and stuff.
I remember maybe 7 years ago enjoying LV reviews and unboxings and the people doing them made a point of saying how LV never really even acknowleged the free PR. Now LV gives gifts to influencers. It is interesting how much the brand has changed.
I agree with this on many levels. the number one I have noticed that gives influencers away is how they throw the item once they have shown it on camera. When they open a package or present an item, they speak enthusiastically and the nanosecond they finish they just throw it back, on the floor, or wherever...This gives away how much that put an act for their job...like they are actors!
It has an effect on me in not wanting all this materialistic crap. I‘m 33 and I’ve always wanted a LV bag but they are just EVERYWHERE now so i got sick of it seeing it-now i know i wont ever get one…same with lots of other things. I just buy things when I need it and only good materials and Lots of preowned things. I feel like everything is an add now and it pisses me off. I guess most of 30+ ppl are immune to it but the younger generations seem to be lost in overconsumption.
I like that really young influencer who was sent anti-aging products and enthusiastically thanked the brand! 😂
omg I missed that. Reminds me of the 12 year olds taking over Sephora and making their moms buy $$$ products with retinol, hylaraunic (sp?) acid etc 🤦♀️
I'm surprised that YSL sends their products to these TikTok people. It lowers their prestige. It was hilarious to see the one woman unbox it all and pile it all together in a heap on the (dirty) floor. How is that good advertising? It was fitting though. Totally excessive. Makes one long for the days of sitting quietly and slowly turning the pages of Vogue, admiring the photography, contemplating the product. I agree, the prestige is decreased.
Poor people are the primary target for "luxury" brand marketing
I was surprised by YSL
@cs8712 as someone who worked in the biz, no they're not lol. "Poor people" pre social marketing just didn't buy expensive makeup and did drugstore products or bought at off retail stores
@@jgerald8401that was BEFORE as she said. Previously ysl would be ok the luxury mags ...now it's on dirty floor of some tiktok person
@@jgerald8401used to be. Luxury on mags...now it's on floor
i like imagining the la mer pr came through the mail like the rest of the pr packages do, and the influencer was out of town on their tarte trip so the butler and hand massage person were just stuck in a cardboard shopping box til she came back and decided to do an unboxing day 😅😅
I thought I saw air holes😂
Thank you Caitlin for saying out loud what a lot of people are thinking and feeling 👏🏼
I am so glad someone is talking about Darcy McQueen, what’s even worse is she got popular by hauling a TON of stuff she would buy herself, so now she’s shown she has the money to spend so she just gets sent MORE!??? The overconsumption with her drives me crazy. She buys almost every color of Lululemon scuba, the shorts, the tanks, etc…. It’s insane and I can’t stand to watch it. I had to block her. But this just goes back to the rich get richer
Ugh never seen her before but you’re right it’s insane… the rich get richer
It's so weird how one part of the world is over consuming where as others are struggling for the bare minimum. It's no individuals fault but why can't they balance gifting with helping society as well through influencers where it sends a more positive message.
Thank you, Caitlin, for putting this kind of content together. I wasn't familiar with all of the extravagant PR and tone deaf influencers, but now I am so disgusted by the whole thing. As these people are flaunting their luxury vacations and so much PR they have to throw it away, I can't help but be reminded of so much poverty in so much of our world. The expense of that LaMer vanity box no doubt could feed an entire village for a month. I am currently reevaluating the content creators I watch and the brands that participate in this extravagance are ones I will no longer purchase from. It's awful the way they price gauge their own loyal customers. If they spent less on flooding these creators with PR, they could lower their prices for the average consumer like me. Yes, PLEASE do more content like this!
I am over the PR unboxing- there is no way I am buying anything you got for free! It’s annoying to watch people get tons of stuff for the sake of getting you to buy it!! Nope. Its out of hand.
PS I found your channel when I searched "shopping addiction" because I have been there and have wasted a fortune on products and clothes. When these brands send these over-the-top packages to these influencers to push in everyone's face, it creates envy and covetousness, which is problematic. (They should run a giveaway or contest where anyone has a chance to win the product.)
Yeah and when they say “I got all this stuff and it’s all thanks to YOU!” (meaning us the viewers), I’m like well dang, what exactly are we getting out of this? To watch you get richer and continue to show off all your free crap? 🤦♀️
The Darcy one has a good attitude about it, she seems humble and I LOVE that she give most of that stuff to her followers, thats what every one od them should do
Caitlin your videos really give me confidence because now I see that what these tiktokers do isn’t normal or even inspirational, it’s entertaining but in a dystopian way I think
Almost an hour long video from Caitlin? Yes, please! I really like those types of videos.
A mother of a friend(60) joined instagram and was flabbergasted that people make money from wearing clothes and taking pictures. That’s the reaction everyone should have.
Also, the luxury brands are being produced in the same factories often with the same materials the only thing is the profit is way more for the brand. I’m also in a point in time where I find these big logos tacky.
Regarding La Mere they play songs to the creams that’s why they’re so much more expensive. Keep all that in mind. But it’s just easier to listen to that voice that wants all that instead of the mindful approach of using and consuming what is good or less worse for you and the planet.
You mentioned enjoying skincare from a scientific perspective, and it's funny in Korea there's a law that protects the factory from needing to release their specific percentages of ingredients (not sure, but might be normal practice? I don't know the percentages of ingredients in Heinz ketchup.) But normal practice or not, the concept blew my mind.
I worked with a popular cosmetic company teaching as a freelancer. In a discussion of daily work tasks for the legal team, product names came up. The student’s job is to check existing product names and then after researching name their own product. It's not a brand name that they were researching, it's the subname (Brand: moisturizing renewal nighttime cream). The goal is to have a different subname than other products. And there is some legal restrictions of what is allowed (I don't know the details.)
I asked well than what differs from product to product? The discussion lead to the factory. As mentioned, factories in Korea are legally protected from disclosing specific ingredient amounts Basically the cosmetic company tells the factory what they want the skincare to do. The factory has a base formula and slightly change it based on the clients requests.
Using sunscreen as an example, the client can ask for a more oily product, color can be changed, they can add something like manuka honey (for extra costs), scent, and so on. So the legal name could be something like "BRAND: moisturizing sunscreen with manuka & coconut extract".
What blew me away even further is the fact that the base of the product is THE SAME ACROSS THE INDUSTRY. Korea is small, I'm assuming there's not a lot of cosmetic factories. So customers are paying extra for brand names and 0.000000000001% manuka extract in a beige coconut scented sunscreen.
The discussion went on to Chinese factories which have different rules and legal protection for a factory's ingredient details in base products. China has less restrictive laws. But the problem at the particular company I was working for was that they wanted to be able to say "made in Korea" however they also wanted a very specific ingredient that the Korean factory couldn't provide / didn't have to disclose percentage to the client. So they were looking into producing in China instead. Crazy.
Honestly, whenever I see these PR stunts I just think that if they didn't do it, the product cost to the consumer could be lower (because, let's be honest we are paying for all of that), and they could focus on developing the product. Also, as someone who tries to reduce waste as much as possible, I cannot support brands who do things like this. It's ridiculous, it's tone deaf, and like you said creates biased reviews.
It's all ridiculous and we need to stop supporting these brands and stop watching these "influencers"
I couldn’t agree with this more!! This is getting insane, so much WASTE & like you said, there’s absolutely no way that these influencers would dare to bite the hand that feeds them. It would be incredibly difficult to give an unbiased review after being showered in gifts.
That’s really disappointing that luxe brands do PR for influencers, I think it cheapens the brand. I would have never thought that LV would do PR gifts 😢
I agree. I think it is the idea that high end well know brands should not need that type of PR.
At first LV was not doing that and was against it, wonder why they changed their minds
Damn. Just got to know about this AFTER i bought bags from them. 😕
To be honest, my head really ached literally from watching the PR unboxing videos, lol! These packaging really have a significant impact. They take up so much space. I'm not impressed with this kind of practice because I don't accept items I won't use. It's a pity for those who might be tempted by products I show, but haven't tested and proven effective. It's so unreal for me. Nice content and eyeopener Caitlin! You're young and so intelligent! More success on your channel! I love it! 💕
Dont ever apologize for longer videos! I could literally listen to you for hours.
I believe this video would be an eye opener for so many people who fall for these. Thanks for such an informative video ❤
I don’t think it makes me want to buy the brand but I think it makes ppl want to become influencers…I have a son who wants to be a UA-camr when he grows up. Trying to explain to him about all the things I observe as an adult but he’s a teenager so he just rolls his eyes at me. I think it’s the like reality tv the celebrity swag and it’s meant to keep us distracted & hemorrhaging money. But that’s just me 🤷🏻♀️
Very true!!
It's so hard, especially if you have kids who don't have the life experience to see how toxic the online culture can be. They don't want to listen to mom and dad.
@@Mizz.Person that is a good point. My son doesn’t see the hauls but the gamers he follows boast elaborate lifestyles for how young they are & he definitely mentions that.
I love my little pony and the rainbow dash clip made my day! And yeah I’m honestly tired of this overconsumption and wastefulness of influencers nowadays, it’s just reached a point where you can’t ignore it.
Them singing If you aint got no money take your broke ass home while they didn’t pay for anything is comical
I'm loving the new angle of your content.
While i understand that PR is a marketing tool, it seems so backwards for them to be giving free stuff to people who can very much afford it themselves. Sure, higher prices can be attributed to quality etc, but when it's going towards paying for already affluent people to receive gifts on top of the monetary cuts theyre already getting, its disgusting
35:37 I've fallen in love with a lot of things I've never actually experienced (fancy houses on rightmove, the northern lights, many dogs) but never a cosmetic brand
I think Dior, Louis Vuitton, etc. are making a big mistake when it comes to gifting bags to influencers. It might be working for now, but I think it will ultimately backfire. It's giving me "Michael Kors in TJ Maxx" vibes. Just a cheapening of the brand really.
I’ve got a couple of designer bags (both gifted…not by the company for pr), but there’s zero allure to buy one if they’re just handing them out like candy. People spend good money on their bags, it’s a slap in the face to the customers.
Watching this just in time when I do another semi-annual purge of my small apartment. Makes me sick to my stomach to imagine how much more clutter it would've add to my place
If you weren't convinced that all these beauty products are 99% marketing crap with an insane uptick for the brands, then I hope this opens the eyes of y'all ladies.
It’s so infuriating to work hard and have everything already be soooo expensive and to see people get send stuff for free who don’t even buy from the brands! The people who are actually buying the products and are actual customers are choosing to spend their hard earned money on their brands aren’t even important to the companies. It’s sad.
The over consumption kills me! Well - actually, it is killing the planet!
That's what I love about french UA-camr, even though they receive pr unboxing some of them don't hesitate to tell us if the products are good or not ♥️♥️♥️ and it does not other the brand at all that they are honest about it. A couple of years ago I used to looooove unboxing but right now it makes me feel out f place and uneasy
As someone who lives paycheck to paycheck, and not because my partner and I don't work hard-we live in a state (TN) with an abysmal minimum wage, for starters-this makes me actually physically sick. I think you hit the nail on the head by saying this all feels tone-deaf. Like there is nothing remotely enticing to me about seeing content like this anymore. I noticed a huge shift in my perspective shortly before and *especially* during the pandemi to where I just started mass-unfollowing beauty influencers who once felt at least moderately relatable and honestly stopped watching YT altogether because the overconsumption alone just felt...gross. I'm just not impressed by brands when they do these exorbitant trips with hundreds or thousands of "free gifts" leading up to them or the PR boxes filled with entire lines of FULL-SIZED products. It feels so very bribey and so very pre-French Revolution to me lol Like we're barely affording literal bread out here. The ick this gives me is monumental.
*Editing to add:* The thought of my nieces seeing content like this and feeling inadequate because they can't afford these expensive products or trips legitimately makes me want to cry. I just think about the implications of this crap on the teens and tweens that are growing up consuming this content. I don't want them to think that this is the norm or an indication of someone's worth or the value of their productivity, and that something is wrong with them because they may not ever have this level of nice, designer, elite brand things.
THIS. 👏🏻
I don’t think I’ve ever been influenced by anything on a social media platform (even yours Caitlin!). I think the reason a) I don’t know you (the influencer) and I have no idea who you are as a person and whether we have anything in common and b) anything that is clearly gifted or some kind of transaction is just already inherently biased and dishonest. I have the same reaction when people are raving about a show.
Edit: loving your new content Caitlin. It’s interesting and eye-opening. Keep up the good work. You’re the only influencer I watch who I feel has genuinely changed for the better; the others who apparently are no longer doing luxury seem fake.
I'm happy some of these influencers started to think and speak openly on the ecological and personal problems that is caused by the amount of waste generated of pr packages
Seeing the chick with all these pr boxes and unboxing them each day, i was bloody overwhelmed, i couldn't do this, just give me a few stuff
The more they send, trips etc the more we pay for the products-someone’s paying for this 😊
Quite a few influencers I follow have stopped accepting PR boxes and don't really go on those brand trips anymore unless it's a brand they really really enjoy using for years and even then not all. They didn't feel comfortable anymore due the over consumption and all the clutter. There is only so much you can keep yourself, give to your friends or charity. So I thought this trend did die a bit by now but it seems it didn't. And honestly those brand trips and PR packages kind of makes me so angry. It always makes me think instead of giving over the top gifts and free trips to a select group of people you could also make your products a bit cheaper so more people can actually afford them and enjoy them too. Ohh and watching this video I realized it got even more and more extreme. But maybe that's also depending on the country. I assume in the VS there is a lot more competition then the Netherlands, UK or whatever other country.
Uk is same
I couldn't even imagine. Sometimes I order a lot of things in one given period and receiving 3-5 things in one week would stress me out so much. This is insanity the amount of packages these influencers get. Proud of the ones who limit their PR's.
Even the word 'influencer' is now surely no longer seen as a positive.
The freebies are getting ridiculous. No wonder skin care & beauty products are increasingly unaffordable for those of us who want to buy them. The companies need to recoup the costs for their over the top influencer giveaways, and this is put back onto the customer.
Omg, i am to old for this world, 63 years old lady, from denmark, i would never have the mony for those product, and would never by them. I dont use those lotions and other things, i just walk against the wind, then my wrinkels disaper in the wind, and i am looking like a 35 old woman, it is for free, and it is naturel..... i just saw your UA-cam, just love it.
Whether people realise it or not, everything in life has a cost... no matter how how good (or 'free') it may seem.
If I learned that any of my preferred brands started giving products to these people, so they'd be seen and associated with them, I'd change in a flash.
Good video, Caitlin.
P. S. What an obnoxious bunch of people, on that jet. One would think it was their jet, from the way they're gesturing.
P. P. S. Virtually everyone featured was obnoxious. Who on earth sits there and watches those people??
When I see this, all I can think about is it is just trash. All of it is trash. Random items that are being thrown at people that has no value.
Seeing the mountain of stuff in these videos stresses me out. I haven’t watch these kinds of creators since like 2015/16, and I had no idea it has gotten this bad.
Also, not really for cosmetics, but whenever there has been a big gifting campaign from luxury brands my view of that brand goes down. Gifting some makeup is one thing, but a whole bag?? That would cost consumers at least 1.5k and over to buy?? Feels really strange.
I’m with you on feeling like the value of something a brand likes to gift to other people is diminished. When I see expensive merchandise given to people who don’t need it, I feel resentful. on the other hand, I enjoy seeing people receive gifts that aren’t as accustomed to it or for whom the gift is genuinely a good match. I never going to be a person that brands gives things to for free. I don’t like to think that my purchases are subsidizing those freebies to these influencers.
Caitlin you’re right. I’m 33 now and I could care less. Who needs all this just to give it away??? I’ve got better things to do with my time
When you hear so much about the allegation against Dior etc, imagine if the people who made the clothing were paid fairly instead of giving so much free stuff to influencers.
I get it can be cheaper to gift to a few influencers than a TV commercial. However, I don't want to pay a premium for products, to fund influencer lifestyles.
Then the sheer about of plastic wastage, is hardly good for the old environment.
25:43 'I love you' about every brand is kiling me, surely that devalues it so much. No review beyond the aesthetic , no asmr or 'satisfaction' style unboxing just powering through like a kid on christmas who ate all their sweets before tearing into the boxes
I loved this video and would like to see a video on the issue that you mentioned towards the end. I am too old (45) for tiktok and watching that sh*te, it just irritates me. There is so much waste and a great example of how we are killing the planet. I would like to know how many of these brands actually fail or succeed. I am assuming they send out so many products to multiple influencers to actually get into the marketplace?
It also makes me feel terrified for my kids who are 6 and 8. The crap that they already watch on UA-cam (Mr. Beast, etc) is awful, and they are exposed to so much. It isn't the real world, but try explaining that to kids who don't know any different (but know it all and have zero understanding of money 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️). It is a real struggle and worry ❤
OH MY GOSH THE TWILIGHT CLIP WAS F’N AMAMZING😂😂 I FELT THAT
personally whenever i watch unboxings all i can think of is how much waste is being created. every time i get a delivery it bothers me that there's so much cardboard and/or plastic that i have to dispose of and i always wish there was a way i could return some of the packaging to be reused or honestly just march up to the factory, buy the thing i need/want to use, and leave without anything i need to throw away. and that bothers me even with my one package every two or three weeks because even though it's not that much stuff it's still packaging that needs to be disposed of. seeing the piles and piles of boxes in these unboxing videos makes me nauseous
Is this why things are so expensive? Because they need huge marketing budgets to send these crazy PR boxes to influencers.
I'm well past the age that these influencers are trying to appeal to, and while I enjoy a well made product (even a luxury one), I despise this kind of consumerism and waste that we see in these PR unboxings. When I comes to my cosmetics and skin care, influencers and these brand product dumps have zero impact on my buying habits. I've reached the point that I am as likely to buy a drugstore brand as I am a luxury band. As far as the designer bags and clothing, I no longer choose to pay for the privilege of being a walking advertisement for these brands so nothing I own have anything more than a discrete logo. My favorite bag is one that I bought from a craftsman in Spain and I've had it for over 10 years. Glad that my shopping habits were established well before the age of social media.
I completely agree with your take. The waste is astronomical. (I loved the little interstitial videos that you used. So funny! "What if we speed it up?!")
100% agree, when I see rich people getting stuff for me it loses its value since why pay for it when someone got it for free 💀