In this informal vlog, the creator opens with a personal story about his car lights flickering on the freeway, using it as a springboard to discuss how YouTubers often give sensational titles to mundane events. He then shifts to the main topic: paid advertisements and sponsored game reviews on YouTube. He argues that creators need paid deals to pay their bills and that viewers should not vilify them for accepting sponsorships. He acknowledges that paid reviews can bias creators toward positive commentary, noting that most will “lie” to please the sponsor, though a few (e.g., Drifter) remain honest. The creator proposes a simple transparency solution: clearly label any paid promotion at the top of the video description—or even announce it at the start of the video. He urges viewers to support creators who do paid work, stop calling them “money whores,” and treat paid content without hostility. The video ends with an apology for rambling and a promise to be more focused next time.
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¡Hola! What's up guys, before we get into the topic, I have a quick little story I want to tell you. So yesterday after my baseball game, I was just driving home, I was on the freeway, and my lights on my car died. Nothing like really major or anything, just The lights on the car shut off, and then I turned them on and off, and they came back on for a second, but then they cut off again. And I turned it back on and off again just to see if I could get them to stay on till I got home. And they just flickered on and off a couple of times because I kept trying to turn them on, but they were pretty much dead. And the car in front of me pulls over because he thinks I'm flickering my lights at him. It was kind of dark out, and he pulled over. And it was raining too. So I didn't stop. I just kept driving. And I looked in my rearview mirror and I see this guy and it's raining and he gets out of his car and walks to the back of his car and starts like inspecting it. That's all I really saw before I got too far away and couldn't really see him anymore. But I feel really terrible because like I didn't mean to flicker my lights at him. They just turned off and then I tried turning them back on, but they only stayed on for a second. So it made the guy in front of me think that I was trying to indicate that something was wrong with his car by flickering my lights on and off. And I feel like a jerk because it was raining and he got out of his car because of me and— yeah. Funny thing is, if this happened to other YouTubers, when they told the life story, they'd title it something like, "The time I almost, you know, got in a car wreck," or something stupid, I don't know. You know how people do that with like misleading titles. Um, I'm not like that. I'd rather entertain people than trick them into clicking on a video, uh, with misleading titles that I know they won't enjoy. But I just randomly thought about that, like, what would other YouTubers title this video if they told a story like that? And, uh, it'd probably be something pretty stupid and completely irrelevant. But anyways, today we're gonna be talking about paid advertisements on YouTube. AKA, "Here's $5,000, review our game in a YouTube video for us." Just to clarify, and this should not be a shock to anyone, no, I did not get an offer for a paid advertisement or anything like that. This is just something that I see occasionally in my sub box whenever a YouTuber does do a paid advertisement, just the videos get dislikes and things like that. And so I just want to talk about a little bit because, I mean, guys, you gotta realize these people have bills to pay. I mean, they have to make a living somehow. And if a company is offering them thousands of dollars just to do one YouTube video on the game, if you truly like that YouTuber, you'll just like the video, you'll just leave a nice comment and go on with your day. You don't have to buy the game or anything, but don't hate on them because of that. I mean, They have bills to pay. Everyone needs money in life. It's okay that they make one paid advertisement video every month or two. It's not the end of the world. I mean, here's the thing: if you were offered tons of money and all you had to do was spend the next hour playing a game and then edit a video for 30 minutes, so in the next 2 hours you could literally make a couple thousand dollars just by making a video of some game that this company wants you to advertise. And sometimes the games aren't even that bad, like it's not even that big of a deal. And you, you have to be honest with yourself, you would take that deal too. So you can't really hate on big YouTubers for doing the same because for some reason just paid advertisements are like the devil to many YouTube viewers. People just hate any video that has anything to do with paid promotion or like a paid advertisement or anything like that. I mean, another example of what I'm talking about is like some League YouTubers advertise this company called WTFast, and the first 5 seconds of all their videos it just says WTFast, like, go sign up if you want faster internet or anything like that. It's just the first 5 seconds of the video, and I have no problem with that. Like, all that stuff is okay to me. But in particular, in this video, we're gonna be talking about when a YouTuber reviews a game. Now here's what everyone says, and it's true. When YouTubers are paid to review a game, they're gonna lie, and no matter what, they're gonna talk good about the game. And that's— that is actually true. I mean, Think about it, you're getting paid thousands of dollars from the company. I don't care who you are, you're gonna have that in the back of your head and you're gonna talk good about the game. Now there are a couple YouTubers that are exceptions, like I think Drifter's done a couple before and he's super honest, but majority of YouTubers are gonna lie when they do a paid advertisement. But that's just, I mean, that's just how the world works. It's fine. I, I really don't think it matters that much. What I want to see is anytime there's a paid advertisement on YouTube, all I care is is that at the top of the description, just write, "This is a paid advertisement," so everyone knows, just so there's no confusion. If I ever did a paid advertisement or whatever, a paid game review, I don't know the exact word for it, if someone ever paid me to review their game, I'd probably turn it down unless I really need money. And if I really had to do one, I would write at the top of the description, "This is a paid advertisement." And I think if you put it up there, it, like, I mean, there's no confusion, you're not trying to hide anything from anyone. And that's— honestly, I'd probably just start off the video just saying, "Hey, this company's paying me $3,000 to play this game. Now I'm gonna play it." Like, that's how I would start it off, but maybe I'm just a little too honest with you guys. I just want to say, I don't think you should hate on people for doing paid advertisements. Now, um, I think to clear up confusion, it would make YouTube a lot simpler if they just wrote at the top description, "This is a paid game review," or whatever. If they just put that up there, I mean, that would make everything simpler. People would know, there's no confusion about anything like that. And there's like, I could sit here and be like, "Oh, YouTubers lie. Oh, the people who played Black Ops 3 early, they lied just so, you know, increase sales." It's true, majority of them do lie. It's just, it's how it works. We're not gonna be able to change anything making videos telling them that they shouldn't. They're gonna always do it. That's just how it works. So they, 'cause I mean, if they lie, then they're gonna get more offers and more money. I mean, you know how it works. So, I don't know. All I think the perfect solution would just be anytime there's a paid advertisement, a paid game review or anything, just make them write at the top of the description that. Just write it up there, and then there's no confusion, to be honest. I know I've been all over the place during this video. I just, kind of the main thing I wanted to say is, next time you see a video that you know is a paid advertisement, don't hate on it. Try to support the guy, okay? He's just trying to make a living. And honestly, I mean, if someone's big enough to do that, I mean, that means they have a good following, they have a good-sized channel, and just be happy for them, you know? I hate it. It really makes me mad when I see like negative comments on videos that people do that they're getting paid to do. It's just, I mean, support them. If you really like their channel, just support them and be happy for them. Be happy that they're getting money. Don't call them money whores. It's fine. Just be happy for them, you know? I don't know, maybe I just have a different viewpoint, but that was pretty much all I really wanted to say. I was all over the place in this video, sorry about that. My next one I'll try to get, uh, get and be more on topic. I'm rambling now, that's all.
