The new wave of marketing ruining social media, creating policy nightmares, and flipping seats.
This article is still in the draft phase and as such has not been fact checked or peer reviewed.
Xx views and over xx likes. The video: xx. But right in the middle of it, they pull out their phone and gamble. What is glossed over by many as a continuation of degenerate behaviour is an ad hidden in plain sight. Stake, Packdraw, Shuffle. All names that people who watch these videos will recognise, and they don't even know it.
Advertising used to mean making a poster and sticking it up somewhere. Then the invention of TV meant video dominated as a means of information transmission. And since then, not much has changed. Advertising has always been about promoting yourself openly. We are X and we do Y. Celebrities took up that space once companies realised that people will listen to aspirational people telling them what to do, but it has mostly always been obvious. That was until movies started selling brand slots. Big blockbusters no longer just sell tickets, but screen space too. Next time you watch a movie or show, notice what phones and computers they use, what brands they wear, and what food they eat. Advertising has always been about getting your name out there on the biggest platform possible. Today? Total reversal. Grassroots dominates.
The average person spends xxmn a day on xx. For 18-24 years old, that number shoots up xx% to xxmn. A captive audience, developing brains, and a seemingly infinite number of niches and people to connect to. The cost of living dominates politics, with xx% and xx% of xx people in 2026 listing it as a key issue in xx and xx respectively. Actors and politicians are not the average person, and people feel more and more disillusioned with celebrities than ever before (fact check with stats). So, in response to declining retention, companies and campaigns have turned to a cheaper and more effective source of advertising. Small creators.
Small creators are both the victims and the vessel that carries the problem. Going back to that video I mentioned at the start, when it was posted, they only had xx followers. And that isn't uncommon. I got in touch with a small creator who wished to remain anonymous to ask about their experience in the advertising world. Their content focuses on martial arts and they shared their experience with supplement brand sponsorships. “It’s hard trying to make a name for yourself. Getting support from brands helps pay the bills and makes it worth building up my personal brand” they said. “It goes both ways too. They’ll repost my stuff too which brings in new followers I wouldn’t normally get exposure to” they explained.
That right there, is the crux of the problem. If I didn’t disclose that I asked Kai to contribute to this piece for a mention, would you have ever known or thought about it? It just comes across as Kai is a nice guy and has experience I need. But what if that wasn't the case? What if there was money involved? A creator pays me to shout them out or I pay a creator to say specific words? Its a real issue and one that the people involved seldom disclose.
Today, online gambling has increased by xx. It has become a serious problem in countries like Brazil. The previous president xx legalised online gambling in an effort to capture tax revenue from the illegal market. Tax was certainly captured as Brazil generated xx in additional tax revenue (can I take the currency, and convert relative to GDP instead of conversion rate?), but the flow on effects are likely to far outweigh the benefit. Brazil, a poor country with a high rate of inequality (xx Lorenz curve), has seen large chunks of its poor population ravaged by gambling addiction. The ease of accessibility is a massive issue, and lack of strong social services (fact check) make it even harder for Brazilians to claw their way out.
But the political disruption is not limited to policy. Many scandals have emerged in the recent USA political cycle. Paid collaborations and the failure to disclose them have created division and distrust. As mentioned before, a lot of sponsorships go undisclosed, despite USA Law mandating that paid collaborations must be disclosed (fact check). The market is impossible to regulate. Xx mn are posted to YouTube every xx and Instagram records xx posts per xx. There is simply too much to sift through and question. It is nothing short of a logistical and legal nightmare.
On the brighter side (if there is much of one), whilst negative now, this is a good thing long term for our critical thinking skills. It's making people question what's in front of them. As kids, we were always told to not believe everything we see online, and these things hitting headlines puts those thoughts into people's heads. Policy on the other hand will struggle. The world moves fast as we saw with Crypto, NFTs, and online gambling. They came up faster than anybody could've done anything about regulation wise. Policy takes time to get right, and taking shortcuts can cut out important factors in our delicately balanced societies. But in the meantime, maybe we’ll just need to be more critical of pure presenting content we come across in our doom scrolling.
This article is still in the draft phase and as such has not been fact checked or peer reviewed.
Xx views and over xx likes. The video: xx. But right in the middle of it, they pull out their phone and gamble. What is glossed over by many as a continuation of degenerate behaviour is an ad hidden in plain sight. Stake, Packdraw, Shuffle. All names that people who watch these videos will recognise, and they don't even know it.
Advertising used to mean making a poster and sticking it up somewhere. Then the invention of TV meant video dominated as a means of information transmission. And since then, not much has changed. Advertising has always been about promoting yourself openly. We are X and we do Y. Celebrities took up that space once companies realised that people will listen to aspirational people telling them what to do, but it has mostly always been obvious. That was until movies started selling brand slots. Big blockbusters no longer just sell tickets, but screen space too. Next time you watch a movie or show, notice what phones and computers they use, what brands they wear, and what food they eat. Advertising has always been about getting your name out there on the biggest platform possible. Today? Total reversal. Grassroots dominates.
The average person spends xxmn a day on xx. For 18-24 years old, that number shoots up xx% to xxmn. A captive audience, developing brains, and a seemingly infinite number of niches and people to connect to. The cost of living dominates politics, with xx% and xx% of xx people in 2026 listing it as a key issue in xx and xx respectively. Actors and politicians are not the average person, and people feel more and more disillusioned with celebrities than ever before (fact check with stats). So, in response to declining retention, companies and campaigns have turned to a cheaper and more effective source of advertising. Small creators.
Small creators are both the victims and the vessel that carries the problem. Going back to that video I mentioned at the start, when it was posted, they only had xx followers. And that isn't uncommon. I got in touch with a small creator who wished to remain anonymous to ask about their experience in the advertising world. Their content focuses on martial arts and they shared their experience with supplement brand sponsorships. “It’s hard trying to make a name for yourself. Getting support from brands helps pay the bills and makes it worth building up my personal brand” they said. “It goes both ways too. They’ll repost my stuff too which brings in new followers I wouldn’t normally get exposure to” they explained.
That right there, is the crux of the problem. If I didn’t disclose that I asked Kai to contribute to this piece for a mention, would you have ever known or thought about it? It just comes across as Kai is a nice guy and has experience I need. But what if that wasn't the case? What if there was money involved? A creator pays me to shout them out or I pay a creator to say specific words? Its a real issue and one that the people involved seldom disclose.
Today, online gambling has increased by xx. It has become a serious problem in countries like Brazil. The previous president xx legalised online gambling in an effort to capture tax revenue from the illegal market. Tax was certainly captured as Brazil generated xx in additional tax revenue (can I take the currency, and convert relative to GDP instead of conversion rate?), but the flow on effects are likely to far outweigh the benefit. Brazil, a poor country with a high rate of inequality (xx Lorenz curve), has seen large chunks of its poor population ravaged by gambling addiction. The ease of accessibility is a massive issue, and lack of strong social services (fact check) make it even harder for Brazilians to claw their way out.
But the political disruption is not limited to policy. Many scandals have emerged in the recent USA political cycle. Paid collaborations and the failure to disclose them have created division and distrust. As mentioned before, a lot of sponsorships go undisclosed, despite USA Law mandating that paid collaborations must be disclosed (fact check). The market is impossible to regulate. Xx mn are posted to YouTube every xx and Instagram records xx posts per xx. There is simply too much to sift through and question. It is nothing short of a logistical and legal nightmare.
On the brighter side (if there is much of one), whilst negative now, this is a good thing long term for our critical thinking skills. It's making people question what's in front of them. As kids, we were always told to not believe everything we see online, and these things hitting headlines puts those thoughts into people's heads. Policy on the other hand will struggle. The world moves fast as we saw with Crypto, NFTs, and online gambling. They came up faster than anybody could've done anything about regulation wise. Policy takes time to get right, and taking shortcuts can cut out important factors in our delicately balanced societies. But in the meantime, maybe we’ll just need to be more critical of pure presenting content we come across in our doom scrolling.