A fellow classmate Min Young wrote a blog post on so called “YouTube Stars” using their YouTube channels to sell products which they are sponsored by, or even their own line of products.

As Min Young mentioned in her post, one example would be Michelle Phan. She has her own line of cosmetics launched called EM Cosmetics. Now in most of her videos she tries to find a way to “sell” her product line. Before this, she used to be a Lancome makeup artist, so she only used Lancome products in her videos. Personally, I don’t think there is anything wrong with it.

First off, fame can be an asset. There are many YouTube stars who promote their own business through their videos to their subscribers. If their subscribers are unhappy, then they can unsubscribe. In most cases, they don’t unsubscribe. Usually a loyal fan will support their favourite YouTube star with their business. For some, YouTube is their “job” and main source of income for some YouTube stars. There are many famous singers nowadays who started off their career by making videos of songs on YouTube, and sold sound tracks through their channels.

People like Michelle Phan can use her “fame” to start a business for her own good. Alternatively, there are people like Clara C, a YouTube musician, who promotes World Vision to her subscribers just as Michelle Phan promotes her own brand. These two have different intentions in their marketing : one wants to make money, the other just wants to spread the word for a good cause. Either way, they have one purpose and that is to be a YouTube content generator and to continuously maintain their fame.

Here, Clara C sings “Nayelli”, as song she wrote about her World Vision sponsor child from Honduras.

Ultimately, although we may not notice in our day to day activities, we are exposed to similar types of marketing. Embedded Marketing, also known as PPL or product placement, is very common in any sort of media we come across. For example, American Idol slaps the audience in the face with Coca Cola by having the logo in the cup obviously visible. That can of Coke isn’t there by a mistake : it’s all there so audience will want to buy the product due to exposure.