Why unboxing videos are a moral problem.
Objectives
In this project, the main objectives are to increase the number of people who are aware of the nuances that unboxing videos have in relations to promotional culture. To gauge the impact, a moderate number of meaningful comments will be monitored. Around thirty comments would be ideal. This is because comments are closer to a two-way form of communication between the viewer and the creator of the video. At least compared to views, click-throughs and likes. The second most important achievement is a reasonable number of shares. Sharing the video shows real interest, because the viewer must go out of their way to show it to their peers.
Target audiences
The primary target audience would be parents of young kids, who could be affected by their children asking for toys. Their kids would see the toys other kids endorse in unboxing videos and then pressure the parents to buy them, which in turn increases the toy producer’s profits. I would assume parents of kids aged 3 – 5 would be around 25 – 35 years old themselves. It is assumed that moms would be probably going to be more sympathetic to this cause.
Secondary target audiences would be teachers, day-care workers, babysitters. Anyone who works with young children as their occupation should be concerned about unboxing videos. The age range will be very large as there are multiple groups in this category of people.
Emerging audiences probably would-be like-minded people who would build from this campaign into more physical actions, like lobbying for new legislations to be passed regarding social media platforms, with unboxing videos being used as evidence.
Opponents would be upcoming and existing child influencer groups and their sponsors. Influencer groups would be highly opposed to the message trying to be conveyed in this video. They usually consist of parents of young kids who they would mould into an online influencer.
Tactic
The main tactics that will he used is an educational styled though leadership video posted on Facebook and Jacdigital. The key things to consider for the video would be: resource percurrent as in where will I stock footage/music, and then working with editing software and finally publishing the finished video. TikTok will not be used, as I wanted to challenge myself with a Junkee styled video.
Goal
The main message that needs to be taken away is that unboxing videos have more nuances in relations to promotional culture. Such as the moral dilemma of having kids promote toys made by big companies to other kids. Did they consent to being the equivalent of an advertisement for the toy? Are their reactions genuine or are their parents being paid to tell them what to do?
The main point would ideally be discussed with peers that also have kids around the age of 3 – 5 that are also influenced by unboxing videos. They should talk about whether it is a good idea to let kids watch the unboxing videos and indirectly making profit for the toy companies. They would also have to figure out how to prevent their kids from accessing the videos if they are already hooked.
The main change of behaviour would be the framing of the unboxing videos themselves. They are not harmless for their kids to watch, as there is an incentive for profit and exploitation. The notion that unboxing is the kid’s job, as they unbox hundreds of toys per annum and then their family posts the videos on all their social media to gain a profit themselves. Both in social media ‘hits’ and in the monetary gains from the video themselves. There is no way for the viewers to know of the kid’s consent or if they are being paid or anything. Legislation needs to change, but first people’s view on the issue must change.
Evaluation metrics
The effectiveness of the video will be determined mainly by comments and shares. Likes, click-throughs, and views also will be monitored but not to the same standard as comments and shares. Ideally the video will go viral, but more realistically, the expectation is for the values to not reach very high if the video wasn’t in a partnership with a big brand or influencer. Without backing, the assumption would be around a hundred views, and a like number in the double digits. Shares and comments would most likely be lower than that, without a backing.