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Gabrielle Holland

Cultural Media Literacy

Phillips

20 May 2018

YouTube’s Golden Boys

“When I grow up I want to: move to LA, meet Logan and Jake Paul… be a YouTuber.”

Mimicor Life tweeted earlier this month. The twitter account, presumably run by a young fan, is a

shrine to Logan and Jake Paul; it features a link to Logan’s merch, they retweet everything the

brothers’ tweet, and the description of the account is, “I love Logan Paul… Be a Maverick!”

(@MiaMoli97199262). The tweet’s sentiment isn’t rare; to many, the Paul brothers are inspiring

and sought-after. However, despite their large following, they might not be the best role models

for kids to follow. The Paul brothers glamorize success by manipulating their youthful audiences

into thinking that YouTube fame is easily attainable, and it is negatively impacting them by

following poor role models who set them up for failure and (arguably) steal money from them.

Jake and Logan Paul are brothers and social media sensations; between the two, they

have over 28 million subscribers on YouTube (Chen). They are known for prank videos and

their faux-rivalry online, in which they “roast” the other through rap music. Hailing from Ohio, the

two boys made their break on Vine, a now-defunct app that opened many doors for them. "We

were working with brands and advertisers. I was, like, 17 years old, making more money than

my parents" (Chen). Both Paul’s moved to YouTube once Vine lost popularity and Jake started

his own talent-seeking company, Team 10. Despite several scandals, Logan is making up to $4

million a year, and Jake likely double that (“Jake Paul”; “Logan Paul Vlogs”; “The Official Logan

Paul”). Recently, Jake has begun another business, Edfluence, where he sells lessons on

becoming a social media star.

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For many young adults, YouTube has become a dream job. In fact, a recent poll taken

found that “one in 3 British children age 6 to 17 told pollsters last year that they wanted to

become a full-time YouTuber. That is three times as many as those who wanted to become a

doctor or a nurse” (Bloomberg). With ad revenue and brand deals, being a Youtuber can be a

sustainable career for some, but recent data analysis’ has shown that making the amount of

money the Paul brother’s make is rare. According to Mathias Bärtl, a professor at the Offenburg

University of Applied Sciences, 96.5 percent of all of those trying to become YouTubers will not

make enough money off of ad revenue to break the U.S. poverty line. Even gaining enough

exposure to earn the subscribers necessary to be eligible for monetization (qualifications for ad

revenue include having at least 1,000 subscribers) is extremely hard; in 2016, the top

YouTubers received 9 in every ten views. The bottom 85 percent of those who started posting in

2016 got a maximum of 458 views per month (Bloomberg). It can be a lucrative career, but a

tough one to achieve, despite what some might say.

On January 1, 2018, Jake Paul announced on his YouTube channel that he was

launching a website called Edfluence. Edfluence is an online course where kids can learn “how

to do social media.. secrets, tips, and tricks, how to be a YouTuber, how to grow your channel

[sic]” (“Here’s Why 2017”). For a small initial charge of $7, viewers can receive a sample of the

online course and a sales pitch similar to the one he gave in his announcement video; after

showing off his McLaren and his $7 million mansion, he promises viewers that “if you’re a kid

out there like I was, trying to start my social media career, you can become successful too [sic]”

(“I Joined Team 10”). After baiting his interested audience with his wealth, he finishes his spiel

by reminding them that “the steps in this really aren’t that hard- we’ve done the hard part of

figuring out how to do this. So if you can’t follow the roadmap, then there’s just no chance that

you’ll make it into Team 1,000, or even maybe as a social influencer [sic]” (“I Joined Team 10”).

The blatant manipulation of his young audience would not be so bad if, after his speech, he did

not ask them for another $57 to unlock the rest of the videos. None of the information he offers
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in his course is a secret- much of it is common knowledge (like the fact that the YouTube

algorithm favors videos over ten minutes long) to people who watch YouTube frequently. To

young fans who idolize Jake and his brother, however, this $67 course represents a chance at a

job that everyone dreams of and a lifestyle that everybody covets. He even alludes to the

chance of joining “Team 1,000”, an elite group that is not defined and, as of May, does not exist,

despite the website being up for several months. Jake creates the false narrative that YouTube

success is easily attainable with his course and hard work, and then he scams his eager

audience of their money by selling information that is public knowledge.

A poll researching various generations on the pressure to succeed done in 2016 by

Inc.com found that over 60% of Millennials who participated reported feeling “extreme pressure

to succeed.” (Curtin). Those numbers top the 40% reported by Generation X, and the 23% by

the Boomers. Millennials have immersed themselves in technology, and many cited social

media as a source of pressure to perform well early on. When people see, for instance, Logan

Paul living in a mansion at age 23, it is difficult not to feel like a disappointment for still being in

college and not being a CEO. Although there are no studies that examine Gen Z and their

relationship with success, using the rising trend in the data above it can be theorized that they

feel even more pressure than Millennials do. The primary source of stress reported was social

media, and Gen Z is more engaged with it than any other generation, Millennials included.

Unlike their older peers, Gen Z children have always been surrounded by technology and the

negative influences that come with it. They’ve grown up watching their idols- whether it be the

Paul brothers or Kylie Kardashian or Cameron Dallas- all reach stardom at a young age, and it

has skewed their perception of what usual success looks like. Samuel L. Jackson didn’t star in a

movie until after the age of 40, yet Millennials and Gen Z alike would consider themselves

failures if they weren’t prospering in their career by their late 20’s (Curtin). How are teenagers

and young adults supposed to fare when their YouTube channels fail to become as famous as
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the Paul brothers? As explored above, in reality the likelihood of reaching their popularity is slim,

but Jake emphasized in his video that becoming YouTube famous is attainable with hard work.

Although Logan Paul isn’t trying to sell his audience a fantasy directly, he’s debatably a

worse role model than his brother. After filming a crass video in the Aokigahara forest where he

showed a dead body, he faced backlash from the general public and the management at

Youtube, ultimately resulting in the suspension of video monetization and his removal from the

Google Preferred Ads program (Hartmans). Despite the vocal disapproval and national scorn,

he gained 81,000 subscribers in the aftermath of the scandal. As Morobito pointed out in her

article, the “thing about stunts (is), in the internet age: they work,” and Logan is a prime example

of that (Morobito). Even Jake admitted it in one of his Edfluence videos; the way to succeed on

YouTube is through shock value. People are drawn to things that will make them react, which is

why clickbait has become such a pervasive part of media.

The Paul brothers are two of the most popular influencers on YouTube, and they’re the

role models that children are looking to: irreverent boys who will do almost anything for views

and who are willing to sacrifice morals for entertainment value. They glamorize success and

manipulate their viewers by pretending that their fame is readily achievable, and their young

audience is suffering for it. They’re following poor role models who set them up for failure and

rob them of their money.

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Works Cited

@MiaMoli97199262. "When I grow up I want to: 1. move to LA 2. Meet Logan and Jake Paul,

Lele pons, Rudy Mancusco, bredan north, Lydia Kenney 3. Travel the world (like Logan)

4. be a Youtuber. 5. Be a model". Twitter. 19 May 2018, 6:59 PM.

https://twitter.com/MiaMoli97199262/status/998020273709314048\

Bloomberg. "Why 'Success' on YouTube Still Means Poverty". Fortune. 27 Feb. 2018.

http://fortune.com/2018/02/27/youtube-success-poverty-wages/

Chen, Joyce. “Logan and Jake Paul: Everything You Need to Know About YouTube Megastars.”

Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 3 Jan. 2018,

www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/logan-and-jake-paul-everything-you-need-to-know-w

514886.

Curtin, Melanie. "Why Millennials Should Stop Trying to Be Successful... Immediately". Inc. 27

Apr. 2016. https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/why-millennials-feel-more-pressure-to

-succeed-than-any-other-generation.html

Hartmans, Avery. "The rise of Logan Paul, the 22-year-old millionaire who has 20 million

followers-and keeps royally upsetting YouTube". Business Insider. 9 Feb. 2018.

http://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-logan-paul-2018-2

“Here’s Why 2017 Was The Best Year of My Life.” YouTube, uploaded by Jake Paul, 1 Jan.

2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCUyV3eBilg

"I Joined Team 10 So You Don't Have To.” YouTube, uploaded by Drew Gooden,

19 Jan 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz7UgBP-m7w&t=1037s

“Jake Paul”. Social Blade. https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/jakepaulproductions/.

"Logan Paul Vlogs". Social Blade.

https://socialblade.com/youtube/channel/UCG8rbF3g2AMX70yOd8vqIZ

Morabito, Angela. "Logan Paul's latest YouTube stugnt and the worst of Generation Z".

Washington Examiner. 9 Jan. 2018. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/logan-pauls

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-latest-youtube-stunt-and-the-worst-of-generation-z

“The Official Logan Paul”. Social Blade.

https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/theofficialloganpaul