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Let me tell you a story of the worst case of corporate "Let's exploit that influencer" I've been personally involved with.
It involves Splay, Hobbex and Airsoft Guns. Let's go!
It involves Splay, Hobbex and Airsoft Guns. Let's go!
In 2017, Hobbex decided it would be a great idea to send a number of airsoft guns to a bunch of assholes. Said video did not paint the hobby positively and we counted around twenty different safety violations - not to mention they carried them in public. https://www.airsoft.nu/nyheter/2017/10/20/videon-sonderskjuten-av-airsoft-fran-randommakingmovies/
At first, Hobbex seemed to back down but then recanted and said they would not alter a thing. The movie is still available in uncut format. Of course, this did not endear them to the Airsoft community so they considered trying to make amends.
So they involved Splay to create an airsoft event. Me - as an airsoft reviewer and "neutral" personality was approached alongside the site http://Airsoft.nu to provide instruction.
At first, their idea was to host an airsoft game with influencers on both team but this idea got scrapped, most likely it would been too expensive. I then tried to create something along the line of "airsoft three-gun". They listened to about half of it but not the rest of it.
When they pitched their final idea, it was inspired by our suggestions but far from it. We had suggested a more professional setup but tried to give what advice we could. My notes reflect this. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uw0sIUSIl2aZW64PuxSkRrTa6z9wT_ZSVzemL4P2Rlg/edit?usp=sharing
We then started to discuss compensation and it is here Splay started to get truly vile. They offered us at most 500 SEK in a Hobbex Gift Card and this I rejected out of hand. They then said that our input was "part of our compensation".
They then said that their sales video for Hobbex was "about showing airsoft as a cool hobby". Essentially they wanted us to shill for Hobbex to show Hobbex had learned. The problem is they had not. They still treated the community with disdain.
So at this point I backed out. Just said "no, I refuse to be involved any longer".
The final production was exactly as cringe as I feared it would be. Trust me when I me and my co-worker at http://Airsoft.nu could have made this video into something far better and far more professional.
My own Airsoft videos can be found here. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN6sdiftf4h_SpKyjpfwWKLQcJ5QYWxtp
Bonus content: My entire list of complaints against the original video.
