There has been a lot of conversation online about “brand trips” — sponsored vacations that influencers take and share online. In this episode of ITK: Behind the Screens, our host, Niamh Adkins (@niamhadkins), uncovers the truth behind these trips.
“If you’ve spent any time online, you’ve probably seen your favorite influencers going on these luxurious brand-sponsored trips. And we’re going to be taking a peak behind the curtain,” TK says. “What are these brand trips really about? And why are so many of them stirring up so much conversation in that comment section?”
To get her questions answered, Niamh speaks with Time Magazine reporters Mariah Espada (@mariahespada) and Moises Mendez II (@moisesfenty). The duo are experts in all things internet culture.
Explain it to me like I’m five. What is a brand trip?
Mariah: “The simplest term is a mutually beneficial exchange between an influencer and a company. The exchange is luxurious, one-of-a-kind excursions or destinations and trips in exchange for the likeness of that creator getting involved.”
Moises: “Influencers are walking advertisements, so they know their reach and their followers and what that power is. So they get a lot of engagements; they’re getting a lot more reach than a traditional ad could do.”
What are the biggest controversies that you have noticed in this space?
Moises: “Boy, is there a lot. There have been a bunch of trips. There have been some at Coachella. There’s been trips to Turks and Caicos, to Dubai, to Miami, to all these different places where some of them go off without a hitch and there’s no problems whatsoever, that we know of. But there are a lot of these trips where people are talking about the experiences they’ve had, and there’s been inequality that creators have spoken out against, that they feel that they’ve encountered unfairness on the basis of race.”
Mariah: “And within those criticisms, we’re not only seeing allegations of discrimination. We’re also seeing conversations on whether these lavish trips are potentially tone-deaf, coming out of the pandemic [and] being in this economic downturn that we’re in. We’re seeing conversations about the ethics of transparency. Viewers weren’t really privy to the behind-the-scenes of what’s really going on on these trips. And the controversy comes from a little bit of a shift in creators being a little bit more candid, and quite frankly, viewers wanting a little bit more insight into what the world of a brand trip is.”
Hear more of what Mariah and Moises know about brand trips and the controversies surrounding them in the latest installment of ITK: Behind the Screens.
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Here’s the truth behind ‘brand trips’ and why influencers attend them
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