Entitled or A Necessity? Brand Sponsorships and Etiquette in Media

Brand deals. Sponsorships. Doing more for the views.

In today's age of influencer drama, the same mindset seems to prevail: don't be a beggar for that brand.

It's essential to keep in mind that influencer marketing, as a whole, is entirely new.

The first resurgence of influencer marketing was in the early 2000s, during the MySpace era.

With the rise of platforms like Rednote competing with TikTok, big-time creators are scrambling to get noticed by any means necessary due to the ever-changing media landscape.

The latest influencer under fire is a lifestyle food reviewer/classroom teacher.

Why the backlash? What happened? Let's break it down to the primary key facts without calling folks out, which we do in these blogs on media impact.

1. Teachers are underpaid and overworked, so many choose to have a side hustle as a media influencer online.

2. Many teacher influencers have more than millions of followers, gaining them recognition and deals with top brands.

3. The current mindset in brand advertisements is that even these types of folks should never ask to be welcomed to the Super Bowl, a brand-paid trip, or even free stuff. (Such a request is a guaranteed way to lose followers and trust in the audience.)

   To that end, if the consensus is not to ask for brands, how does one do so without seeming like a sell-out?

   
   

   (Does anyone even remember the Pink Sauce Lady?)

From a users' perspective, it seems like a lose-lose situation. The problem is not with them, the All-Seeing Brands, but with you.

What is the solution to this ongoing problem?

First, that particular influencer and many influencers before them would have benefited from trying a different approach. Connect with other influencers who share the same content and offer to collaborate on fun ideas. Second, keeping up and personalizing with your organically grown followers would already give you, as the influencer, a leg-up. Thirdly, avoid the "apology" or "continuous lapse in judgment" altogether, and if given extra brand sponsorships, to begin with, give them out to followers as a bonus.

So, let's pass off the question to you, the user. Is asking for brand sponsorships, in this media era of 2025, when many folks are going on spring break trips to hotels, eating out, and participating in food reviews, entitled or necessary to keep yourself interesting?

A little bit of marketing, history, and philosophical questions. We truly give it all to you in these weekend internet deep dives.