Child "Influencers" (Exploitation)

[Nancykitt]

I keep on seeing jumping kids that are jumping higher and higher but actually they don't really have the muscle control to prevent the weight of their head flinging them around like a ragdoll, but everyone raves about how amazing the little cherub is.

This. I've seen videos of small children jumping big fences on very big (ie, much too big for the child) horses. I don't see how leg aids can come into it based on the position of the legs and I felt sure that the horse was largely on autopilot. I have to say that I admire the confidence it takes to do this but to be honest I've seen some similar aged riders on suitably sized ponies actually 'ride' the pony into a fence/round a course, which I actually find more impressive from a riding skill point of view. And I can see that anyone pointing this out is likely to be totally blasted for being horrible to a cute child.
All those saying that parents are the real problem here - I agree 100%. In music teaching we often came across children who were clearly gifted and in some cases the parents totally ruined things for them. One case that I remember, the mother was obviously living her own fantasy of fame through the child, who was clearly uneasy about being paraded at every opportunity. One day the (then) teenager refused to play again and walked away from the recitals & publicity. The mother was broken, but the child (autistic/ADHD) was vulnerable and shouldn't really have been put through something they weren't happy with.

Years ago one of my former pupils at school auditioned for a temporary role in Coronation St - it was made permanent and I think he's still in it now. The whole thing was handled well by the agents and the parents. However, we didn't have social media back in the day and the potential for things to go horribly wrong would have been massive.

I am totally repulsed by the thought of a parent setting up a paid content channel involving a child. At best, it's incredibly naive. At worst, it's simply abuse.

 

[vam]

I have no time for child influencers or more importantly, their parents. Everyday eventers got real crap from certain influencers followers for voicing her opinion on the matter, their followers have a tendency to be a bit rabid when people dont idolise them like they do and disagree with children's lives being plastered over the internet, especially when they are ill and are shown in hospital being very low. I refuse to give them any air time and watch their content, but all the time people do, brands will pay them, more people will watch them and the cycle continues. Brands are equally to blame and need to have a good look at their ethics around child influencers and realise the more they gift etc the harder that child has to work. Putting a video online might not seem like work, but it is and that child has to constantly produce the 'goods' in order to be paid.
And dont get me started on undisclosed ads etc and child meet and greets!

 

[Char.barker]

Until kids are protected to same as they would be if they where an actor they should mot be on public monetised social media. From what I’ve see kids can be yanked out of school purely to film vlogs or promotional content for brands. Yes the parents may be fined and if they don’t have a private tutor then that kid is loosing out just because their greedy parents want to earn themselves money. Or they can be made to put on a performance after school singing the praises of a product the parent has been paid to advertise. Then theres the whole other issue of kids who are disabled or have additional needs having all their information plastered on the internet for anyone to see. If you have a teen who has developmental delays and is more like a 6 year old how can they give consent to be online?

 

[Matafleur]

There’s a number of screenshots from the nyp article in this thread

https://twitter.com/x/status/1876006425148940387

I couldn't watch all of the video and found myself just skim reading the thread because the reality of the contents is pretty horrifying. I simply can't understand why any parent would make their child so very available online. The child influencer stuff makes me deeply uncomfortable, I barely even post pictures of my child to my locked down FB account.

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

A few of the celebrities I follow on FB (who of course don't need the money) actually cover their children's faces in photos which I applaud, Nico Rosberg for example, and Tom Daley said in his autobiography how he always made sure any photos he posted of Robbie were not facing the camera until he was old enough to decide if he wanted to be published or not

 

[Fjord]

There's a cat FB group i follow where the child always has an emoji over their face. They feature in the photos but you couldn't recognise them, I think it's a good way to do it.

 

[Cobxfan55]

There's a cat FB group i follow where the child always has an emoji over their face. They feature in the photos but you couldn't recognise them, I think it's a good way to do it.

That sounds incredible safe to do if there is a child involved in the picture I have seen that happen on instagram but some I have don't do that but some older children do it but not everyone does

 

[Muddywellies]

Good point, It's not really child influencers though? It's parents pushing their kids hard via social media? At least the ones I am thinking of. I wonder how much revenue goes to the kids instead of the parents. .

They do. And then big equestrian companies take them on and they become the face of their product.

I have no time for child influencers or more importantly, their parents. Everyday eventers got real crap from certain influencers followers for voicing her opinion on the matter, their followers have a tendency to be a bit rabid when people dont idolise them like they do and disagree with children's lives being plastered over the internet, especially when they are ill and are shown in hospital being very low. I refuse to give them any air time and watch their content, but all the time people do, brands will pay them, more people will watch them and the cycle continues. Brands are equally to blame and need to have a good look at their ethics around child influencers and realise the more they gift etc the harder that child has to work. Putting a video online might not seem like work, but it is and that child has to constantly produce the 'goods' in order to be paid.
And dont get me started on undisclosed ads etc and child meet and greets!

These meet and greets baffle me. What on earth do they have to say ???

 

[Bobthecob15]

They do. And then big equestrian companies take them on and they become the face of their product.

These meet and greets baffle me. What on earth do they have to say ???

Not a lot! Mine has done several at various horse events, most of the kids just smile for a photo while the parent stands out of the way watching. Harlow has absolutely nothing to say!