Influencers

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stormox

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I am wondering what people think of (and do they follow?) Any social media influencers who post videos of their really young children - 6, 7, 8 years old riding and winning.
Are the children even consulted?
Theres one lady posts rounds of her really young daughter show jumping with a different fancy jacket, matching saddle cloth and blingy hat every week, admittedly the kid is good but is it really right?
The American rodeo kids too, some are very young to get this much exposure on SM.
How will this "fame" affect them in later life?
 
I know one really well. She uses both her daughters, full face in view, names spoken and identifiable partial address in the title of the blog. She has told the story of the journey of one of the children's autism, which is bad enough for her to attend a special school, and the girls' ups and downs in PC competitions.

I share exactly the same worries as you and I'm not even sure it should be legal to exploit your children for money and gifts in that way.

I have a suspicion from something a friend said she said about me that she reads this forum, so I don't expect this post will go down very well, but I think it's a serious issue.
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I feel really uncomfortable with some of it. I won't follow/like any of of them as I don't wanted be counted in their numbers.
The kids involved seem very happy to be fair but I just wonder if it's unnecessary pressure
 
ycbm said:
I know one really well. She uses both her daughters, full face in view, names spoken and identifiable partial address in the title of the blog. She has told the story of the journey of one of the children's autism, which is bad enough for her to attend a special school, and the girls' ups and downs in PC competitions.

I share exactly the same worries as you and I'm not even sure it should be legal to exploit your children for money and gifts in that way.

I have a suspicion from something a friend said she said about me that she reads this forum, so I don't expect this post will go down very well, but I think it's a serious issue.
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It makes me feel sick tbh. It definitely should be illegal, just as it should be illegal to make TV programmes about children who are not old enough to give informed consent.
 
ycbm said:
I have just checked and a recent post showed multiple children competing at Pony Club in the video. I thought there were laws or at least PC rules about filming other people's kids?
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Not really, unless they are in certain situations, such as undressed. If you are in a public place, including, I believe, a public footpath, you can photograph anything that you can see and publish those photos. On private property it's a different story.
 
There’s this three year old little girl, who obviously has a very horsey mum, who’s being pushed out there on social media now. Collaborations with brands, new parcels with sponsored items weekly(ish), lots of focus on what she’s wearing and filming her with the pony. She’s started a YouTube channel too. So obviously trying to get lots of views and followers and while the content is perfectly okay, the cynic in me thinks it’s really odd to observe as I started following her when she only had a couple of hundred followers and now she’s going all in and it seems very orchestrated. The mum’s hinted that she’s buying her a pony (she currently shares one) and no doubt this will be good for the viewer numbers and sponsorship deals.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Not really, unless they are in certain situations, such as undressed. If you are in a public place, including, I believe, a public footpath, you can photograph anything that you can see and publish those photos. On private property it's a different story.
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I'm really shocked Pony Club don't have a rule. If there are any children in the cast of any of the plays we go to see at the local amateur theatre shows the rule is always no photos allowed.

I think publishing video of other people's children for a monetised vlog is completely unacceptable, however inadvertently you filmed them in the background or as members of the the team .
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ycbm said:
I'm really shocked Pony Club don't have a rule. If there are any children in the cast of any of the plays we go to see at the local amateur theatre shows the rule is always no photos allowed.

I think publishing video of other people's children for a monetised vlog is completely unacceptable, however inadvertently you filmed them in the background or as members of the the team .
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Plays are most likely to be produced in a private space. Schools usually ask for parents not to take photos of school productions, in case other people's children are shown. That could be a Safeguarding issue. But legally you can take any photo in a public place.
 
I agree with all of the above but one thing concerns me particularly - if Mum is constantly behind the camera are they really observing their child and its development or are they just making a film of its life? Mind you, I suppose you could say that about many aspects of life today - it seems to be de-rigueur to photograph everything rather than actually experience and think about it.

Obviously, you can hear my old bones rattliing!!!
 
Gamebird said:
Surely 99% of pony club activities take place on private land?
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Not these days GB, at least not in Cheshire.

I don't really see that it matters though, if we're talking about filming other people's children. It should just be a point blank no by the PC, imo.
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Very young riders can be televised if they are competing at national shows.

Children may also they may be interviewed by the venue, or others, if they are placed and again that can be televised or put on FB. A regular at our camps was interviewed by Rosie CEO of BE after winning a BE90 which went on the BE site. She's young but again that seems fair enough. She was delighted!

There is a difference in my view between 'successful competitor' where being filmed/interviwed is just part of the event, espcecially if you win, and being an 'influencer'. I am a lot less keen on the 'behind the scenes' stuff and I loathe anything where the kids have to perform for the camera (Q&A) as opposed to just competing or taking about the competition.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Plays are most likely to be produced in a private space. Schools usually ask for parents not to take photos of school productions, in case other people's children are shown. That could be a Safeguarding issue. But legally you can take any photo in a public place.
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It’s also a copyright thing for the plays themselves. You’re not meant to take pictures of anyone during a performance, not just a safeguarding thing for the kids.
 
I find the 'influencer' stuff very unsettling in general. The result of it seems to be aimed at making money (in the above cases by exploiting children) and causing others with less wealth to become even more dissatisfied/depressed about their own lives. We all know people who make sacrifices to enable their kids to have/share a pony but are needing to do it on a shoestring.

It seems to be another thing that has taken off in this country from America. In regard to children it reminds me of the American mothers who push their children into those 'beauty' pageants at a young age. Some kids like the 'fame' it gives them at the time but many later in life seem to be very adversely affected by the exposure online.
 
Ambers Echo said:
Very young riders can be televised if they are competing at national shows.

Children may also they may be interviewed by the venue, or others, if they are placed and again that can be televised or put on FB. A regular at our camps was interviewed by Rosie CEO of BE after winning a BE90 which went on the BE site. She's young but again that seems fair enough. She was delighted!

There is a difference in my view between 'successful competitor' where being filmed/interviwed is just part of the event, espcecially if you win, and being an 'influencer'. I am a lot less keen on the 'behind the scenes' stuff and I loathe anything where the kids have to perform for the camera (Q&A) as opposed to just competing or taking about the competition.
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I think this is it- it's a bit different when a child is competing/performing (athletes, actors, musicians etc) where there's a clear delineation between their public and private lives.
It seems like a lot of the 'influencer' children don't have the security of knowing that when they leave the stage/arena they're no longer on display.
 
I think the whole thing is toxic and more and more cases of abusive parents forcing their children to be on camera documenting their entire lives for money.

What may start as an innocent venture - Kizzy and Ettie soon turns into something more sinister - pay to watch content, pay to spend time with our children at pony parties. Obviously the latter is aimed at other children joining them and not something darker but it’s still uncomfortable.
 
@ycbm PC absolutely should have a policy on videoing lessons, rallies, comps etc. I know we had policies in place as a PC centre, which were doubly important with those children who were fostered/adopted. I feel people are too quick to slap everything on social media these days.

Remember we had a dad rock up with a 600mm lens once - he soon put it back in his car.
 
Not really. I follow people and their journeys until it’s all endorsement adverts then I unfollow as after that it’s not a journey it’s a business. I don’t follow any accounts that exploit kids in this way.

If putting kids videos and pictures on you feed is earning you money so that you don’t have to work etc then to me that’s exploiting your children. I feel the same with parents that live off of their child’s acting or modelling. If the money earned is going into an account for the child and is on top of the parents earnings then that is certainly different but if your child is the one earning the bread in the house then that to me is a different can of worms altogether.

Just my thoughts
 
teapot said:
@ycbm PC absolutely should have a policy on videoing lessons, rallies, comps etc. I know we had policies in place as a PC centre, which were doubly important with those children who were fostered/adopted. I feel people are too quick to slap everything on social media these days.

Remember we had a dad rock up with a 600mm lens once - he soon put it back in his car.
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Yea, I've not done PC Safeguarding in almost a decade, but I'm sure there was a section on not allowing photoing / videoing when I last did.
 
Gamebird said:
Surely 99% of pony club activities take place on private land?
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I think if everyone has permission you don't have the reasonable right to privacy thing. It would be different if someone was photographing you chilling at home by your pool, for example.
 
Ceifer said:
What may start as an innocent venture - Kizzy and Ettie soon turns into something more sinister - pay to watch content, pay to spend time with our children at pony parties. Obviously the latter is aimed at other children joining them and not something darker but it’s still uncomfortable.
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They came out of pay for content recently on FB. Asked for another pony (gullible folk falling over themselves to offer them), got one and gone again.
 
My most favourite recent one was when an unsuitable pony was purchased, given to charity and a go fund me was set up to purchase the younger child a pony... A suitable pony never appeared but a foal did, who fully grown will be to small for either child...
 
sarcasm_queen said:
It’s also a copyright thing for the plays themselves. You’re not meant to take pictures of anyone during a performance, not just a safeguarding thing for the kids.
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That isn't true in the cases I was writing about. Photos are allowed when it is only the adults in the shows. It is only when children are in the cast that we are asked not to take photos. These are local amateur shows with audiences full of friends and relatives.
 
My daughter watches Harlow.
Harlow actually seems pretty sweet and she obviously loves her ponies but my god the amount of stuff they are given is insane.

She has about 5 or 6 ponies and always wearing the latest le mieux colours as she is sponsored by them.

I Think the problem with all online influencers is that it makes 'normal' seem dull. Before SM your comparables were in your locality and the people you knew, now it's the whole world bragging about what they have.

I do watch Harlow videos with DD and often exclaim how weird it is that her mum is just standing there filming her and her brother.

Just so so odd
 
I made a thread about this a while ago and contacted NSPCC to see what campaign or lobbying work they might be doing on this. They had information on their website for parents to help their children because safe online, but nothing on the impact on children whose parents are plastering them and every waking moment online. They just responded they couldn't help unless a particular child was at risk. Personally I would argue that these children are at risk, but they missed the point I was trying to ask. I ran out of stream to follow it up because life got a bit full on. I do know there was an adult influencer trying to speak out on this.

I would suggest here like I did on that thread, to be mindful of discussing these children and young people by name. It is part of the problem imo. As is watching their content which is absolutely supporting their exploitation.
 
racmun said:
My daughter watches Harlow.
Harlow actually seems pretty sweet and she obviously loves her ponies but my god the amount of stuff they are given is insane.

She has about 5 or 6 ponies and always wearing the latest le mieux colours as she is sponsored by them.

I Think the problem with all online influencers is that it makes 'normal' seem dull. Before SM your comparables were in your locality and the people you knew, now it's the whole world bragging about what they have.

I do watch Harlow videos with DD and often exclaim how weird it is that her mum is just standing there filming her and her brother.

Just so so odd
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not to mention mum sharing the footage of her daughter snapping her ankle!
 
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