It was September 4, 2022 and about 10,000 people were shouting “Beast, beast, beast” in a shopping center in New Jersey, to receive the youtuber with more followers on the planet, ready to inaugurate its first Burger.
MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson his real name) had decided to take advantage of his fame as influencer to launch your business Mr Beast Burgerwith menus prepared in kitchens known as “ghost”who only cook for home sales.
The ambitious adventure quickly went wrong.
At 25 years old, with more than 170 million followers, MrBeast has just sued his associates after receiving bad reviews for the quality of the hamburgers.
“This is the worst hamburger I have ever eaten in my life. It was like swallowing spoonfuls of garlic powder.”claimed a critic in New York.
Such criticisms have been included in the lawsuit filed in a New York court in July.
In retaliation, the catering company, Virtual Dining Concepts, has just filed its own claim for damages and interest against Mr Beast, for $100 million.
Jimmy Donaldson has other tricks up his sleeve, however: Feastables, which offers cookies and cereal bars with chocolate.
The food industry, which moves billions of dollars around the world, is a tempting gold mine for these stars of social networks.
In Spain, Carlos Ríos is a nutritionist with 1.6 million followers on Instagram who quickly launched his own brand of food, as an alternative to ultra-processed products.
In the United States, another successful case is Logan Paul, a muscular YouTuber who sells his own brand of energy drinks.
“Many YouTubers create a community of loyal fans thanks to their apparently close relationship with their audience”, explains Vince Miller, from the University of Kent, in Great Britain.
MrBeast’s legal problems are ‘a sign to many others’influencers‘”, explains Jess Flack, founder of specialty marketing agency Ubiquitous.
“The whole career of someone like MrBeast is based on his reputation”, insists.
Take care of the reputation
The phenomenon of stars launching their own brands is almost as old as the very origins of cinema, art, or music.
The Spanish painter Salvador Dalí made marketing one of his great sources of income. Actor George Clooney has his own brand of tequila, and Paul Newman launched his own line of cooking sauces.
But Mr Beast “He is not an actor or a singer who can return to his career” if their businesses fail, warns this analyst.
A bad review is devastating for someone who only sells their image, or their opinions.
According to Forbes, this young man earned US$ 54 million in 2021. His earnings are reinvested in videos that surprise for his careful production.
His videos are followed religiously by millions of young people, such as the most recent “Seven days adrift”, in which MrBeast and various friends are filmed as castaways at sea.
The first episode managed to gather 46 million visitors.
In Spain or Latin America, cooking or gastronomy videos enjoy enormous popularity, although for the moment the phenomenon has not translated into large commercial operations such as realfooding.com, by Carlos Ríos.
The vast majority of cooking bloggers or youtubers in Spanish propose homemade recipes from the shopping cart of their followers. And the smartest, cookbooks that can be bought later on Amazon.
Source: AFP
Source: Gestion
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
