I’m morbid as hell, I would unbox this.

A pandemic is sweeping the globe, unemployment numbers are at sky high levels and people have been unable to pay rent for months. This winter there are going to be throngs of people needing to use foodbanks and new places to sleep because they will be evicted from their homes. Do you know what will cheer these people up more than anything else right now? Watching an endless parade of goth ‘influencers’ unboxing all of the free swag that they are sent!

In normal times, meaning before the economic collapse and pandemic, I found such videos to be really, really boring. Why the heck should I find somebody opening a free box of merchandise exciting? Oh wow….you sold your soul to promote the same exact clothes as everybody else. How brave, how daring of you! They will, of course, claim that everything that they are sent fits perfectly and give the impression that their followers will look just as cool and goth if they wear the same brand that they are promoting. These ‘influencers’ are grasping at the low fruit hanging off of the tree of the goth subculture: the fashion.

How self centred and oblivious do you have to be right now to think that sponsored unboxings are the way to go when it comes to content? Seriously, like what the ever living fuck?! If they really cared about the people watching their videos maybe they would do a tiny bit of research and share information about the local and national charities that are helping people right now. Securing food and shelter are way more important right now for a lot of people than buying the latest ‘goth’ fashion items. I have seen tons of people in Facebook groups selling their belongings because they need money to make rent or buy food.

I don’t take issue with the people who are spending their own money and talking about what they have bought, because people can spend their money how they wish. I only take issue with the over the top conspicuous consumption of free swag that is currently happening in the goth vlogging community. I think the best thing to do is not watch them, However, if you do happen upon them maybe give them a piece of your mind. Quite honestly they really need to be made aware of how crass their behaviour is right now.