“I think it depends on the celebrity and the sponsorship honestly, not everyone who gets sponsored has something nice to say, if that makes sense? I’ve had sponsorships from some art brands before and some of them are really the ‘Make us look good no matter what’ sponsorships- wich I tend not to take- but alot of them just want you to try out their products on screen and be honest about them, wich is good because not every deal I’ve gotten is for great products,”
Pausing, spoon hovering over her curry for a moment, she considered how she wanted to phrase her words
“I think there are ways to be ethical about it, you just have to.. not be a jerk? You’re paying for someone to talk about you so you should let them decide what to say- atleast that’s my opinion, but make sure to aim for not only the right content, but the right person, aim for someone who’s generally positive and uplifting instead of someone who’s more critical, someone who just has nice things to say about everyone and everything because then even if they hate your food, they’ll still probably say something nice like ‘Curry is too spicy for me but everyone who loves spice should try it’ and still be honest, those types of people have audiences who are really receptive to niceness and gentle attitudes so they have to be really carefull not to be mean or bitter or overly critical of something or they’ll get yelled at- I speak from experience- plus they probably would feel too guilty about hurting your feelings to say anything negative anyway,”
Again speaking from experience, Lily rarely said anything critical in her videos of… well, anything… but on the rare occassion that something obscenely minor had come up, she had always felt terrible for it
“Oh, definitely stay away from mommy bloggers,” she snorted, scooping up another spoonfull of curry
“Not the right audience, for one thing- you’re literally selling something spicy to people who want things to be bland, and that’s not me being mean, I mean it literally, alot of women have permenant changes to their food preferences after pregnancy and spicy things are one of the first to hit the ‘nope’ list, for acid reflux reasons too, and kids definitely aren’t going to like spicy things and mommy bloggers are usually marketing a ‘family’ experience- unless it’s about sex- so outside of maybe getting someone to rec your curry for a date night thing, you’re probably casting a net in the wrong ocean, you should aim for young adults who are single or dating, who still like trying new things on a regular basis and who probably react to ‘that’s too spicy for me’ with ‘I’ll eat more and see if I can start crying from it’ rather than ‘damn now I’m going to have acid reflux all night’- urban explorers, adrenaline junkies and stunt vloggers, small time creators like rappers and indie artists who have a big following but don’t have like… sold out concert arenas yet, so they still feel really personable and intimate with their audiences rather than ‘oh look another celebrity doing something fancy’, and maybe instead of a food critic, aim for social media chefs and food artists- you know like people who make sculptures out of crystalized sugar and things like that, you know they’re into food but they’re not going to ruin your reputation if they have a bad time,”
Pausing, she realized just how long she had been talking and immediately started turning red
“I-… I’m so sorry, I’m just… giving tons of unsolicited advice aren’t I?”
Dre listened to the way the woman rambled, propping his chin in his palm and leaning against the counter. She wasn’t wrong, not at all, and the information she was giving would be helpful for marketing when it came to getting new dishes out into the world. “So... perhaps someone like you, and other influencers you know?” he asked. He shook his head, “Not unsolicited, I asked for the advice and I will definitely take it into consideration because you’re right.” He frequents social media, mostly in an idle manner where he peruses different food posts, blogs, or videos on the varying platforms. Even had a passing thought about doing his own cooking videos in his free time, but he feared never being able to have a moment other than short bouts of sleep.
“So, perhaps a social media event, get people to come and try out different foods and welcome their photos, videos, and words trickle into the online spheres. That could definitely be very fun and worthwhile. Would you want to be a part of that, perhaps?”
