Listen,, Dan and Phil are a brand. A brand is an image or an identity. That is something that they chose for their career. Ever since they started their radio show, they have been working into building that brand name with the “Dan and Phil” games, “Dan and Phil” shop, Internet Takeover with “Dan and Phil”. Most successful youtubers have brands, There’s Smosh for Anthony and Ian. there’s Zoella for Zoe Sugg. There’s Tyler Oakley for Tyler Oakley. They all have individual identities that comprise their channels, identities that attribute to them, their qualities and their videos. A brand does not automatically mean they’re not genuine.
Now, whether or not Dan and Phil are sellouts or money hungry is a completely different thing despite how the term “brand” sounds. Let’s look at the definition of a sellout. Sellout is an informal term for a person who compromises his or her personal values, integrity, or the like for money or personal advancement. Dan and Phil as a brand, as a business, need to earn money. They do spons once in a while like Krave and EE. They have a book coming out and a tour beginning soon after. They made an app over a challenge tag that Phil started on YouTube. Selling out means completely throwing their morals out the window for money right? Krave is a fucking cereal. A fucking cereal that asked them to do these entertaining challenges. The catch for you is to buy the same cereal. A CEREAL. EE is a bit weird i mean Dan and Phil had a sim made for them what but it was free. Its on you if you want to pay for more but it was initially free, To get the random calls and the texts from them, you didn’t have to pay for anything because it was free. They wrote a book, MIND YOU, they themselves WROTE the book together, I’m not gonna say anything more about the book and tour because we don’t have it yet so who’s to say whether or not it’s good. We don’t know if Dan and Phil don’t have a say in how much the book and tour cost or if they objected to it.
And now we have the app, the app is born from a phenomenon that Phil created on YouTube. People complain that its not free and they said it was because they didn’t want there to be gross ads or have us pay a certain amount each time. Dan have said once that this was his view concerning apps in a live show, that he’d rather pay for it once and enjoy it rather than pay for it little by little every time you run out of time. knowing that Dan has said that and did the exact same thing on his app disregards the fact that he’s a sellout because he didn’t compromise his morals for money, he agrees with it. The book and the app are tools to expand the brand, tools to be more creative and make use of the success that they have. unlike some YouTubers who use their success to sell products they don’t even use on their videos, making their videos look more of an advertisement rather than an actual creative video, Dan and Phil are far from that.
And saying that Dan and Phil does not need more money are not for you to decide. You are a teenager on the internet who google the shirts they wear, see that they work at BBC and assume they are filthy rich. I’m not saying they are not filthy rich, I’m saying you need to stop assuming that you know everything to claim that they are. You are not their bank.
TLDR; Do not say Dan and Phil are “sellouts” then only have “they’re making us pay for an app even though these game developers worked hard on it and deserved to be paid” or “their book and tour are overpriced and stupid even though it’s not out yet and we shouldn’t have finalized judgments” or “they do spons even though they do them RARELY while other youtubers throw audible at your face and swears by using an HTC phone even though they’re an iPhone user because HTC is paying them” as your argument. Having a brand does not mean you are in it for the money, despite how it sounds. You cannot say that Dan and Phil cannot earn money because you simply don’t know their financial situations and seeing as this is their job, they are bound to be paid. Don’t echo what everyone else is saying without valid arguments. Think rationally for yourself.