Even Hippies Living In Vans Are Shilling For #Brands On Instagram Now

[Reno]

Once, a Volkswagen van represented freedom, the “open road,” a release from the crushing confines of capitalism. The appeal lives on today. Free love! Damn the man! Live on the beach! Feel the ocean breeze blow through your hair! Pose with a bag of Kettle Chips the #brand sent you to hawk on social media! Wait, what?!

READ MORE:  http://jalopnik.com/even-hippies-living-in-vans-are-shilling-for-brands-on-1794423354

 

[Van-Tramp]

Yep, it is all over the place. I get contacted at least once a month (via Facebook usually) by some company wanting to "work together" in some marketing of their product or some new reality TV show coming up, or whatever. Just last week I had a dirt bike sales place contact me with the "you would be a perfect fit for our brand"... except I don't own a bike currently and have never ridden one in my life and nothing about my blog or FB page is about dirt bike riding.

Crazy stuff

 

[Queen]

I think a wave is building, a whole lot of younger people are seeing the dead end road "normal" life represents and are trying their damndest, with the tools they have, to break free. But they all still live in fear and think they need millions to walk away... companies know this and do their best to exploit it.

 

[Gary68]

like,subscribe,paypal,patreon

 

[Wabbit]

If someone offered to cover costs and pay me, that's a job I can live with! For me, it would be better to be on the road making money than to be in a house making money in a factory or worse yet, retail!

 

[DuneElliot]

I guess I don't see the difference between what they are doing and any other job on the road. I can see the pseudo-hypocrisy, but they are still doing it to make an income while living a life they love. What is the difference between them and travel writers or bloggers?

 

[lenny flank]

I got approached once by a TV production company that was thinking about doing a "van living" show.

I told them bluntly that van living is mostly boring, and they would get no TV "drama" from it unless they created it artificially (by staging confrontations with people/cops/whatever).

 

[BradKW]

I'm pretty sure the author of that piece spends much of his time as a YouTube comments Troll. Aside from being a 3rd rate faux journalism job, I found his premise to intellectually dishonest and hypocritical.

IMO there is absolutely nothing wrong with, contradictory about, or hypocrital regarding the ways nomads use sponsorship to fund their travels. They author is just jealous and it shows.

 

[GotSmart]

I for one will not give that link any traffic. 

 

[slynne]

Haw. I saw a super cute VW bus painted in paisley with a small Bank of Ann Arbor logo painted on the back. It just seemed so fitting for Ann Arbor. I love A2 but it really is full of very wealthy white extra well-educated liberal people who think they are hippies because they wear birkenstocks and buy organic produce at the farmer's market.

I just assumed that the bank owned the little bus but somehow I like it better if it is a sponsorship. Let A2's crunchy elite fund someone's actual bohemian lifestyle.

Also, as someone who likes birkenstocks and fresh veggies from the farmer's market and who is particularly fond of paisley, I can honestly say if I see that van for sale, I would buy it in a minute even if it meant pooping in a bucket and freezing with no insulation on my nomadic adventures.

 

[Travelmonkey]

3 or 4 of the YouTubers I follow all posted reviews on a new weboost (?) product (a cell phone signal booster) within a day or two of each other. I think it is a good marketing strategy for the product and I assume a free product and/or cash payment for the vlogger. Win, win in my opinion.

As a consumer, I still do my due dillegence and research from a couple of places, though...

 

[DuneElliot]

I actually considered approaching my home town's tourist office to see if they would be interested in paying a monthly stipend for me to have a small banner ad on the back of my RV. If I could make enough money putting ads on my RV to travel and not have to work, I would do it in a heartbeat...but most of them don't pay enough and I'm not wanting to have my camper covered in 50 different ads.

 

[jonsun]

the only way, or the number one way, to win any kind of legitimacy and 'rights' in this country with some burgeoning means of alternative living is to commercialize it. So there's that.

 

[Queen]

Pretty soon some enterprising company will come up with a full #vanlife package.  Complete with van, gear, hip vanlife branded clothing, maps, and full coordinates to the out of the way places where you can meet up with other free spirits... on the weekend until you go back to your full time job and s&b place. Only $125,000, in 70 easy payments.

 

[frater secessus]

3 or 4 of the YouTubers I follow all posted reviews on a new weboost (?) product (a cell phone signal booster) within a day or two of each other.  I think it is a good marketing strategy for the product and I assume a free product and/or cash payment for the vlogger.  Win, win in my opinion.

And then they could turn around and have a drawing to give away the reviewed product to their subscribers.

I listen closely when Technomadia review comms products.  If getting freebies means more reviews then more power to them.  No normal 'dweller could afford to buy all that gear just to review it.  As you say, win-win.

 

[frater secessus]

I actually considered approaching my home town's tourist office to see if they would be interested in paying a monthly stipend for me to have a small banner ad on the back of my RV. 

One YTer reported a BLM ranger (?) took issue with his company logo being on the RV on public land.  Ranger cited a "no advertising" rule.  I don't know if that is actually a rule or not, but might make a magnetic ad preferable over a sticker.

 

[highdesertranger]

also advertising gets you closer to being a commercial vehicle, drawing the scrutiny of the commercial LEO's. highdesertranger

 

[DuneElliot]

One YTer reported a BLM ranger (?) took issue with his company logo being on the RV on public land.  Ranger cited a "no advertising" rule.  I don't know if that is actually a rule or not, but might make a magnetic ad preferable over a sticker.

It would have been an magnetic ad if I'd gone that route.

And advertising on an RV shouldn't get any more notice or scrutiny as a commercial vehicle or cause more problems than those vehicle wraps you see or the rented RVs with the company's name and number scrawled across every available space on the fiberglass.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Magnetic signs don't work well on fiberglass. I know most companies that pay people for ads on their cars also want to be the one to have it installed on your vehicle. They know if they paid people for magnetic signs, they'd just be taken off 100 yds down the road.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Just to clear up my original comment.......I don't care that people make money on youtube, I think it's great if someone can beat the traditional system and make a living doing what they love whether it be videos, advertising or whatever method they figure out. Who wouldn't love hitting the road with steady stream of income. I more had an issue with the ones that do it and then complain or get an attitude when people watch their videos for free.