IShowSpeed goes Baltic
American influencer IShowSpeed has made appearances in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania as part of a PR campaign for the Baltic states. In Riga he met with politicians and former president Raimonds Vējonis, with whom he jumped around on the platform of the country's Freedom Monument, before appearing with officials in Lithuania. Commentators who are not among his 40 million YouTube followers are baffled.
Influencers doing PR for politicians
Latvijas Avīze reflects on influencers and their impact on the modern world:
“Speed's appearance has demonstrated that vigorous global activity aimed at a young audience and 40 million followers are a force to be reckoned with, even for politicians. ... Politicians try to use people like Speed to advance their own interests (to attract investments and tourism, for example), but in Latvia in particular, Speed managed to make our officials adopt his form of expression. We can only be grateful that former president Raimonds Vējonis didn't get down on all fours on the Freedom Monument platform and try to outdo Speed in a barking competition.”
Not worth the time or money
For Kauno diena, the event was a complete waste of money:
“The 20-year-old was invited to put on a Lithuanian T-shirt and drink a glass of šaltibarščiai [cold beet soup]. Lithuanian Economy Minister Linas Savickas himself (who is normally by no means dumb) enthusiastically followed suit. It was supposed to be good PR for Lithuania because IShowSpeed has 40 million followers. ... Well, first of all, any sensible person knows that you don't slurp soup out of a glass. Secondly, only 115,000 fans watched the live stream of this bizarre spectacle. And thirdly, the main audience for this event consists of minors, in other words, economically inactive people with unclear views and changing requirements. Whichever way you look at it, this performance was not worth the 30,000 euros or the time of everyone involved, including the minister.”
Rewarding mass instead of depth
In an article on the Delfi newssite, communications expert Dainoras Lukas comments:
“The IShowSpeed phenomenon illustrates how our current value system works. In the modern economy, the value of things is not measured by its moral or social significance but by the profit it generates. An influencer can reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers with a single video. This attention-grabbing kick can easily be converted into profit - through advertising, partnerships or product sales. Our system rewards mass instead of depth. While no one sees how one teacher changes the lives of hundreds of children over ten years, everyone sees it immediately when someone hits a ball or posts a funny video.”