When Candace Payne, aka the “Chewbacca Mask Mom,” sat in her car last Thursday filming her new
Credit: Candace Payne/YouTube
Payne’s video starts out like every other video in the genre -- she talks about her shopping trip, and is incredibly excited to show the viewer her new purchase -- but after that, the similarities stop. She’s not in a bedroom, but in her car, and Payne isn’t describing multiple purchases, just one. The platform, execution and reception of her vlog has impacted the genre, in quite a few ways.
First, Payne’s video actually went viral among ordinary people, something that doesn’t really happen to other haul and unboxing videos -- not to this extent. While it is true boxing and haul videos by top YouTube vloggers will get a few million views (only!) thanks to the large communities said vlogger has built over the years, no one has ever seen an instant worldwide smash hit like Payne’s video. Grandparents and aunts that don’t even know what a “haul video” is were watching, liking, and sharing Payne’s video.
No one has ever turned on a camera, told the world about whatever cool new product she just purchased, and then gotten 50 million views in a day; Payne’s success as a haul vlogger is unprecedented. At the time of this writing Payne’s video has been viewed more than 130 million times. Part of this is largely because of the Facebook platform, but we’ll get back to this in a second. She’s even on Wikipedia now as the “Chewbacca Mask Lady,” having become ubiquitous with the item she reviewed.
Second, Payne’s video actually moved product, and continues to do so. Kohl’s told Forbes that by Friday, the “Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens Chewbacca Electronic Mask,” was completely sold out. By Sunday, the toy was also sold out at Target and Walmart. Companies have been reaching out to haul vloggers with products to review for years now, and the hope is the product in question will fly off the shelves after it is featured in a video -- but this is not guaranteed. Sometimes the products reviewed will sell out, but not for days at a time, and there certainly won’t be any press about it.
Candace didn't want to share her Chewbacca mask. So we showed up to make sure she didn't have to! #AllTheGoodStuffhttps://t.co/8gvLaj9VeF
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Kohl's (@Kohls) May 21, 2016
Payne’s video made such an impact on Kohl’s, they actually gifted Payne a whole bunch of other Star Wars related toys as well as $2,500 in gift cards (and 10,000 award points). It isn’t unusual for haul vloggers to get products for free or for a discount in order to review them, but with Payne the gifts were given without an expectation that she would do more video reviews about the toys. Kohl’s would no doubt be happy if Payne made more videos about their products, but the gifts weren’t given with a stipulation she makes videos about them.
Third, Payne may be a natural and have one of the best laughs the Internet has ever seen, but she is not an actual haul vlogger nor is she on a platform that supports vloggers (aka Facebook). “I’m such a happy Chewbacca” is her first haul vlog, and she put it on Facebook where there is no revenue sharing program like on YouTube. Back in 2013, NPR determined some haul vloggers were making six figures annually thanks to sponsorship deals and shared ad revenue via YouTube. In 2014, Business Insider estimated popular beauty and style vlogger Bethany Mota was making $40,000 a month from shared ad revenue and sponsorships on her YouTube videos. Zoella, another incredibly popular YouTube hauler, is estimated by statistics monitoring website SocialBlade to currently make anywhere from $5,000 to $79,000 a month via her YouTube channel.
There’s big money to be made if you have a fun personality and can articulate why you like a certain product on-camera. Payne is not set to cash in on that, at least not right now. Facebook might have helped Payne’s video go viral in a way no other haul vlogger has, but she is not going to get a single cent from Facebook for it. Back in April, Facebook expressed interested in establishing a revenue sharing program with video creators as an incentive to get them to put content on the platform, but there’s nothing definite yet to speak of much to the chagrin of major broadcasters.
Payne could stay on Facebook and continue to vlog there for free, but if she wanted to, she’s poised to embark on a potentially lucrative haul vlogging career on YouTube. Whatever she decides, she’s already changed the game.
