Do you ever buy the G-Fuel by youtuber video links on gamer channels

I have never bought anything as a direct result of an internet advert.

EDIT: Any drink that contains excessive caffeine and taurine is not good for you in any extended capacity. Once in a while sure, but daily use will have an adverse affect on your system. Not an empirically tested statement.

I don’t think I’ve ever bought those. I love energy drinks so maybe? But not really as a consequence of seeing it on YouTube.

@broshmosh: Thats my thing. I see tons of these reactors and stuff making kinda kid friendly material and pushing like pills or energy drinks or whatever. I guess its the thing that slips throught the youtube cracks...or we just gotta hold kids accountable to ignore it...but as a kid I will say I was influenced to by toys from transformers cartoons even if I never got past the step of no when my parents saw the price tag for some dumb toy id play with for 1 hour then break and never use again.

This is a very valid point. it's easy for me to say that I myself have not been affected by advertising, but a different story for young minds (and older minds who may fall into parasocial relationships easily) with regards to advertising.

I feel like there's not a whole lot more that can be done in terms of regulating it, and regulation is about the only thing that will protect vulnerable people from those in society who seek to profit from vulnerabilities. It still rubs a lot of Youtubers up the wrong way when you remind them you have to include #AD to something that is sponsored.

For the record, I have definitely bought products where advertising has been a big part of it - I was a Beyblade kid, and continue to be a Pokemon fan despite not enjoying Sword/Shield. Just not explicity bought into a product due to Youtube/internet banner ads etc.

You see a lot of those ads, not necessarily because the creators swear by that product, but because G-fuel is heavily advertising towards the audience of that creator. Just like tech youtubers tend to advertise VPN services and Skillshare-type of learning sites (guess that ad worked on me, because Skillshare is the first one that pops to mind).

And when it comes to being advertised to, we all like to think that such tricks hold no sway over us because we don't recall a direct link between seeing a product and deciding to buy it, but that's not the only way ads work. If you keep hearing a certain brandname, eventually that becomes a legit choice to make whenever you buy that type of product. When i think of toothpaste, i think of a white and red tube. I have no idea whether that's the best toothpaste for the job, but when i scan for toothpaste in the aisle, it's quite likely that i end up with a red & white tube of Colgate. It fits my idea of what a toothpaste product should be, and i know it's a big brand that sells it's toothpaste all around the globe and not some sketchy product made by a handful of students in a basement.

Or energy drinks. Back in 2000, it felt like Red Bull was the obvious choice to make if you were looking for an energydrink. The teens that were all about the Bacardi Breezers suddenly went over to Red Bull. and Red Bull was doing all these unique commercials on TV that made RedBull a household name with an unique colorscheme to a wide audience. At least on this side of the ocean, it took like 5 years before i started hearing about Monster Energy. Suddenly there was a competitor to Red Bull with it's own recognizable brand, logo and ads. And now in the last few years suddenly G-fuel is a brand i know as well, eventhough i never drink energy drinks. 20 years ago, if i decided to try an energydrink, I would go for the Red Bull 10 out of 10 times. Now that's no longer the case, because i am aware of multiple players in that space now.

These companies getting big and being able to advertise themselves does legitimize them as a valid option to choose for. When i wander into a store and decide i need to buy a tool, i am more likely to buy a Black & Decker, Bosch or a Makita than a brandname that's unknown to me. I'm sorry PantherPower and TundraTool, i just don't know if i can rely on you guys. I'll go for the more popular alternatives eventhough i can't necessarily say what's better about them compared to PantherPower. But it's totally possible for Pantherpower to start a marketing campaign that makes me hear their brand numerous times , to the point where the seed is planted in my brain that PantherPower is a legit option as well. Just like i've seen and heard enough chatter around Sodastream that it's a product i would at least consider, while it would not even be on my radar if i wasn't confronted by it's existance multiple times through ads and word of mouth.

I have no idea what this question is

the hell is a G-fuel

edit: nevermind I dont wanna know

@peacebrother: It’s just a product. Nothing unusual.

I feel like there should be an episode of The Very Online Show about all the stuff like this that people shill for on Twitch and Youtube that's aimed largely at younger people and teens in a way that's sketchy.

@ben_h: Or a dive into the world of very weird and surreal content farm operations. That shit is way sketchier than somebody shilling an energy drink.

A streamer I follow started doing watchalongs of “5 minute crafts” and it is Maddening.

I own an AK Racing gamer chair because it came recommended by no less than the New York Times and was something like 60% off when I bought it. Otherwise I pretty deliberately try to avoid purchasing anything that is sold with the explicit purpose of exploiting whatever my identity may or may not be. I'm no longer a heavy weed smoker, but back when I used to smoke a quarter every week the last thing I wanted to do was own a t-shirt or hat that implied I smoked any weed at all.

I really do not understand energy drinks, especially when it is tied (and advertised) to 'gamers'

I just don't like that stuff and how I personally feel on a too strong dose of caffeine.

Nor do I think children should be anywhere near it.

The whole energy drink thing kind of cracks me up, too.

Why would you drink this garbage in first place?

Nope. I like my energy drinks, but I already have my preferred brands. About the only weight the GFuel name carries for me is my enjoyment of Mutahar's GFuel tower. Other than that, no interest.

@kopcik: Tastes good? They don’t really do anything to keep me alert but some people benefit from that part.

I dunno it’s a weird question why do we eat/drink any number of specific things.

Gfuel is alright. I'm not one for energy drinks, but every now and then I tell myself "Fuck it, why not?" and grab one, usually something that has electrolytes or some sort of hydration formula and not just straight caffeine.

As for the ad topic, I do a little bit of digital marketing, and why you may get certain ads that might surprise you is because there is already a ton of data collected from you and your habits, and there are tools to not only target a variety of demographics, but also target different stages of a potential consumer from "curious" phase, to securing a transaction, and ensuring a returning customer. It's not perfect, but pretty effective if you know what you're doing.

Go further and we now have reactors of shows reacting to other reactors reacting to their reactions. Trust me...it gets really self-congratulatory and their fans can be parasocial to the hardest degree, any critic on this being a bit much will be met with threats...not that its fair to ruin anyone's fun like who you like but the internet is great as a tool and everyone (humans) wants to abuse it for profit or emotional satisfaction, but as we have learned internet claps does not equate to happiness.

@topcyclist: Not really tracking you on this one. Who’s fans?

I’m talking about content farms which honestly barely seem to have people associated with them. They rise up fully formed from the algorithm sludge.

I think it's pretty easy to be on the high horse about not buying things advertised by streamers or anywhere else but as others have said it's very likely you have been influenced by that stuff at various stages in your life. You should probably be thankful that not every product being pushed is directly targeted at you. If the algorithms ever get so good that you only see ads for products you do buy it would be way worse than it is now

I'd sooner buy Raycon earbuds. ...which I have. ...and the sound quality is actually pretty good, though obviously not as great as murmurous content creators have advertised.

No way I'm playing Raid: Shadow Legends, though.

I'm never spending money on G-Fuel, especially after seeing my guy Derek from 'More Plates More Dates' rip their formulation to shreds:

https://youtu.be/hSLvu85EZbM

Pitching that stuff on youtube is right next to old actors pitching Reverse mortgages. It's despicable. Giantbomb has never stooped to selling that stuff on their podcast. In fact, the way giantbomb relented and started putting ads on their podcast is the gold standard for the way advertising is done. It has to be done from a financial perspective but slinging that stuff before broadcast in a friend to friend manner is sleezy and these people justifying it to themselves is the worst. I can tolerate the ad break or this segment is "brought to you by," type of advertising is fine by me. The manner which it is done on twitch and youtube is terrible. I kind of wish the mods would remove this post because this is a form of guerilla advertising. Don't think about pink elephants.

i've never seen it advertised on any i've watched and honestly only heard of it cause of here. i'm not really into energy drinks anyway caffeine does nothing for me ( usually i get tired instead from it instead actually)so even if i'd seen them the answer would be no. that said i have been tempted to buy some tea that a minecraft youtuber advertised a few months back , didn't want to try it for the price in the end tho. honestly if a product looks worthwhile to me for X reason i don't really mind the idea of using a referal link from a content creator i like sure some can go overboard with things and others are dishonest but i'd like to think most of the ppl i pay attention to are honest about things they enjoy.

@efesell: yeah, my point didn't go with that, just the fact we have more internet craziness from the fact again that people can make money of a thing and do so with the lower amount of effort (not saying that it doesn't take effort since I'm not in the know) by watching other reactors react and judging their reactions to reactions or just watching others react to their reactions and reacting by saying stuff like wow, I'm surprised they said that, fake laugh, scream, donate and support us on Patreon click the like button, SMASH that bell and if you want more click the link in the description below to buy headphones, shadow legends, dong pills etc.

I agree it's all kinda gross IMO but i wanted a perspective out of my Echo chamber, and I see that I thought most must like them since they support YouTubers and their sponsors, etc, but maybe no one likes it. That said, Im not advertising or trying to market them. My polls come off like their marketing but that's mostly cause i have a marketing degree and know how to word them, but im not working for or doing anything of the sort. I will out of fairness delete this poll since it can be offensive to people. Please do not force mods to do so since i did this out of curiosity and now have to wonder if i am allowed to ask gaming-related questions about game culture unless it's... Is the new ___ game bad...are the practices of ___ bad...i bought this game and it is ____ im exaggerating but ehh.

@onemanarmyy: Very interesting read. Didnt consider all of this.

Beyond the several health scares they've attracted in the past, like containing lead, Gfuel has openly and proudly supported white supremacists (and still does). I don't have a way to sugar coat that. For ages, Keemstar's brand was directly tied to Gfuel, to name one of many. That's gonna be a hard pass for me and any creator that associates with them immediately loses appeal because of it.

So I'd say no.

I've heard it tastes disgusting and anytime I see someone with those dumb looking plastic G-Fuel bottles in the frame of their stream it looks like they are drinking from an extreme sports version of a baby's sippy. It just plain looks ridiculous but G-Fuel's time has come in gone. Now hello fresh, Genshin Impact and Epic Games Store are afaik the most common things being overtly hawked.

I can say I was addicted to buying and drinking Mt Dew Kickstart for well over a year. I thought they tasted great, they are low calorie, and have very low "sugar". Who knows what they are flavored with because they taste sweet as hell. For context I'm early 30's with kids. I would love to drink a Kickstart around 8pm so I feel ready for some Apex Legends or Rocket League. I swear I played better when I drank one. Caffeine is also addicting so if I didn't have my drink at night I'd get grouchy and not play as well. Well staying up till 1am most nights and getting barely 6 hours of sleep takes its toll on you. It took me at least a month to really cleanse my body and clean up my diet. Now I can say I play the same if not better now that I'm not drinking energy drinks. Im also getting more sleep too.

Tldr: caffeine is addicting and these drinks are marketed so you keep buying it and relying on it. Don't waste your time or more importantly your money. You know what's more energizing (and healthier) than drinking G Fuel? A nap. (<------old man speak).

I'm not totally sure why you're mocking me without at least making it clear that you're doing so, but go ahead.

EDIT: I think I just got tricked by a bot.