How social media fuels useless products

0:01 Consumerism is getting out of hand.

0:04 Everyday, sophisticated marketing schemes flood

0:06 our feeds with newly created musthaves.

0:09 Handheld banana slicers, miniature keyboard vacuums, shower hair catchers.

0:13 They're cheap, they're novel,

0:15 they look useful for about 5 seconds and then they end up tossed in the trash.

0:19 A growing slice of social media has turned

0:21 into a 247 shopping channel where cheap products go viral,

0:25 clutter piles up, and the tactics used to hook us are getting harder to resist.

0:29 This video is sponsored by Squarespace.

0:31 I'll share more about why I use them for all my websites later.

0:34 You know, I don't use social media too much these days,

0:37 but sometimes my curiosity gets the best of me.

0:40 And recently, oh boy, did I get a real treat.

0:43 My algorithm took a hard turn into some of the most absurd,

0:47 useless, and wasteful products I have ever seen.

0:51 Suddenly, my feed was a parade of contraptions.

0:54 A designer cover for your trash bin,

0:55 a wheelspun bread cutter, detachable wine glass stems,

0:59 an egg yolk separator shaped like a basketball hoop,

1:02 and decorative toilet seat covers.

1:04 When I was a kid, it felt like they made something new every day,

1:08 like every day was Christmas.

1:09 This bed tent is the perfect way to get

1:11 more privacy and make date night more cozy.

1:13 This soap dispenser sticks to your wall and holds enough shampoo,

1:16 conditioner, and soap to last a year.

1:17 This is a wearable sleeping bag,

1:19 and it's great for staying warm whilst doing your daily tasks.

1:22 What the[ __] A wearable sleeping bag.

1:25 It's called a jacket.

1:27 You're looking for a jacket.

1:29 These products are the spiritual successors to the as seen on TV era.

1:33 Those infomercial gadgets that promise to solve

1:35 problems you didn't know you had.

1:37 Simply pour your favorite marinade into the flexible flavorizer.

1:40 Attach the needle, place into the flavor probe, and presto.

1:44 Back then, they were quirky, cheap, and sold through 2 a.m.

1:46 infomercials with a toll-free number.

1:48 And despite the terrible production value

1:50 and gimmicky sales techniques, they worked.

1:53 I couldn't believe how juicy these burgers came out.

1:56 I'm sorry.

1:57 This is one of my favorite clips.

1:59 I watched so many infomercials.

2:01 Something about this guy just kills me.

2:03 Like, this is a paid actor.

2:04 I can't believe how juicy these burgers came out.

2:07 I couldn't believe how juicy these burgers came out.

2:10 I can't believe how juicy.

2:11 Okay, I'm done.

2:12 On social media, that same formula works even better.

2:15 So-called internet entrepreneurs set up their phones, demo cheap products,

2:19 cut their videos to trending audio, and hit publish.

2:24 [Music] I got to say, you know, I was a skeptic at first,

2:33 but then I got this and I just realized how valuable this could

2:36 be for everyone from smoothie shop owners

2:38 to rabbis looking to increase their productivity.

2:41 These short clips are made for the algorithm.

2:44 They're unique, visual,

2:45 and pitch like magic solutions to frustrating problems in your life.

2:48 And the sellers hit every psychological trigger they can to get you to buy.

2:52 Novelty, scarcity, social proof, lowcost impulse buying,

2:56 and that oddly satisfying feeling that makes you want to watch again and again.

3:00 Short form, instant gratification, onepage checkouts,

3:03 Apple Pay, Google Pay, bundles, FOMO.

3:06 These are all the things that get people riing.

3:08 Boom.

3:08 Check out.

3:09 It's not that people are stupid.

3:11 These tactics are engineered to bypass our rational decision-making.

3:15 Okay, maybe people are a little bit stupid.

3:17 It turns out a swipeable video is far more powerful than a 30inute infomercial.

3:22 It's bite-sized, sharable, hypnotic to watch,

3:25 and since buying is easier than ever, this stuff is selling like hot cakes.

3:29 Speaking of hot cakes,

3:30 grab this portable hotcake maker now for 50% off in the next week.

3:33 These ads, they come in hard, they come in fast, they're very convincing.

3:37 So far in the last 2 hours,

3:39 I have purchased this car vacuum that has apparently NASA level suction.

3:45 This balance board cuz my balance sucks.

3:48 And this electric bird feeder which takes glamour shots

3:51 of the creatures in your backyard cuz they make it so easy.

3:54 It's just click click click click.

3:56 Then it's yours.

3:56 I didn't need any of this when I woke up this morning.

3:59 This constant stream of micro infomercials is making it

4:03 harder than ever to be intentional with our purchases.

4:07 And the views on these videos are insane.

4:10 Consider that electric crepe maker.

4:12 It pulled in 135 million views.

4:14 Click through to their profile and what you'll see is

4:17 that the same post has been uploaded over and over again.

4:20 They're fishing for another algorithmic hit.

4:22 For sellers, this is just a numbers game.

4:24 Most posts get tens of thousands of views.

4:27 Some take off and get millions.

4:29 And those kinds of numbers can translate into some serious money.

4:32 But who's really behind these accounts?

4:34 How do they make money?

4:35 And how does the whole operation actually work?

4:38 So, the internet has a long history of people turning to get-richqu

4:41 schemes to make a living all from the comfort of their bedroom.

4:45 Except now it's getting easier and easier to do.

4:48 And as the systems and tools for selling get easier,

4:50 more and more people are trying to strike

4:52 gold with cheap disposable products on social media.

4:55 There are a couple different models that people

4:56 are using to make money from these shitty products.

4:59 One of the lowest effort and easiest to get into is affiliate marketing.

5:03 With affiliate marketing, a seller shares a special link to a product and earns

5:06 a small commission each time someone uses that link to make a purchase.

5:10 Because that link uniquely tracks which sale came from them,

5:13 grabbing attention, views, and clicks becomes the heart of their business.

5:17 They create content designed to drive traffic and sales.

5:19 Whether it's a YouTube video, a blog post,

5:22 or a boosted Instagram reel, highlighting a product.

5:25 supposed benefits.

5:26 I've been doing affiliate marketing for a couple years now,

5:28 and without lifting a finger,

5:30 there's content that I've made a few years ago that's still making me

5:33 hundreds or thousands of dollars every month from a single piece of content.

5:38 Amazon runs the largest, most sophisticated affiliate program in the world

5:42 with over 900,000 affiliates globally.

5:44 In the right niche, those small commissions can add up.

5:47 Categories like home and beauty can pay rates of up to 8 to 10% per sale.

5:51 Take the Instagram account, The Sisters Shoppers.

5:54 With over 750,000 followers, their page is filled with nearly 800 posts,

5:59 each sharing a product they find on Amazon that are,

6:02 according to them, musthaves, like this nugget ice maker,

6:06 this pizza storage container, and this drink dispenser.

6:09 You know, musthaves,

6:10 because we've all felt the strain of lifting the milk out of the fridge,

6:14 twisting the cap, pouring it on our cereal, and putting it back in the fridge.

6:18 They post a new product almost every day.

6:20 Many of the videos rack up millions of views

6:22 with thousands of people in the comments asking for the link,

6:25 which by the way triggers an automated system that instantly

6:28 sends you a DM with the creator's unique affiliate link.

6:32 I don't think affiliate marketing by itself is inherently bad.

6:35 I use affiliate links sometimes when I recommend a book,

6:38 a product, or service that I find valuable.

6:41 Most creators that I know do the same as a way to earn supplemental income.

6:46 This year, I've made about $150 on average per month from it.

6:49 Most of it coming from a video I did in April

6:51 where I recommended one of my favorite self-help books of all time,

6:55 The Courage to be Disliked.

6:56 This income helps pay our grocery bills, but nothing crazy.

6:59 And that's because I don't push it or optimize for sales.

7:02 It's not my business model.

7:04 What's happening with these must-have accounts is different.

7:07 It's very unlikely that they're sharing products that they use or find helpful.

7:11 What's more likely is that they're actively hunting for items

7:14 that they think will go viral and generate commissions.

7:17 This is an entire system designed

7:20 not around recommending genuine products or sharing

7:25 things that you actually use and find

7:27 value in, but around manufacturing artificial needs,

7:32 trying to get people to buy things so then you can make money.

7:36 And this model is really just the tip of the iceberg for online sellers.

7:40 Affiliate marketing might get you a 10% cut,

7:42 but with a little extra effort, some sellers go even further.

7:46 They source cheap products from factories in China, set up an online store,

7:50 mark up the price 10, 20,

7:52 even 60 times the cost, and run the same viral playbook.

7:55 Welcome to the cutthroat world of drop shipping.

7:59 Drop shipping is an e-commerce model where you run an online store,

8:02 but don't keep any of the products in stock yourself.

8:05 When a customer places an order,

8:06 the details go to a third party seller who packs

8:09 and ships the product directly to the customer on your behalf.

8:12 You make money by charging the customer more than you pay the supplier.

8:15 Keeping the difference as profit.

8:17 You can literally run the entire operation

8:19 from your bedroom without ever touching inventory.

8:21 Here's how it typically works.

8:23 You find your next viral product by searching AliExpress.

8:26 Maybe this elegant toothpick dispenser.

8:28 You order a sample from the supplier to film content with.

8:31 Then you set up an online storefront.

8:33 From there, you launch content,

8:34 creating satisfying videos of the bird grabbing toothpicks with trending audio.

8:39 Most likely, you then boost it with paid advertising.

8:41 Next, you fulfill orders using a drop shipping app to send each

8:44 order automatically to the supplier who

8:46 ships the product straight to your customer.

8:48 And then finally, you repeat the same process with other shitty products.

8:51 This model takes some more upfront work,

8:53 building a website and creating a brand.

8:56 But the payoff can be much bigger.

8:58 The Instagram account Olivia finds with more than

9:00 391,000 followers promotes a different product in every post.

9:04 At first glance, the account looks similar

9:06 to the affiliate marketing example I showed earlier.

9:08 a handheld mop, a bed tucker, a rocking footrest.

9:12 Just place it under your desk and rest your feet on it.

9:15 The key difference with this model, though,

9:16 is that each of these products are sourced from AliExpress.

9:19 It took me about 2 seconds to find the original listed products.

9:23 So, Olivia sells the Ham Mop for $342, but it actually cost $168 on AliExpress.

9:30 The bed tucker sells for $14.94 and costs $3.13.

9:35 And the rocking footrest, man, that thing looks awesome.

9:37 that sells for $4941 but actually costs $7.31.

9:42 Those are some pretty big markups.

9:44 As one retired drop shipper, Thomas Despin put it in a Medium article.

9:48 We basically mark up a product anyone can find,

9:51 ship it slower than any one of the major e-commerce players,

9:54 and we call this a business.

9:55 Now, you might be thinking, "Come on, Matt.

9:58 People aren't actually buying this stuff.

10:00 There's no way.

10:01 I mean, it's obviously just a bunch of crap." But then you look at the comments

10:05 and you see so many people commenting

10:09 the word foot over and over and over again.

10:12 By the way, for a limited time, if you comment foot below this video,

10:15 I'll send you a picture of my foot.

10:16 At this point, you know that I'm not

10:18 a fan of useless products that serve no purpose.

10:21 So, if I were going to build a website using Squarespace,

10:24 my sponsor for this week's video, this is what I definitely wouldn't do.

10:28 I wouldn't invent a product called the self stirring spatula for times

10:32 when stirring your homemade curry is just too much for your wrist.

10:34 I wouldn't go to Squarespace to grab the brilliant domain stircatula.com.

10:39 I wouldn't use Squarespace's new blueprint AI

10:41 website builder to fill in the details

10:43 for this completely pointless product and have a full site set up in minutes.

10:46 And I definitely wouldn't set up an online store, launch a blog,

10:49 and manage analytics all while my dinner stirs automatically in the background.

10:53 Instead, I'd use Squarespace to build a website

10:55 that hosts my content, course, and links,

10:57 using it to help me run a business in a way that feels good to me.

11:00 If you want to do the same,

11:01 then go to squarespace.com to sign up for your free trial.

11:04 And then, when you're ready to launch,

11:06 go to squarespace.com/mattella to save 10% off

11:09 your first purchase of a website or domain.

11:12 Definitely don't use it to make a shitty product.

11:14 Please, please don't do that.

11:15 Now, before you get too excited, slap a logo on a banana phone cover,

11:18 and open up shop, there's something you should know.

11:20 While some drop shippers have reportedly made hundreds of thousands,

11:24 if not millions of dollars per year, more people end up going bust.

11:27 Consider some of the comments on the business subreddit about drop shipping.

11:31 You need to be a customer service black belt to drop ship.

11:34 Margins are low and volume has to be high.

11:36 You spend most of your time

11:37 fielding questions about products and late deliveries.

11:40 The enthusiasm is there for selling,

11:42 but so is the negativity and ability to adapt

11:44 to people's needs beyond a salesman's point of view.

11:46 Most people who make money from drop shipping aren't drop shipping at all,

11:50 but selling courses on how to do it.

11:52 The easiest way to spot these people, by the way,

11:53 is that they do a fast Zoom at the beginning of all their videos.

11:57 There are hundreds, if not thousands of people

11:59 teaching others how to build these kinds of businesses.

12:02 Michael Craig, founder of the co-working space dojo, said of these gurus,

12:06 "My main gripe is that you're selling a course for $6,000

12:09 to a person from middle America who's put all their funds

12:12 into this." And you're teaching them to sell avocado slicers

12:15 online with 40 other people who are also selling avocado slicers.

12:19 While free native content posted directly to Instagram or Tik

12:22 Tok can work for creators who already have an audience,

12:25 most newcomers start with zero followers and have

12:27 to pay for ads just to get their product seen.

12:29 That means that a 60 times markup on a toilet seat cover

12:32 starts to erode pretty quickly once you factor in things like ad spending,

12:36 payment processing, shipping fees, refunds, and customer service.

12:40 In the end, a few people sure end up winning big,

12:43 but the majority spend their time managing

12:45 unhappy customers and watching their margins disappear.

12:48 Underneath all this is the unspoken, slow spinning wheel of consumerism.

12:53 It's the undercurrent of the entire system.

12:56 The conversation in these communities is all about

12:58 making money and nothing about how they're making money.

13:00 It's never about ethics or what's right or the fact

13:03 that the ads they're buying are hunting people from sight to sight,

13:06 hammering them with ad after ad trying

13:08 to get them to buy another useless product.

13:11 Millions of products flood timu, Amazon, Alibaba, and AliExpress every year.

13:16 It's a constant conveyor belt of[ __] in,[ __] out.

13:20 It fills our homes, gives us a flicker of satisfaction,

13:23 and then gets shoved into a drawer or tossed in the trash.

13:26 As one expert in the documentary, By Now,

13:28 the shopping conspiracy pointed out, you can't just throw something away.

13:33 There's no magical place called away.

13:35 It all ends up somewhere, landfills, incinerators, or oceans.

13:39 But I also understand that some people watching this are

13:43 starting to feel a little bit jaded about saving the environment.

13:47 We don't really feel this need or personal

13:50 responsibility to save the planet when billionaires burn through

13:54 more CO2 in a weekend than we ever could

13:56 in a lifetime of purchasing cheap shitty products online.

14:00 I know I'm not perfect myself.

14:02 I mean, I bought a banana slicer as a prop for this video.

14:04 And you better believe that I'm going to return

14:06 that as a change of mind because Jeff Bezos.

14:09 But I think there's another more compelling

14:12 and slightly selfish reason to stop buying this crap.

14:16 And that's because it's all just a distraction.

14:19 It eats your money, your space, your attention,

14:21 and it trains you to chase the next

14:23 musthave instead of appreciating what you already have.

14:27 It's hard to live slowly and intentionally

14:29 when you're being hit from every angle.

14:31 But you still get to decide how you spend your time,

14:34 your money, and your attention.

14:36 Having less, and more importantly, wanting less,

14:38 frees up space in your home and in your mind,

14:41 making it a little easier to focus on what genuinely makes you happy.

14:44 Then again, that banana slicer looked pretty cool.

14:48 [Music] So, I've been having a lot of fun diving

14:56 into these topics and I'm going to do more of them.

14:59 I've got so many ideas,

15:00 but I also know that with the lack of time that I spend on social media,

15:05 I could use your help.

15:07 So, if you've got a video idea or a topic that you want me to cover

15:09 or something that you want me to look into, I've opened up a new tip line.

15:13 Just shoot me an email at just the tip@mattella.com.