Geschatte leestijd: 3 minuten
If a fitness vlogger or blogger spouts nonsense and thousands of people follow him/her, is the spread of nonsense the fault of the fitness vlogger or of the blindly following crowd?
The false fitness vlogger
When Anne and I were on our way from the hotel to the airport in Las Vegas last month, Anne saw the article by the ladies of “The Green Happiness” in the NRC on her mobile phone. It had just been published, so the ladies hadn’t been thoroughly torn apart in the media yet. Anne was quite irritated by it:
“You have to read this: They say you shouldn’t eat eggs ‘because this is the menstruation of a chicken’!
She was angry because she couldn’t stand that people like this are given a platform to spread nonsense.
I couldn’t really get worked up about it. Firstly because it was 3 a.m. and we hadn’t slept since the previous morning. More importantly, this happens so often that it’s more the rule than the exception.
I recently wrote an article titled “Celebrities as nutritionists”. Partly in response to “My killerbody” by Fajah Lourens. However, given the personal drama that was happening in her family just as I was writing it, it didn’t seem appropriate to publish it. The message there was the same as here. I didn’t blame Fajah for seeing an opportunity to make money and taking advantage of it. Nor can I blame those other celebrities whose books on healthy eating, according to the NRC, sell more than those of the real experts.
Never judge a book by its cover
That’s the healthy VOC mentality, doing business where there’s business to be done, earning where there’s money to be earned. That’s how they also see internet criminals in Nigeria. If you get scammed, then you’re the sucker, or “maga“.
I used to sell financial products over the phone. In the first sales training lesson, we had to indicate what was most important in sales: The product, the company, or the seller. The correct order turned out to be: 1. The seller 2. The company. 3. The product. The product came last. While I always tried to focus on the content of the product and was reasonably successful, others sold more with less effort by having a good chat and cheerful voice.
Looking at bloggers and vloggers, you can merge seller and company since they are often independent entrepreneurs. The conclusion remains: Who delivers the message is more important than the message itself.
We see the same thing now during the election campaigns in the U.S. After the first debate between Trump and Clinton, two conclusions were drawn by fact-checkers and analysts: 1. More than half of Trump’s “facts” turned out to be lies. 2. That didn’t matter to his followers. No matter what nonsense he spouts or what controversial statements he makes, it doesn’t matter. People don’t vote for him for what he says, but for who he is. The packaging is more important than the message.
The following herd
If it were purely about the number of readers and likes for me, I might as well make a short list of unfounded claims about milk than write an article of 15,000 words and 70 references to studies (part I). Preferably accompanied by a photo of a nice lady drinking green tea in a nicely decorated living room.
About such an extensive article, I might receive compliments from doctors, but many readers for whom it is intended complain that it’s too long. “I don’t have time for that.” There are all sorts of reasons why people prefer a short message, nice one-liners, tidy lists, a nice cover, and a familiar face. Some reasons are psychological, as outlined in the article on the allure of lists. When you have to choose from so many information providers, opting for a familiar face is just easy. After all, who has time to check the credentials and statements of all those writers and vloggers?
“I don’t have time to go through so much information. Life is busy enough.”
Boo freaking hoo.
Put a violin tune under it and tell it to the scale when it shows a different number than you would like.
People always look for the easiest way. This is evidenced, among other things, by the fact that I only posted an update yesterday in the article about Iomax. I wrote that article to warn about the amphetamine-like substance found in the product, but despite (or precisely because of that), I only get responses asking where to buy it. “I’ve been trying to lose weight for so long, but it just doesn’t work. I need it.” I hear violin music again. You don’t need speed and palpitations to lose weight. You don’t need a hype diet and celebrities to sell it to you. No statements about menstruating chickens or how cavemen ate.
What you need is basic knowledge about nutrition and exercise and the discipline to apply it consistently in your life. Big changes to your body mean big changes to your lifestyle. Great dedication and great effort. So take the time to verify the information on which you are going to change your life significantly, not just the form.
References
- nrc.nl/nieuws/2016/07/21/waar-blijven-de-killerbodys-3336135-a1512713
