My hunch that a bunch of YouTubers shouldn’t serve your child lunch

MrBeast, Logan Paul, and KSI are three of the most successful content creators out there. With a combined total of over 350 million YouTube subscribers, the three of them have absolutely smashed the digital age. With KSI and his boxing, Logan Paul and his WWE wrestling, and MrBeast and his all-around entertainment megachannel, they seem to be constantly in the spotlight. And not just on YouTube, but these three have managed to cross over to the more ‘mainstream’ media channels too.

Now we know that our kids are being subjected to these ideas of fame from these content creators, and we know this is a constant battle we are having.

But this Monday, these three creators announced that they are launching a new brand (yes, another one) called Lunchly. Now, if we’ve been paying attention, then we would know that there have already been numerous brands launched by these creators – MrBeast’s MrBeast burgers and Feastables’ snack bars, and KSI/Logan Paul’s much-derided (but is it really all that dead yet?) PRIME.

But for me, this launch of Lunchly is one step too far.

Why do I say that?

Because Lunchly (a new competitor to US brand Lunchables) is a pre-packed school lunch for kids that combines the Feastables chocolate bar with PRIME. Yes, you heard me right. A chocolate bar and a soft drink are being combined and marketed to kids.

My concern is this.

These creators are great, amazing in fact, at launching products. They are great at getting publicity. They will no doubt go on to launch brand after brand after brand. If I were CMO at a large FMCG firm I’d be watching these guys closely (although more for partnerships than anything else). But what they either don’t seem capable of doing or have no interest at all in doing is thinking about the long-term effects. Quick wins, great. Long-term, not so hot.

Why this matter is we aren’t really talking about the brand here. I mean, we are talking about brand, but that’s not what matters in this specific instance. What we are talking about is our kids’ health. What we are talking about is the health of our future generations. In the UK, the prevalence of obesity in year six children in 2022/23 was 22.7%. Nearly a quarter of year six kids are obese. That is a travesty. And yet, we seem to be allowing these creators to launch unhealthy products to kids.

Now, this brand isn’t yet launched in the UK.

It is only available in the US. But the plan is to bring it over the Atlantic. I say, if you want to market your unhealthy products to adults then that is fine. We know what this stuff does to us, but we can make an informed choice. But three well-known and loved creators, promoting and launching a new brand, which is specifically aimed at children – you can get in the sea.

You can continue the conversation with Paul on Linkedin.