Much has been said about the influence and power that a youtuber can have in current times. Much has also been said about the limits that should exist when creating content that attracts attention.
And is that while some creators have exposed their lives to generate shots that really captivate the audience, many others have decided to play with especially sensitive issues at inappropriate times. The truth is that the laws seem to begin to plant a position in this situation.
At least that is what the current sentence issued by the Moscow court shows, a body that sentenced youtuber Karomatullo Dzhaborov to two years and four months in prison, after finding him guilty of the crime of vandalism.
This punishment was reached after a video made around February of last year was studied in which the aforementioned youtuber made a joke in which he simulated an attack supposedly caused by the coronavirus.
In this material that was disseminated on social networks, it is observed how Karomatullo Dzhaborov, who wears a mask, falls to the ground of a wagon on the train in that city.
Some people reach out to pay attention to you when you start to fake a seizure. At that moment, a person who participated in the peculiar joke, exclaims that he is stuck with an effect of the coronavirus, with which everyone quickly moves away from the fallen man and they suddenly get off the train.
Shortly after it was learned that this was a joke by the youtuber and a group of friends that put the integrity of travelers at risk, since the mention of the virus (which at that time was beginning to be known in the world) caused that passengers panicked, creating a potentially dangerous situation when people at the nearest station started pushing to get off the train.
Even with this, the youtuber’s lawyer, Alexéi Popov, stood out in an interview given to him medium TASS, that the intention of the authors of the joke was “to draw the attention of the authorities to the problem” around the pandemic caused by coronavirus, so “There is no crime here.”
Although we are facing an extremely sensitive issue that touches a nerve, the reactions on social networks make clear a phenomenon that can be neglected in terms of communication and brand building.
The positions found before a fact that for many is synonymous with an experiment and for others it is a joke in terrible taste in the face of what the coronavirus has taken in terms of lives and economic stability, shows the marketing world the new challenges that the environment convulsed promotes.
The polarization of the current market caused by different events and framework phenomena at a cultural, social, political and economic level, translates into a factor that implies major challenges for brands.
This issue goes beyond a brand building issue and translates into a complex context where brands are forced to understand a turbulent environment, where polarization will be the norm, as exemplified in the case of these youtubers .
Additionally, the role and responsibility that content creators now have is put on the table, they must assume that today their content must consider something more than simply entertaining.