Hauling My Way to Stardom

Teenagers and their YouTube haul videos are all the rage these days, so after my visit to the neighborhood organic farmers’ market, I decided that I was haul-worthy, too. Heck, if they can do it, why not an old broad like me? The lovely and always delightful Kristi Colvin agreed, so what more encouragement did I need? You guessed it — none!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with haul videos, they are show and tell videos typically filmed by teenage girls and shared on YouTube, sharing the spoils of their shopping trips with their friends. Savvy retailers like Forever 21, JC Penney and American Eagle have identified this as a potentially lucrative form of online marketing and are jumping on the haul bandwagon. They are hiring teens to engage in “hauling” at their stores, review their products online and use this as a means to create buzz and drive sales. And if their burgeoning video views and appearances on shows like Good Morning America are any indicators, some teens, like @allthatglitters21 and @juicystar07 are taking the world by storm. There are definite risks associated with this practice, but so far, that hasn’t precluded these retailers from testing the haul waters. “Hot but risky” is what Carol Tice’s recent post for bNet calls it, and she’s got some valid points, scoot over there and read it if you’re so inclined.

As with anything, there plenty of people who think that this practice is one step removed from complete and total ruination of society, but we’ll save that for another blog post. That said, Jessica D’s post for SodaHead in February of this year was pretty prescient. Too bad she’s not writing for them any more – I like how that girl thinks. But if read it and if want more of her, you can stalk her on Twitter.

By the way, my bounty was scored at the Brookside Community Farmers’ Market. If you live in the area and are not making this a part of your every Saturday morning, you are missing out!

P.S. Effective immediately, I am officially striking the word “awesome” from my lexicon.