Sweetening the Influence Game
News of MrBeast, the YouTube phenomenon with over 200 million subscribers, taking sides in a spat between the grandson of Reese’s Cup inventor Harry Burnett Reese and Hershey’s, appears, at first glance, to be a whimsical online drama. Brad Reese, the inventor's heir, criticized Hershey's over its alleged use of 'modified' and 'artificial' ingredients, praising MrBeast’s Feastables for its 'real
stuff.' This isn't just about chocolate; it's a meticulously crafted publicity stunt. This corporate maneuvering mirrors a long history of industry players leveraging public figures to reshape market narratives. Consider the infamous 1928 'Torches of Freedom' campaign, where Edward Bernays linked smoking to women’s liberation, drastically expanding cigarette sales for the American Tobacco Company.
Here, MrBeast isn't merely weighing in; he's a brand. His 2022 launch of Feastables, a snack company, directly positions him as a competitor to Hershey’s, a conglomerate with annual revenues exceeding $10 billion. This isn’t a neutral endorsement; it’s a direct market challenge disguised as a consumer advocacy post. The irony is stark: while Brad Reese champions 'real ingredients,' the broader
food industry has spent decades lobbying against stricter labeling laws and cultivating addictive product lines, much like how the sugar industry secretly funded studies in the 1960s to downplay sugar's link to heart disease while blaming fat. To elevate an influencer's foray into snack foods as a beacon of 'authenticity' against a legacy brand sidesteps the very systems that allow such