Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
Hollywood’s penchant for taking advantage of temporary trends has resulted in a number of eerily similar “twin movies” coming out at the same time. 1998 alone produced Deep Impact and Armageddon, Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line, and Antz and A Bug’s Life. In 2011 they provided “Friends with Benefits” and “No Strings Attached”.
But it’s not just Hollywood groupthink and chance that six movies about the brand have been released in six months, including Barbie, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Tetris, Nike Air, Blackberry, and Beanie Babies.
A movie about a brand has something that the original concept lacks. It’s the audience’s pre-recognition. The studio speculates that people are more likely to be interested because they already know something about the story. Hulu figured that people would probably click on a movie called Flamin’ Hot because they liked Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. As the economy tightens, Hollywood has turned to safety measures such as: 13 more movies about Mattel toysThe company behind Barbie dolls has been announced, with 45 more in development.
Most of these brand-centric movies have one more thing in common that further complicates their twinness. It focuses on the origin story of the brand rather than simply using the brand as a starting point. It’s no coincidence either. The rise of this kind of branded success story is an attempt to capitalize on the growing demand for workers to brand themselves to earn a living.
Success in the ever-growing gig economy (the market for short-term and freelance work) depends on developing and maintaining a strong personal brand. In a way, successful brands are the new American movie stars. But just as these brand-centric movies sound hollow, so does the gig economy they’re aimed at.
new movie stars
Five films will be released this spring and summer about the creation of the brand: ‘Flamin’ Hot’, ‘Air’, ‘Tetris’, ‘The Beanie Bubble’ and ‘BlackBerry’..“They’re all named after the main character, the product. You don’t have to go into detail to know the plot. It’s an underdog’s story about how the things we want to buy came about.”
“Flamin’ Hot” is the story of a hard-working janitor who goes from poor to rich in his last chance to become a marketing executive, pitching a spicy variation of crunchy corn puffs. “Air” tells the story of a nearly forgotten shoe brand. A struggling basketball division stubbornly pursued signing underperforming college basketball players, and they all turned out to be wildly successful. In “The Beanie Bubble,” Zach Galifianakis plays Ty Warner, a struggling toy salesman who became an overnight success with Beanie Babies.
The film focuses on how anyone with courageous perseverance can build a brand of world domination, while ignoring the real barriers to success people face, such as boss abuse, wage theft, and unemployment crises. (Barbie, which has been named one of the most talked about movies of the summer, is a bit of an exception in this regard. While the plot isn’t about making Barbie, Barbie and Ken go outside Barbieland to peek behind the curtain of their creation.)
“Barbie” stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, and “Air” stars Ben Affleck, but most of these films lack star power. Human characters often play a secondary role for brands. This is what makes these movies feel so empty. The excitement and positive emotions that movies generate ultimately make their way into consumer packaged goods.Each movie asks us to feel something … about Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. But the story sells because millions of Americans are looking to build an equally successful brand: themselves.
Empty Promises of the Gig Economy
The gig economy promises a shortcut to the freedoms enjoyed by the entrepreneurs and managers these films celebrate. You can work when you want and you can be your own boss. So far, the pitch has been successful. Since the emergence of Uber, Fiverr, and other gig companies in the early 2010s, the gig economy has continued to grow, with roughly 35% of workers in 2021 being freelancers. An unprecedented number of people quit their jobs due to the effects of the new coronavirus infection, and many people turned to freelancing. The reasons varied, including stagnant wages, the instability of at-will employment, and the ever-present threat and unpredictability of layoffs. From 1979 to 2020, U.S. productivity improved increased by 61.8% and wages by 17.5%.
A major attraction of gig work for companies is the low labor costs. Some studies show that using independent contractors (a formal classification of gig workers) instead of full-time employees Save businesses up to 30%.moreover enterprise Focusing on gig workers replacing full-time jobs, More Workers Get Gig Work.
But much like movies, the gig economy has done little. In the gig economy, people are both a product and a business. As such, many gig workers seek to differentiate themselves from their competitors by building a personal brand on social media.and estimated 58 million America’s gig workers, it’s a race to the bottom for prominence and job security.and 2020 Survey In a survey conducted by the Shift Project, 14% of gig workers said they earned less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The majority of gig workers (about 64%) said they were paid between $0 and $14.99 an hour, but about 89% of W-2 workers employed by companies said they earned at least $10 an hour.
Almost all gig workers are classified as independent contractors, so they don’t get the standard protections and benefits that regular employees typically receive. This includes minimum wages, health insurance, access to unemployment insurance if you are laid off, paid sick leave, and health and safety protections. Nor do they have the same rights that W-2 employees have to organize and bargain with employers for better working conditions.
Even more alarming, reports of wage theft are widespread. In the shift survey, 62% of gig workers Thirty-six percent said they were not paid for their work at least once, and 36 percent said they had lost their wages three or more times. This sums up. In 2021, Federal Trade Commission Forces Amazon To Pay $61.7 Million It is to settle allegations that he has been stealing tips from contracted delivery drivers for more than two years. According to his 2021 analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, while earners of all income levels experience wage theft, most do. Independent Contractors and Hourly Workers.
Gig workers are starting to rebel against the live trade.After three separate strikes this year, Uber and Lyft drivers in New York received a raise.New York App-Based Delivery Drivers Recently earned a minimum wage of almost $18.there is a rise in Fuck You Pay Me, an app for creators to share and compare the deals they receive from companies and describe what it’s like to work with them. Before, there was no central place like Glassdoor where creators could share their experiences with clients.
These recent battles highlight the corruption that underlies the promise of the gig economy. Brand movies will continue to resonate as the economy continues to emphasize the importance of self-branding through gig work. We are all brands now. And if you do decide to venture into freelancing territory, it’s best to equip yourself with branded floats.
Jared Horst is a Brooklyn-based writer who focuses on how branding influences every aspect of life, from pop culture to policy. In addition to Insider, Jared is also published in his Naked Capitalism and self-published on Substack. brand means a lot.