What's a haul video, you may be asking?  So was I until a few months ago when a friend sent me a link to one on You Tube.  Essentially, teen girls who love to shop and love to show off their finds to their friends have created a cottage industry online, producing homemade videos of their shopping "hauls."  There are more than 60 "haul" videos on YouTube with some girls having subscriber bases as high as 250,000 and views close to one million. (Just search "Haul Videos" and you'll get the picture.)

Up until recently, the girls making these videos were spending their own money (or their parents) on products they selected for their style or price or both.  Forever 21, MAC Cosmetics and TJMaxx are just a few of the most popular brands featured.

As a mom of a tween fashionista who loves to shop and share her finds with her friends, I understand the mindset.  And given all the technology our kids have at their fingertips, I'm not surprised they are sharing them digitally and not just when they are hanging out.  What worries me is the number and frequency of the videos and what kind of message of consumption that sends to our kids.

So while I'm trying to reconcile how I feel about these seemingly innocent consumer generated videos, a few brands have decided to jump into the equation and hijack the concept.  In a USA Today article, JC Penney's has announced they are sponsoring several girls to create "haul" videos of their back-to-school merchandise.  JCP says they aren't directing their purchases or editing their content; they are simply giving the girls between $250 and $1,000 to spend in their stores on back-to-school shopping.  Some were even given a ride to JCP and put up in a hotel nearby.   The girls have to announce that they received money from JCP to shop there, but how many girls will really pay attention to that? 

I guess what bothers me the most is how much influence peers have on tweens and teens, especially when it comes to fashion and make-up.  I hate to see brands paying for that influence in such an overt way and still using channels of communication that people presume are consumer generated.  When young people see ads on TV or online, they know the marketer paid to try and influence them.  When they see Juiceystar07 on YouTube talking about all her great finds at JCP, will they really filter out the fact that she was paid to shop there?  Will they presume her picks are right because she found them on her own and thought they were stylish?  

What do you think of haul videos and their paid sponsorships?