Screenshot from Sina Weibo

 
“How is the experience of staying in a hotel’s presidential suite worth $11,511 for one night?” A bunch of short videos showing off wealth have been flooding onto Chinese short video platforms, satisfying the curiosity of Chinese viewers But this kind of extravagance has also caused a bad impact on society, especially for young people, experts said. 

On Sunday, some bloggers who have gained popularity through showing off wealthy lifestyles deleted related videos and apologized for promoting unhealthy consumption values. The apology came after some netizens criticized the bloggers. 

According to a report by People’s Daily and Xinhua News Agency, making videos themed on showing off wealth is popular with many bloggers as it attracts a lot of fans and has low costs.

Industry insiders revealed that filming this kind of video can be easily copied, which can start with luxury cars, famous watches and expensive villas, but the theme is always “material superiority.”

Most of the bloggers themselves are not rich, but they have a team that has connections with luxurious brands’ promotion departments. The bloggers take the role of guiding viewers for an experience rather than just obvious showing off, which is more acceptable to the viewers. 

One blogger gained 22 million followers on Douyin within three years by filming such videos. 

Some Chinese netizens said there is nothing wrong with the videos. 

“I cannot see anything improper with bloggers presenting this way of life to ordinary people. This kind of rich life has always existed, and we have the right to know about it,” one Chinese netizen commented on Sina Weibo.

Tan Tian, a professor of new media at Jinan University, told the Global Times on Monday that this kind of short video mainly satisfies viewers’ psychology of money worship, so they often have a large number of fans.

“A blogger with millions of fans should realize that as a public figure, they need to take a social responsibility in broadcasting healthy life values. But many of them lack this awareness and only see earning money as their goal,” said Tan. He suggested that the short video platforms should play a supervising role and develop a healthy online environment.