Case Study of Logan Paul
Whether you love him or hate him, Logan Paul is one of the most famous influencers in the world. At the age of twenty-four Paul has become a millionaire despite being on of the most controversial figures. His has an immense amount of followers. He has nearly twenty-five million subscribers on his youtube channels. His instagram account he has twenty-two point four million followers while on his tik tok he has fourteen point four. Even though Youtube is his main platform, he has been able to extend his reach to many different forms of media and be apart of people’s lives. He has been apart of television shows, boxing events, and even plans to make his way into WWE. Through many different strategy Logan Paul has been able to make a legacy for the Paul name and ensure he can reach all types of people.
Logan Paul first appearance to social media was ten years old on the platform called Zoosh. On this platform he would record a variety of videos, the most typically form would be prank call videos. Here he did not have a huge following yet. However, this all changed when he started on the app Vine, which is no longer in service. On this social network there were six second videos where Paul would make pranks, stunts, or tell jokes. This is where he began to have a large following. By the end of Vine, he was able to gain nine point four million followers. Because of his immense popularity, he appeared in commercials for many brands including Hanes and HBO. On his social media platforms he was able to make money from his sponsors where he would make around one hundred and fifty thousand dollars on Facebook post and about eighty thousand dollars for an instagram post. Near the end of Vine he decided to make his way onto Youtube making vlog content. Around the same time he made appearances on shows such as Law and Order SVU. In 2018, he launched his podcast Impulsive, which is now one of the most popular podcast in the world. In August of 2018, he boxed KIS at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. He fought him again in 2019. Later he went to box Floyed Mayweather.
Although looking at his credentials, Logan Paul has faced many scandals, which forced him to use straigedys to save his career. One of his earliest and biggest scandals took place in December of 2017 when he posted a video on one of his channels from the Sucide Forest. Within this video it showed the group of Logan Paul and his friends exploring Aokigahara (a forest in Japan). It has gained the nick name the Suicde forest since about a hundred people a year take their life. During the duration of the video, Paul and his group stumble upon a dead body. He shows the body hanging from a tree while making jokes about the man who had committed sucide. After publishing the video to his channel, he got major backlash. He was dropped from Youtube’s preddered program, kicked out of Youtube’s show Foursome, lost subscribers, views slowed down, and Youtube stopped promoting his account. This major mistake from Paul could have been the end of his career, but he made many steps to change the public’s opinion.
The major goal after the 2017 controversy for Logan Paul was to change the public’s opinion. Media has the ability to change public opinion completely and because of this Paul makes very calculated moves. The first thing he did was make a tweet apologizing for the video. Within this tweet he claimed that he did not post the videos for views, but instead did it to shine a light on sucide. Unfortunately for Paul, this did not change public opinion and if anything made more people upset with him. The next thing he did was make an apology video, which was able to change some people’s minds regarding what happed, but not all. Logan Paul’s content is him being himself. Unlike TV shows, his videos are showing people who he is and what he is like. For some of his viewers, they already had a parasocial relationship with him. Those who did have this sort of relationship with hin felt as if they had a connection with Paul and brought feelings of pleasure. The apology video was one minute and forty-four seconds. The format was an unedited video of just Paul. He is seened almost teary eyed and he is talking quietly. This format of Apology videos can be seen all over Youtube. It is to try clean the slate with viewers and promising to do better in the future.
The apology video titled “So Sorry” helped fix some of the stigma surrounding Logan Paul, but not all of it. This lead to about a month break from posting. When he returned to Youtube, he posted a mini documentary about Sucide. In the seven minute video called “Sucide:Be here tomorrow” he interviews some of those who have tried to commit sucide and those who deal with sucide. This was aimed to teach his audience about sucide. He also showed his ignorance on the subject before this journey he went through. The whole purpose of this video was to try and make the pulica accept him again. He wanted to show them that he understands that he made a mistake and has learned from it. He also claimed to have donated one million dollars towards sucide prevention organizations. The hiatus of Paul has been seen from many social media stars who have faced controversy, the most notable being Shane Dawson and David Dobrick.
Even though he came back to Youtube after this controversy, he did not stay away from them. Only a few weeks into his return, he posted a video of himself tasering two dead rats. Many people wanted him to be removed from Youtube completely, but this never happened. During all this internet drama, at the start of 2018 Logan Paul announced that he would box KSI. For logan Paul this became his “red herring”. He used this major boxing match to try to distract the public from the controversy he kept finding himself in. Not only did this move him away from his previous mistakes, but made more people talk about him. Those who did not know him from vine or Youtube began to hear about him boxing. This brought him into the sporting world. People began debating whether or not Youtubers could be taken seriously within the boxing world.
His step into the boxing world allowed him to create a bigger business for himself. His boxing rival was from the United Kingdom and while Logan was there he saw that there were not drinks like Gatorade or Powerade. This caused him to create a sports drink with KSI called PRIME. To launch his drink he posted many intense tik toks. Some he was doing crazy stunts, parachuting, and making funny videos. This caused him to sell out.
Logan Paul’s ability to connect with his fans and his ability to change focus is what has made Logan Paul the success he is today. Through his vlogs and his podcast he was able to show his fans who he is. On his vlogs he is able to show them his funny and adventerous side. On his podcast he was able to connect with his fans through talking about his opinion and outlook on life. His pattern of changing what he is doing and broading his scope brings more viewers overall to him. This change also allows people to forget his past and try to stay caught up with what he is doing. Many hate Logan Paul, but his success is undeniable.
References
Baragona, L. (2018, January 02). 6 things to know about Logan Paul, the. controversial YouTube star who filmed a dead body in Japan's 'suicide forest'. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-logan-paul-2018-1?op=1
Baragona, L. (2018, January 02). 6 things to know about Logan Paul, the controversial YouTube star who filmed a dead body in Japan's 'suicide forest'. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-logan-paul-2018-1?op=1#he-aspires-to-take-on-serious-acting-roles-6
Chen, J. (2018, June 25). Logan Paul on Backlash: 'I've Never Been Hated By the Whole World'. Retrieved from https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/logan-paul-addresses-backlash-ive-never-been-hated-by-the-whole-world-205544/
How did Logan Paul become famous, and what's his net worth? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://win.gg/news/how-did-logan-paul-become-famous-and-whats-his-net-worth-question-mark/
Leskin, P. (2019, November 11). How Logan Paul went from making videos in his backyard to becoming a 24-year-old millionaire and one of the most controversial stars on YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-logan-paul-2018-2
Rohde, P. (2019). Value of Soft News and Celebrity News – ‘It Is [Not] All the Same’: What Celebrity Journalism Can Learn From the ‘Logan Paul Suicide Forest Scandal’. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3465051
Romano, A. (2018, January 03). Logan Paul, and the toxic YouTube prank culture that created him, explained. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2018/1/3/16841160/logan-paul-aokigahara-suicide-controversy
The story behind YouTube's most controversial video. (2018, April 11). Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/logan-paul-video-what-is-aokigahara-suicide-forest-show-youtube-post-dead-body-latest-news-a8137561.html
