The Rise & Fall of Logan Paul
Social media is an integral and big part of our lives today. Whether it’s checking Facebook in the morning for messages or scrolling through Instagram in class, it’s an activity that takes up a large portion of our day. Vine was a very popular application that was formed in 2012. It was a platform where users could share six-second-long looping video clips. Logan Paul, born on April 1, 1995, in Westlake, Ohio, the son of Pamela Ann Stepnick and Gregory Allan Paul also popularly referred to as “vlog mom and vlog dad, Logan and his younger brother Jake began creating internet videos for a YouTube channel called Zoosh when he was 10 years old
Logan Paul gained his popularity on this application on when he and his brother Jake Paul decided to start a competition to see who could get more followers and Logan and jakes YouTube channel called “Zoosh”, inspired by another popular channel called Smosh was able to gain 1.5 million followers when he started Industrial Engineering at Ohio University not soon after he had dropped out to pursue a career as a full time social media entertainer, he moved to Los Angeles to live and work with other famous Vine stars, Logan was only 19 at the start of his career. By 2014, he had 105,000 followers on twitter, 361,000 Instagram followers and 31,000 likes on Facebook. He was also ranked the 10th most influential figure on Vine. After Vine was discontinued, he started to share more content on Facebook and YouTube. Other than his main YouTube channel called “TheOfficialLoganPaul”, which he used to upload short films, he started another channel called “Logan Paul Vlogs”, in which he documents his daily life and he uploaded videos every day from September 12, 2016 to January 1, 2018. His main YouTube channel has 4.36 million followers while his vlog channel has 15.7 million followers.
Paul also took up roles in television such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Fox TV series Weird Loners and starred in a YouTube Red movie, “The Thinning”. He also started his own clothing brand named Maverick by Logan Paul which he promotes through his vlogs. Logan Paul had widespread support and followers among youth with 59.1 million followers in all his social media accounts. He makes $150,000 per Facebook post and $80,000 for sponsored content on Instagram. Logan’s content consisted of pranks, dangerous stunts, public hijinks and a few vine compilations. Recently on his vlog channel, he released a vlog about his visit to Japan. This video received extreme backlash as he was seen to disrespect the Japanese culture. His actions included running around dressed as Pokemon, throwing objects at moving cars, being kicked out of a shrine, jumping on the back of moving vehicles, and placing dead fish on the back of a taxi. He and his friends entered the Aokigahara Forest in Japan, also known “suicide forest”, and ended up finding a dead body hanging from a tree. He then continued to walk towards the body and start filming it and start making jokes around the body and posted this content to his channel. A wave of criticism started on Facebook and Twitter against Logan as his content was extremely negative and immoral and was viewed by thousands of people before it was taken down. Many individuals were offended at Logan’s obnoxious behavior and unemotional reaction to this situation. He was suspended from YouTube Red projects and was removed from YouTube’s preferred program which gives large companies the opportunity to present ads via the top five percent of creators on the platform.
After this incident, Paul took some time off from YouTube and all other social media applications. Paul issued an apology statement on Twitter stating that he never faced criticism like this and stated that he made a mistake. He stated that he didn’t do this for views and he just wanted to raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention. Despite the apology, many remained inconsiderate and Paul still received a lot of negative reaction. With that much damaging response, Paul was also forced to release a YouTube video called “So Sorry.” YouTube took further action and suspended production of a sequel to Logan’s movie “The Thinning: New World Order” and was dropped from YouTube Red show, “Foresome” series. Logan then proceeded to appear on “Good Morning America” to further apologize about the video and discuss the break was taking and being taken off many YouTube projects.
Paul continued to take some time off social media and then released a video on his vlog channel called “Suicide: Be Here Tomorrow.” The video follows Paul learning about suicide and talking to people who have survived and want to share their experiences such as Kevin Hines who is featured in his video. Paul states that he wants to learn more about this issue and wants to spread awareness about how to prevent it. The video also features a conversation between Paul and Dr. John Draper, the director of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, he stated that we had to not talk about how bad suicide is rather how we can prevent it. Paul then continues to list the five steps to help prevent suicide: ask, listen, be there, help connect and check in. He talks more about the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and lists numbers and hotlines that can help individuals cope with depression and prevent suicide.
Logan Paul is obviously a very successful YouTuber and has been able to effectively make his mark in social media. His many fans worldwide are loyal which can be seen when he travelled to multiple countries to meet the “Logang”, a term he uses to describe his fan base. However, knowing this influence he chose to upload a video where he mocks a hanging body. In reality a huge part of has of followers are young impressionable adolescents, and a lot of who saw that disturbing video, which he claims he posed to raise awareness about suicide, a video where he and his friends mocked and laughed at a man dead body.
Logan Paul while being an interesting and hilarious, youtuber, vlogger, entrepreneur, actor, and all-around star has been was extremely irresponsible in his use of social media he sent the message that if was okay to do reckless, disrespectful and in some cases even dangerous things for example In October 2017, he revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live that he was missing 15% of his right testicle from the result of a stunt. For one of his Vine videos, he wait three days after the stunt then finally decided to go to a hospital where he was told the right testicle had been damaged, amongst all the things he has done, there have been good things and with all the potential and reach he possess this is how he choose to influence an entire generation, yes it is true he did meet his goal of achieving stardom as an entertainer but his sometimes childish, irresponsible and ill-mannered behavior was his down fall, many even believe he did this for a publicity stunt and while many fans are wishing they could say he is not that kind of person given the content of some past videos some are not sure, but in the end I do believe Logan was trying to make amends and he is know back to his daily routine, but will he be able to rise from the ashes of his career? That is yet to be seen.
Sources-
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_Paul
- https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/24/16924168/logan-paul-returns-youtube-suicide-controversy
- http://www.ballstatedaily.com/article/2018/01/logan-pauls-suicide-video-what-it-means-to-japan
- http://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-42786609
