A young mom reads the story of 'Cinderella' to her daughter as she is trying to get the little one to sleep. She leaves the room assuring her daughter that she can also be a princess and find her 'Prince Charming' one day. The mother steps out of the room only to be pulled into another by a group of fairy tale princesses―Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. The mother is confronted by the trio as to why such stories are still being read to young girls when these are “lazy misinterpretations of events that people have based their lives around for generations”. Snow White quips in, “Propaganda by manipulative male writers”. They pose an interesting question―why are women always portrayed as fair, skinny, docile and agreeable? Several rounds of humourous and sarcastic arguments later, the mother realises that fairy tales set unrealistic standards and expectations of people and need to be replaced with real life stories of inspiring women like Rani Lakshmibai, Kalpana Chawla, Malala Yousafzai and J.K. Rowling among others.
This video, titled 'Fairy Fails' by YouTube channel East India Comedy (EIC), garnered more than 3.5 lakh views. The concept is packed and presented hilariously in this six-minute video, but the thought lingers and that's precisely the point that they are trying to make.
“We just want to start the conversation and keep it going,” says Sahil Shah, one of the founders of EIC.
Facing the heat from new online entertainment platforms like Amazon Prime and Hotstar, YouTube is now joining hands with star YouTubers like EIC, All India Bakchod (AIB) and Girliyapa, to name a few, to create socially relevant content under an initiative titled 'Creators for Change'.
Content that highlights social issues proves more viewer-engaging both in the virtual and real world, and YouTube is aiming to cash in on it. Bollywood actor Kalki Koechlin's collaboration with AIB and her other works created quite a buzz around socially relevant topics. Even Nawazuddin Siddiqui's one-minute video 'Sixteen Point Six Six' generated a lot of interest on bringing out such content out.
Be it body shaming, online bullying, racism or religious intolerance, there is a variety of topics and these creators have achieved a massive following of online subscribers. The content will highlight social issues plaguing the society and it will be run on their channel. For example, BB Ki Vines, the YouTube channel by Bhuvan Bam, has highlighted in one of its videos about the Indian obsession with fair skin; AIB in one of its videos underlines the issue of online harassment faced by women and one of the early videos by Girliyapa talks about marital rape, among others topics.
“Creators for Change is the voice of the youth magnified by them,” says Satya Raghavan, the entertainment head of YouTube India.
So why is it that people get more attracted to content that has a social message? Tracy D'Souza, founder of Girliyapa throws some light on it. She says that thanks to the media and internet boom, people these days are constantly updated about what is happening around them. In such a scenario, they find content highlighting a social cause, quiet relatable. “So, they end up not just watching, but also sharing the same. “Any socially relevant video that we create garners a mix of both positive and negative reactions and sparks a debate, which makes it more popular among people. Like one of our videos titled ‘The Period Song’ received 2.5 million views organically, which speaks volumes about the response.”
Agrees Sahil Shah of EIC, “People are attracted to such content because everyone has an opinion these days. Additionally, people wants to hear a new opinion.”
Bhuvan Bam, founder of BB Ki Vines, adds, “It happens because you don't get to see any socially relevant content off the internet.”
Gaurav Gandhi, chief operating officer of Viacom18 Digital Ventures, says that the new-age viewer is different and looks for offbeat, slice-of-life content that is relatable. “The new-age viewer comprises people in the 22-40 age group—the first jobber, who has got his first reality check, people in the early stages of marriage, dealing with relationship issues and work-life conflict, and those stepping into mid-life,” he says.
Some YouTubers also feel that besides grab eyeballs and upping their subscriber base, as influencers, it is their duty to create responsible content. “We don't take up videos with a social message for subscription or eyeballs. We want to talk about the topics people have been quiet about. We are literally living in a time where politicians are making people laugh and comedians are making people think,”says Sahil. “We want to make people laugh, but if we get people to think in the process then we believe we have done our job.”
For example, Sahil says one of his team members Sapan Verma did an outrage video on student suicides. In the video, he got the whole comedy community (those who were engineers) talking about engineering and that there is more to life than just a professional degree. “We still get messages from students thanking us for changing their ideas on what life is about and what's the best way to tackle the depression one faces in a competitive educative field.”
“We all have the power to help create the world we want and when all influencers come together and join hands, it will help amplify the messaging and it will impact a wider audience,” says D'Souza.
So, what are the things that they keep in mind while creating such content? “Whenever we start making a video, we keep two things in mind—the message and how we want to say it,” says D'Souza. “The aim is to reach out to a wider audience and start a conversation. If the video hits the right chord, then views follow organically and it will also help to create a conversation around the subject.”
