Save your outrage, YouTuber Nicole Arbour says her “Dear Fat People” was just a marketing stunt.
“I made a marketing plan behind it, the same way that anyone makes marketing plans for anything. So, I kind of loaded the bases, like baseball,” Arbour told Cosmopolitan of her strategy of posting increasingly controversial videos. “There’s been tens of thousands of dollars just from that one specifically. It’s changed my life financially.”
Prior to posting “Dear Fat People,” Arbour did post several other baiting videos attacking the likes of Instagram Models and divorcees. “Dear Fat People” hit with 8.9 million views, making waves throughout pop culture this year, with celebrities like Chrissy Teigen reacting to Arbour’s fat-shaming message in People, and Arbour making appearances on shows like The View.
Arbour followed the clip up with other videos with controversial titles, like “Dear Black People” and “Dear Refugees.” Her follow ups haven’t done as well as the original, but Arbour claims it was all to build her brand, bring in income, and get her potential TV and film roles.
“I’ve got a bunch of really cool TV offers coming my way right now, and lots of sponsors coming to me to make cool videos for them, branded content for them or ad campaigns for them,” she told Cosmopolitan.
While she denied reports that the video cost her a potential film role in September, neither she nor her representative gave the magazine any specifics on future projects. For now, she’s just continuing to make more videos in hopes of courting more attention via offense.
H/T Cosmopolitan | Screengrab via Nicole Arbour/YouTube