WATCH: SubwayTakes, Episode 83: Skin care is screwing us over.

By Aria Novosedlik

There’s a TikTok channel called ‘SubwayTakes’ that’s been around for the past year or more which as of late has been gaining significant traction. The sunglass and suit clad host Kareem Rahma sprawls out across one or two of NYC’s iconic orange subway seats, next to a seemingly random New York local. ‘So what’s your take?’ he asks, to which they wax poetic about things like how ‘leaf blowers should be outlawed’ or how ’Jesus wouldn’t vote for Trump’. Kareem and his interviewee then go on to spend a few minutes comically debating the hot take, and it all ends with an exit at the next stop.

I’d been watching this channel for around a year on various platforms and at first it appeared to be organic content with everyday people’s opinions. A few months back, I detected a noticeable presence of celebrity interviews in the ‘takes’, which I chalked up to being a New York thing. However, around a week ago, there was a TikTok with a strikingly attractive man giving ‘his’ take on dating. It took me a moment before I realized that his own face was plastered on a subway ad right behind him, and that ad was for Bumble. A quick scroll to the comments revealed that this was paid content for them and that he was one of their models.

WATCH: SubwayTakes, Episode 331: If somebody's not willing to take a train, cab, bus to your borough, they're just not that into you!

That gave me some social media whiplash. The Cate Blanchett take I’d watched a few months ago, where she lamented the existence of leaf blowers, aired a week before she had a movie coming out. Then there was the ad where a random woman bickered with Kareem about how Android users are better at sex. After doing some digging, it became clear that much of the content on this channel is pure marketing. 

WATCH: SubwayTakes, Episode 310: Leaf blowers need to be eradicated from the face of the earth!!

I felt like a fool, because nobody can make money from YouTube shorts without sponsors. The authenticity on this channel is hard to argue with. But it’s important to note that while ‘Subway Takes’ does include ‘sponsorship’ hashtags, they are barely visible unless you actively look for them. The way UI and UX designers have designed platforms like YouTube and the like makes stealth advertising effortless. 

It’s no surprise that this form of advertising has exploded. Gen-Z is becoming fed-up with hearing the same ads for things like food boxes, protein powder, and Vessi shoes. Stealth advertising isn’t the appetizer, it’s the main course—you just don’t know you’re eating it.

Subway Takes is creating content based on who their sponsor is, and they’re damn good at it. In fact, as someone who is chronically online, I’d say they’re the best. They’ve got a few easy wins: Kareem’s worked everywhere from VICE to the New York Times as a journalist. He’s got the true post-2008 crash cynicism that any depressed (yet still living in Manhattan) journalist should have. He’s got that ‘fuck it, it’s too late, so embrace late-stage capitalism’ attitude that can only be pulled off by his specific breed. For that, while I felt mildly duped, I commend him on his ability to close the loop between marketers and Vox pop/soapboxes. Well-played, sir. 

Countless other channels are trying to mimic this near-flawless level of stealth advertising, while skirting FTC laws. Just last night, I was listening to an episode of ‘Two Hot Takes’ where the host commented on a medically-related reddit post and then raved about ‘Zoc Doc’. If you’ve spent even five minutes on YouTube, you’ll know what that is. She emphatically insisted that ‘I’m not even saying this cuz they’re sponsors or anything!’; a very ‘she who doth protest too much’ moment. These channels aren’t quite there yet, but they’re well on their way. Most disturbing are channels like Vlad and Niki, which flagrantly violate FTC laws and take sponsorships in order to feature product placements (toys) on their kids’ channel. 

Vlad and Niki Octonauts Toy Animals Rescue Mission

Vlad and Niki’s YouTube channel has a barely visible (but still existent) line of 3pt text at the bottom of their shorts stating that the channel may have received money or free items for creating the video. Their FTC compliance is questionable. Transparency on their TikTok channel, however, doesn't even exist. Like everyone, they post the same shorts on YT and TikTok, however they do so on the later without even so much as an #Ad hashtag. The EU is currently underway with a massive investigation in to TikTok's lack of transparency, with serious concerns about violations of the Digital Services Act. If fined, TikTok will be forced to hand over 6% of its global annual turnover--something shareholders aren't exactly stoked about.

But let’s circle back to the beginning of this. In 1957, (yes, 68 years ago!) a study done by notably unsuccessful market researcher James Vicary claimed to have found that movie theatres flashing mere millisecond long (1/3000sec, to be precise) images of popcorn between film frames led to higher concession sales. Several unrelated publications from that same time bolstered this ‘finding’. A decade and a half later, Bryan Key would write ‘Subliminal Seduction’, a book which accused advertisers of things like etching the word ‘sex’ into ice cubes used for gin ads, which nobody would even be able to consciously pick up on. 

This was bunk, but had marketers thinking, and 70 years later, the ability to target a viewer’s subconscious has found new life in the digital age. Unlike flashing 1/3000 second images of popcorn, this is truly targeted and deeply emotional content. It may seem light and short, but it’s also incredibly divisive. Ring an orange, 70 year-old bell? So what’s next? Just how much can one walk the line? The FTC and Canadian equivalent require all advertisements to be disclosed, but if a simple, barely visible #sponsored is required on part of a page nobody will see, who even cares?

The only question left, and it’s a big one, is this: how much do we, as a society, demand authenticity? More on this next time.

Aria Novosedlik is a Toronto-based designer, writer and researcher.