Ricky Gervais has taken aim at influencer culture – specifically the Kardashian family – in an online rant.
The comedian was speaking on a Periscope live and had taken a sip of a beer from craft brewer Brew Dog.
Gervais gave a shoutout to the brand and then launched into his spiel about the culture around sponsored posts and influencers.
“I keep getting these things, right, like proper mental money to do endorsed tweets,” he said.
“I’d heard about it, like the Kardashians get £20,000 for sitting on a bench saying, ‘ooh, I love this new chocolate bar’.
“I think that’s sort of embarrassing. I want myself to be real. I don’t mind doing an advert when everyone knows I got paid to do an advert.”
Gervais went on to say that the money spent on paying these influencers could be better spent supporting health workers and other charitable causes.
You can see video below here.
We didn’t have to pay for this publicity so we donated money to these charities instead @Nowzad @AllDogsMatter @AnimalsAsia @Paws2RescueUK
Cheers @rickygervais 🍻🐶 pic.twitter.com/3AYfnSNmIA
— BrewDog (@BrewDog) July 13, 2020
True to Gervais’s message, Brew Dog revealed it would be donating money to charity in exchange for the publicity.
Gervais’s apparent disinterest in sponsored posts and ads will remind many Australian viewers of his ‘anti-ad’ series with Optus a few years ago.
The campaign included one ad where Gervais simply says the word “Optus” from his bathtub and another that sees the comedian explaining he needs a “shedload of cash” to do the promotion , and explaining he “doesn’t want to put any effort into it”.
You can see the hilarious ads below.
