Sponsor consultation
Hey Patrons! So, I've been approached by a new sponsor: Better Help. I wasn't aware of it at first, but it seems that Better Help has had some controversy recently.
The upcoming video is on depression, and it might be a good fit for Better Help. My question to all of you is, what do you think? Should we take this sponsorship, or do we pass? I'm told that I can talk about the prior controversy and directly address it. But as you've all often helped as Moon Channel's moral compass, I figured I'd run this past you first, and see your thoughts. What do you think?
Comments (23)
This is a terrible idea! BetterHelp puts poorly trained volunteers in place of actual counselors, and they do not respect the privacy of the health data communicated over the service. I would recommend staying far, far away from BetterHelp, apart from pointing out their controversies.
I agree with the majority consensus here that you should avoid any sponsorship from Better Help, especially on a video about depression. If you include such a sponsorship on such a video, it will act to de-legitimize the content of the video. Your content is so nuanced, accurate, sensitive, and valuable that I firmly would advise you to avoid any activity that could detract from the legitimacy of the video, perceived or otherwise.
I would pass, from everything I've heard they seem to be a bad company for both their customers and the psychologists who work for them
I got here late, but yeah, as a mental health therapist in training, Better Help is absolutely a no-go. I'm glad you checked in to get the details on it!
Hi Moony, as you can see, Better Help has a spotty reputation. One of my favorite channels, Dr. Geoff Lindsey, had Better Help as a sponsor for his video, "REPETITIVE INTONATION on YouTube!" ( https://youtu.be/4IJLyFAzYes?si=9l9g5z4P8jcVgk2q). He provided his reasoning, which seemed sound, for accepting the sponsorship despite BetterHelp's bad press, and he linked to a fairly in-depth reddit artcle from CinemaTherapy regarding their experience ending, then restarting, a sponsorship with BetterHelp (https://www.reddit.com/r/cinema_therapy/comments/1dpriql/addressing_the_betterhelp_concerns_headon_deep/). Despite the really good, in-depth (text -- not video, which is probably less compelling) explainations from those fairly reputable youtubers, the comments were brutal; many assumed Lindsey and CinemaTherapy had done no research into their own sponsor at all. While I'd actually love to hear your take on BetterHelp's controversy and reputation, I'm not sure other viewers would like that, and I certainly wouldn't want the sponsorship to overshadow your actual video.
Yeah I would honestly love to see a in depths video on the legal side of better helps controversy.
Thank you all for the incredible context. I'm going to turn them down, and we'll do the next video sans sponsor. I'd frankly like to do away with sponsors entirely in the future: we'll see if we can do that sooner rather than later.
And thank you all for being willing to speak up and help guide me along! I'm not that plugged into the Internet, and your insights have helped me to navigate the channel in what I hope is a moral and dignified manner.
Everyone else here has said it better than I would, so I'm just gonna say I don't think it's a good idea to have them on board as a sponsor
Yeah, even if BetterHelp is trying to clean themselves up, I think the optics on that sponsorship would be harmful to you. I would pass on them, at least for now.
Speaking as someone who has actually tried BetterHelp and had good and bad experiences.
Couldn't agree more with what's already been said - they're here to make money, not help people. Raid shadow legends would be more respectable a funding source than Better Help
Do not take their money on this one.
Hard Pass. Not only is their reputation bad, but attaching a potentially sketchy sponsor of this type to a video with such a serious topic is at least ill-advised.
I’d caution against it. I don’t think commoditizing therapy is the best way to help people. It’s always felt predatory to me.
While it sounds fitting that the upcoming video is about depression, a service as controversial as Better Help would leave any informed viewers with a bad taste in their mouth. Criticisms of their prices, unhelpful workers, difficulty canceling, and sharing privacy with third parties seems have been going on for years I would advise against it
BetterHelp has proven again and again over the years that they are a terrible, unreliable, harmful service. Please, please, please don't take their money. There's countless reports of how untrustworthy they are, and the only reason they've lasted as long as they have is because they somehow keep getting the money to offer sponsorships to tons of YouTubers. A video on depression sponsored by BetterHelp would be so massively tone deaf I'm thinking a large amount of people would drop the video as soon as the sponsorship pitch begins. I know I sound really dramatic about it but seriously, not a good idea.
I won’t blame anyone for taking the sponsorship, but I’d advise against it.
IIRC BetterHelp has some issues with connecting people to non-credentialed therapists, and seems exploitative of the profession though I suppose it’s a matter of asking is it better to have poor quality help than not at all? I’m mostly indifferent to the service, haven’t used it myself, and I’ve seen it around often enough that it’s background noise by now. If it’ll help the channel and future projects then I don’t particularly mind.
If you want to promote therapy, consider mentioning forms of therapy that are actually proven to be effective, such as DBT.
DBT is the BEST!!!
I have heard that they have made improvements, but I am still quite skeptical of them.
Absolutely do not take this sponsorship, especially for a video about depression. Better Help is fundamentally not a proper mental health service.