Gen Z’s true cultural leaders were algorithm-driven content creators operating outside the industry

Evidence

The true leaders of Gen Z were the top posters on digital platforms—those who believed the entire point of culture was to create content that garnered millions of views and provided enough revenue to not require taking a normal job. … Take MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), who became YouTube’s number-one creator with grandiose video stunts, often centered on giving away large sums of money. … He, too, leveraged his success into producing low-quality private-label goods. This included the MrBeast Burger chain, which received complaints for serving undercooked meat. And he worked with Logan Paul and Olajide “KSI” Olatunji on Lunchly, a copycat version of Lunchables in which the cheese sometimes molded before its expiration date. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 670

Categorization

• SEED: MrBeast’s low-quality private-label goods (undercooked burgers, molding Lunchly cheese) as monoculture’s hollow material form — a good illustration for the counter-case essay that the era’s signature is hyper-monetized content, not blankness.