MrBeast’s escape-room videos double as advertisements for his branded products.

Evidence

Specific rooms of MrBeast’s resemble or replicate film and television; part of the escape room is designed to look like the Netflix television show Floor Is Lava, a show in which contestants attempt to get money by navigating an obstacle course without touching the floor. Another centerpiece of MrBeast’s escape room is a room filled with candy. When his contestants arrive in this room, one hundred bars of chocolate fall from the sky. The contestants must open them all to find a golden ticket to progress. As they unwrap the many bars of chocolate—again taking part in a Willy Wonka-esque situation in which power is asserted through the wonders and delights of mass production—MrBeast takes the moment to introduce us to a new line of chocolate bars, bars that are ostensibly sustainable and healthy, with ethical sourcing of cacao and only five ingredients. — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 335

Categorization

• STORYSTEM: The detail that audience members who buy chocolate can win a golden ticket to become content for the MrBeast factory is a darkly perfect illustration of the influencer-as-commodity loop — any of this could seed a satirical short story or essay.