Brittany Broski Pitches Herself

And understanding why influencers are silent.

So…I recently became mildly obsessed at the subtext of an interview by the internet’s newest big sister, Brittany Broski.

If you haven’t heard of her before, let me introduce you. Brittany Tomlinson, known professionally as Brittany Broski, is an online creator who rose to prominence due to a 2019 viral video of her trying the drink kombucha for the first time. After that virality led her to lose her corporate job, she pursued and found further success online, striking the balance of accessible, often juvenile humour and a more measured, emotionally mature persona. As of 2023, she hosts a podcast, posts regularly on YouTube, and produces a monthly interview style show entitled ‘Brittany Broski’s Royal Court’ (2023-present).

If you’ve been on the internet long enough, you’ll recognise the foundational elements of the formula Tomlinson is clearly following with her content. She harkens back to a certain brand of online female comedienne, pairing the often deadpan and always uncomfortable punchlines of a Grace Helbig to the goofiness of a Jenna Mourey (Jenna Marbles). On a YouTube landscape that has been fairly bereft of this kind of creator. On a platform that has seen creators become increasingly ambitious and niche, her brand of all-purpose charisma is almost nostalgic.

On a personal note, I’ve been following this woman online since the 2020 (and beyond) pandemic left me with too much time and not enough stimulation. Her videos with roommate and former Vine Star turned comedian Sarah Schauer were fun and mindless. Her chemistry with Drag Queen Trixie Mattel still leaves me giggling if I rewatch. But in the back of my mind, I was always watching from a distance. But it’s undeniable that she is fun on screen.

Larger brands have clearly noticed that she’s good at the job of being likeable. TikTok’s Official Podcast in 2020 utilised her as it’s host, and later that year she presented at the Streamy Awards – an industry event that should be understood as a testing ground. In the past few years, Broski has interviewed stars like Harry Styles for ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ (2022), Nicki Minaj at the ‘Barbie’ (2023) premiere, and Hozier, prior to a concert in 2023.

I bring all this table setting up for two reasons. The first is that, in the context of this conversation, we are talking about somebody who is on an undeniable hot streak. Tomlinson should be understood as the latest online creator to be given the opportunity to establish themselves as an entertainment personality. The second is that she is undeniably taking these opportunities and building upon them.

Which is why her recent appearance on ‘The Colin and Samir Show’ was so…fascinating. This is, in effect, a 2-hour conversation about the business side of being an influencer, between three online creators, without any of the traditional minimising of that role within entertainment. It’s a woman at what might be the peak of her entertainment career, talking openly about her ambitions and failures. The meeting of human and brand. Not the first of it's kind, and certainly not the last.

YouTubers and online content creators have been talking about themselves as brands in increasingly explicit ways. Some go the introspective route, but Tomlinson isn’t really approaching this as an outsider. It isn’t an interview about exposing an inner life. It is also, without a doubt, not an interview with the primary goal of entertaining the audience.

It's a pitching session.

The interview itself might be long, but there’s only three real talking points you should take away from this:

-       Brittany Tomlinson has learned her lesson about bad management companies and is grateful to her current management.

-       Brittany Tomlinson is not walking away from her online space and should not be compared to online creators who have made that mistake.

-       Brittany Tomlinson has a production company and is open to working with brands to create online content.

To be quite blunt: this is an interview where the intended audience isn’t the fans, but the wider entertainment industry. She outlines her credentials, makes explicit comparisons to other professionals in her field she wants to emulate in terms of success, publicizes that she has a strong work ethic and the ambition to push through the burnout. It’s basically a video resume to YouTube. A corporate branding opportunity. Masked, maybe even unintentionally, as yet another peak behind the curtain.

“We’ve got Broski Productions in the works.” – Brittany Tomlinson, The Colin and Samir Show, 2023

There’s several interesting things about this, one being her consistent and fascinating choice to distance herself from other women on YouTube, both contemporary and historic. Despite having received consistent comparisons to Jenna Mourey (once again, Jenna Marbles), Tomlinson explicitly ties her brand to the men of YouTube.

Cody Kolodziejzyk (Cody Ko) is her main point of comparison here. She equivalences her process and work to him, dismissing potential similarities to the likes of Lilly Singh. Despite both being successful, relatable content creators with broader ambitions towards mainstream success, Tomlinson makes it clear she won’t make the same mistakes Singh did. Those mistakes being…abandoning the online space, and apparently nothing else. The Kolodziejzyk comparison is doubly interesting, because he is a direct contemporary of Schauer, her roommate and frequent collaborator.

I don’t want this to be mistaken for me saying Brittany Tomlinson is a victim of internalised misogyny who hates other women. For starters, Sarah Schauer is a non-binary comedian. More seriously, I don’t think this is about tearing other women down. It’s about not aligning herself with a category of content creators that have historically explicit use-by-dates.

Outside of Mourey, who bowed out of online celebrity in 2020, the majority of women in the same position as Tomlinson have not had careers with longevity. They start of huge, peak 3-5 years in, and then burn out very quickly. Usually due to unfortunate attempts to diversify. Something that is clearly on her mind, particularly as her attempt to create an online show with the explicit intention of entering the promotion circuit fails to do more than meet her standard mid to low tier viewership numbers.

She clearly wants to be seen as having a diverse and unique skill set. To buck the trand of women flaming out online, even as she acknowledges that the way to do so is burning her out. She points to her podcast, interview show, and more general online content as points of divergence from a formula. Nods to the infrequent academic videos she produces for her channel, like a recent outing discussing a condensed history of modern propaganda. But the majority of this content is, ultimately, very similar. It’s telling that she cannot see a stagnation in her persona. In many ways, it reminds me of Helbig and her very brief stint as a television personality. Except instead of an inability to adapt persona, Tomlinson struggles to adapt form.

But moving away from the entertainment side of things, what exactly is the brand Tomlinson is selling here? It’s more than just “female comedy personality”. If she just wanted to be seen as funny, she wouldn’t have pointed to her more academic style content. Nor would she, in a general sense, allow herself to be culturally and ethically aware in her content. Viral clips of her talking about both her complicate feelings towards womanhood, and her need to be an ally to LGBTQ+ people, have gone viral on multiple platforms. Because the secondary side to the brand she is selling is an easy politicism. She’s a friend to all, and an ally to most.

In 2023, I don’t think any celebrity or brand expected to have to deal with the fallout of an 80+ year political ticking timebomb. After decades of apathy towards the ongoing tensions and martial conflicts between Palestine and Israel, October of 2023 has seen an outpouring of support behind the occupied people of Gaza and the West Bank. For over a month now, videos of bombings, stories of orphaned and dead children, and an increasingly staggering death count has poured out onto social media.

The general response from the entertainment community, still amidst the strikes sparked by A.I., was almost universal silence. Where they weren’t silent, there were hastily withdrawn sentiments towards Israel, and often limp genuflecting towards a “death is bad” sentiment that refused to engage with the conflict at hand or denounce the Israeli attacks. A stance that generally infuriated a public who had spent the past year seeing explicit support for Ukraine.

Those who did attempt to speak, like Selena Gomez, found themselves lighting a powder keg of resentment and frustration against a very visible class of people who seemed frozen to the outcries from their fans.  Tepid denunciations of “violence” were consistently met with derision and rage. It took weeks for an official, consistent line to be formed, where celebrities felt comfortable to sign in support of a ceasefire. Politicians across the globe, with few exceptions, have seemingly decided that the word itself is taboo. Protests have been minimally covered by conventional news sources, if not totally ignored. And so people have looked to boosting their stances online.

“Influencers are thought leaders, whether you like it or not.” – Sarah Shauer, 2023

Then there’s influencers. The online creators who brands turn to when they can’t afford or can’t capitalise on more traditional celebrities. Most were equally silent. Many feigned ignorance, or just straight up ignored requests to speak to their fans demands to speak on behalf of Palestine. Because most of these influencers are apolitical. That does not mean they lack personal opinion, critical thinking skills, or humanity. Their brands just sit outside of these constraints.

Tomlinson is not.

In an online space where most people say nothing, she had defined herself has someone who would always speak up, regardless of the consequences. The obvious result of this is, when she chose to not acknowledge this very public topic where you have to grapple with hospitals being bombed, people assume she does not care. Because if she did, would she not say something?

This is the consequence of performing political awareness as part of your brand. The exact reason why most celebrities have been silent on this current topic, and every topic that isn’t culturally safe. The moment you align yourself to politics, you are making yourself political. Your fans, and those adjacent, will expect a statement. I believe she is sincere in these beliefs. But her choice to announce herself as someone who speaks up, when her political stances are fairly pedestrian, makes her silence deafening. In the context of statements made only months prior, it is understandable that fans might feel this is a betrayal.

“I don’t want to hear what you have to say if it’s actively going to take away another person’s human rights.” – Brittany Tomlinson, 2023

Tomlinson is not the only online creator who has said nothing. Most haven’t. But she has become a lightning rod for viewers who are uncomfortable by the silence. If you search her name up on TikTok, you’ll see dozens of videos either calling her out directly, or adding her name to a list of people who are silent about Israel’s bombings on Palestine. People who may not even be invested in the ‘Brittany Broski’ as a brand, but know she has a history of speaking up.

But in the context of the interview, it makes perfect sense. Smart media brands have said nothing, and at most, will be among the last to sign the petitions. They’ll escape the boycotts and fail to appear on any lists. If you have no immediate history or commercial future with Israel or Palestine, you can afford to do nothing. There is no benefit to be on the frontlines and attaching your name to any issue. All risk, no reward.

The tactic of silence is still the most effective, even in an age of increased and aestheticized political engagement. Her brand is comfortable. Political enough to spark interest in those who actually don’t care about politics. Distinct enough to play to an audience who desperately wants to consider their media consumption habits as moral and good. The fact that Brittany Tomlinson is a human being who may have thoughts and feelings on the subject is almost irrelevant.

The end of “Jenna Marbles” as a channel and character is interesting in this context, because she was also someone who began to play into the brand. Mourey was not overtly political, but she became increasingly beloved as a “non-problematic” figure in the community. Particularly as titans in the industry, like Shane Yaw (Shane Dawson), saw themselves slowly crumbling under the weight of their long and offensive history. When people began to scrutinise her own racially insensitive past, particularly her use of blackface in the early 2010s, Mourey bowed out on her own terms. Fans still mourn her decision to leave, often outright refusing to engage with criticisms that she herself grappled with in her final video.

I doubt Tomlinson will have to deal with anything similar. Her approach to branding has been consistent too safe and media-friendly to actively be anything that raw and paranoid. The interview itself is a testament to her goals as a media personality.

In the rush to manufacture authenticity, influencers now adapt the act of being a living, breathing brand into the act of being “real”. The character of “Brittany Broski” is separate from Brittany Tomlinson, in the same way that “Jenna Marbles” was not Mourey. I’ve gone out of my way in this article to step back from whatever mind games are being played here, because these are real people. Mourey was a middle-aged woman who retired from a very lucrative career as it became clear she was about to face a turbulent period. Tomlinson is a woman trying very hard to build a career with relative stability.

And you and I are the people who watch. The viewers, and also the product. The attention used as a justification for this career. Your time is worth money, not just to yourself, but to others. Maybe even more to others. Metrics are leverage. You’re a number. Your choices matter.

I want to end this by saying that Tomlinson should not be treated as the latest “villain of the week” for social media. Considering how many influencers are actively bucking boycotts, even those they’re actively promoting, silence is at least an unembarrassing choice. But in writing this article, I kept coming back to the real world, wider issues at hand. People are dying under horrific circumstances. 2023 has made it increasingly difficult to limit focus to just the frivolous things. UtterlyVapid will not become a political newsletter - mostly because I am not a journalist and don’t feel comfortable trying to make that kind of pivot. But part of why I’ve found myself unable to keep up a weekly release is that sense of futility.

We should all be mad. We should all stand with oppressed peoples. We should all want a better world, not just for ourselves, and our friends, and our futures. It should be for everyone. It doesn’t need to touch you to matter.

Free Palestine.