On May 7, a video was uploaded containing a shocking revelation of the YouTube channel 'Gabsupasture Disclosure.' 'Gabsupasture' is a YouTube channel run by a veterinary college student, that mainly uploads videos of cats and has more than 500,000 subscribers.
The disclosure was as follows. The channel operator decorated cats he bought from a pet shop as if they were abandoned cats, and he filmed a video after not feeding them.
In response, the operator of 'Gabsupasture' posted a video explaining that all of them were false. Still, it was difficult to know the truth about the allegations because most of them were excuses that were close to emotional appeals.
Recently, SNS has become a useful marketing tool beyond sharing daily life. Notably, many creators are increasing on YouTube, because if a YouTube channel exceeds specific criteria, creators can earn money. As a result, animal content videos have also increased dramatically.
How should we look at these 'animal content' videos? If you just consume it as cute, you will see another example of 'Gabsupasture.'
I think all the 'animal content' videos are a kind of animal abuse because it is not known whether animals like to be photographed or not. For example, even if there are animals that love being photographed, there may be moments when they don't like it. Besides, Kang Hyung-wook, an animal trainer, insists that dogs are reluctant to take pictures because they think that the camera lens is an eye and that someone is looking at them.
This is not the only problem. Beyond taking pictures of animals' daily lives, videos that create special situations, such as "making transparent walls" and "if the owner pretends to be dead" and watching the animal reactions, are trending. Are animals really happy with this situation? No one knows. So, we have to be more careful because viewing animal content without any awareness may be an act of commercializing animals.
Based on the case of 'Gabsupasture,' I hope it will be an opportunity to re-examine the standards of animal commercialization and abuse. In addition, I think stricter rules for animal commercialization and exploitation are needed on an institutional level beyond autonomous ethical standards.
