Josie holds her microphone out to the farmer who just cooked her a meal and asks: “What would you say to anyone who thinks Egypt is full of scammers?”
It’s awkward – for him, and for the viewer. The farmer laughs uncomfortably, then defends his neighbours, friends, family, and country. Of course he does. What a lazy question, based on a lazy stereotype.
Josie is making a video that’s in conversation with other YouTube videos encouraging tourists and travellers not to visit Egypt or Cairo – unless they want to be scammed. She’s trying to create a counter narrative that says Egypt is a varied place, with all kinds of people, just like everywhere else. It’s called “100 hours in the ‘scam capital of the world’ as a woman.”
She’s just one of the many travel vloggers turning simple trips into videos designed for millions of views and high engagement. That usually means clickbaity thumbnails, dramatic titles, and an over-the-top, Americanised storytelling style.
YouTube is overrun with a kind of ‘make YouTube videos and get rich’ pyramid scheme. The common advice? Learn storytelling. But instead of showing that there are many ways to tell a story, YouTubers insist every story needs a hero and a villain.
That structure almost guarantees someone will be cast as the villain. Often a local, often a person of colour. Even though Josie isn’t actively hunting for villains, she spreads the stereotype, and for a second casts her hosts as villains to create tension and drama. So, even when trying to offer a different angle on the “scammers” narrative, she ends up spreading a myth, insulting Egyptians, and chasing controversy – because that’s what the platform rewards.
It makes me worry about the perceptions that are being cast about other places and people in the pursuit of ad revenue and sponsors. It’s great that anyone with a camera can post a video, but what happens when that person begins to antagonise locals or move scenes around to create drama and tension? If they go on a trip and nothing happens, do they still make a video?
Can travel vloggers take their hands out of the cookie jar for long enough to make travel content that’s watched by millions because it’s rich with cultural insights rather than controversy?