Badabun

Badabun Network is a Mexican Internet production company. In 2014, Badabun started as a YouTube channel, where they originally uploaded top videos and street surveys, with elements of humor.[1] Years later, Badabun grew quickly thanks to a lot of Internet celebrities who criticized their content. They have created productions like Atrapando infieles, Entrevistamos A, Mansión del influencer and Exponiendo infieles, the latter being their most popular.[2] They have also had people like Alex Flores, Daniel Alfaro, and Lizbeth Rodríguez as employees.[3] In the video YouTube Rewind 2019: For the Record, 2019 edition of YouTube Rewind, Badabun was listed as the most popular Spanish-language channel.[4] Their popularity increased in early 2020 for cheating a Super Mario Bros speedrun and passing it off as their own in Pasando Super Mario Bros. En 5 minutos.

Badabun
OriginMexico
Websitebadabun.co
YouTube information
Channel
Created byCésar Morales
Years active2014 - present
Subscribers43.7 million
(November 2020)
Total views16.8 billion
(November 2020)

Badabun has received a lot of critics, as their content has been described as "sensationalistic" and "false",[5] as well as accusations from their workers, including laboural bullying, sexual bullying and homophobic attacks.[3]

History

Badabun was founded in 2010 by six law students from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, including Heber Bujorquez and the former CEO of the company, César Morales. They thought about creating an app that may find lawyers via geolocation to answer questions about legal issues, which the creators defined as "a lawyers' Uber." However, the project failed due to lack of funds and interest. Three years later, Morales wrote blogs about history facts that did not raise interest in the viewers. Their first trend was an article called 7 cosas que no conocías de El Chapo ("7 things you didn't know about El Chapo"). Later articles were also successful. During such time, the company dedicated time helping monetize Facebook pages, and taught how to win money with the Internet.[6] Despite this, the founders saw that videos were more popular than articles, and in 2015, they decided to create exclusively audiovisual content. A while after the media coverage that the site gained, radio announcer Víctor González joined the team, becoming a channel icon.[7]

Their YouTube channel was created in October 2014, and their first video was published on 5th December of the same year, called 10 cualidades que todo hombre desea en una mujer ("Ten qualities that every man seeks in a woman"). Their first videos discuss curiosities, tricks, experiments and general viral content.[2] In December 2016, the channel reached 1 million subscribers, and their video format would be the same, while also adding street surveys. By the end of 2017, they had 5 million subscribers, and at the same time, they started the production of Exponiendo infieles, which generated much larger growth, becoming one of the most important series of the company.[1] Other productions include Mansión del influencer, with a reality TV format in which influencers interact between each other, comedy series WTF Comedy, Entrevistamos a, and Qué pasaría si..., where they explain the consequences of fictional events.[8]

In January 2019, Badabun's YouTube channel surpassed the YouTube channel elrubiusOMG in the number of subscribers, becoming the second-most subscribed Spanish-language channel, behind Chilean channel HolaSoyGerman.[9] In December of the same year, in the video YouTube Rewind 2019: For the Record, the tenth edition of YouTube Rewind, the channel was highlighted as the channel in Spanish with the most amount of suscribers.[10]

Critics and controversies

Ever since Badabun received media coverage, they have been a target of criticism, involved in a lot of controversies. One of the main criticisms of the company is the use of clickbait in their content, or the usage of unreliable content.[11] Their series Exponiendo infieles was accused for committing fraud several times, saying that participants were hired to fake infidelity.[12] In December 2019, the former actor of the team, Lucas Petroni, said that the company originally hired him for an episode of that series. He also says that his engagement with the also former actress Daniela "Queen" Buenrostro was made up by the company.[13]

On 6 December 2019, former team employees Alex Flores, Dani Alfaro, Daniela "Queen" Buenrostro, Kevin Achutegui, and Kim Shantal, together with the YouTuber Juan De Dios Pantoja, made a video denouncing sexual bullying, laboural bullying, and homophobia that they suffered while working with the company, specifically from CEO César Morales. In the 37-minute video, they announced that the actors suffer labor exploitation, making them work up to twenty hours a day to create content;[14] and forcing them to do things against their will, such as fake rescue moments, giving gifts to people, and making up romantic relationships to gain audiences.[15] They also said that they were forced to sign abusive contracts, in which they give up control of everything they do, including their social media, and that they were victims of verbal abuse, specially women, who were insulted at "for good purposes". They did not emphasize too much on other subjects, such as sexual bullying or homophobia. [16] Days after the complaint, former employee Daniela Lorea published a video accusing Morales of sexual bullying, and YouTuber Carolina Díaz complained in a Instagram live stream that she also suffered sexual and rape attempts by Morales. After this, Badabun confirmed the dismissal of Morales on December 11.[17]

In December 15, Morales conducted an interview in the YouTube channel of Víctor González. He stated that money, and a problem with Juan De Dios Pantoja, triggered the polemic. Over a year before Badabun, Pantoja and the Badabun team created the Jukidog channel, which in a few months gained millions of suscribers. Badabun would make investments, and Pantoja would do distribution and advertising. Approximately 3 million Mexican pesos were invested in the project, but did not meet expected results. Then, in a meeting with all YouTubers of the company, it was decided that the art team would not be necessary anymore. Morales opposed the dismissal, and had the idea to use Jukidog to create more content, and that it may generate incomes for his salaries. He said that Pantoja was annoyed by the event, and that later, Pantoja made a lot of claims to the company through social media. Regarding labor abuse, he said: "Guys, it would be good that you accept that all you said was made up, and with lies, we will not agree on anything; you should be honest and say the truth. If any infringement exists, I suggest to you go to ministry and report it".[18]

Lizbeth Rodríguez spoke out against Badabun stating she would no longer continue to work with the company.[19]

Allegations of plagiarism

On January 10, 2020, Youtuber Karl Jobst published a video analyzing Badabun's video "Pasando Super Mario en 5 minutos" (Passing Super Mario in 5 minutes). Jobst stated that their video, appearing to be a legitimate speedrun of the game Super Mario Bros., had actually compiled footage from multiple other sources while claiming them to be their own.[20]

See also

References
  1. Emilio (22 January 2019). "Qué es Badabun, el canal mexicano que ha desbancado a ElRubius en YouTube". El País. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  2. "Qué es Badabun y por qué causa tanto revuelo en redes sociales". Cultura Colectiva. 28 December 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  3. "Youtubers acusan a Badabun de robar sus redes sociales". Milenio. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  4. "YouTube Rewind 2019: Badabun fue el canal más popular en español". todotvnews.com. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  5. "Badabun es bien chaf… Youtube Rewind lo nombra el canal más grande en español". El Deforma. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  6. "Entrevistamos a uno de los fundadores de Badabun. Detrás de las Fake News". Medium. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  7. "Víctor González, voz oficial de Badabun, renuncia al sitio". El Imparcial. 8 Dec 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  8. "Escándalo en Badabun: removieron al director general, César Morales, tras señalamientos de acoso". Infobae. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  9. "Así es Badabun, el canal mexicano 'cazainfieles' que ha destronado a Elrubius y amenaza al rey de Youtube". 20 Minutos. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  10. "YouTube presenta su Rewind 2019 y sigue sin gustar". El Universo. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  11. "¿Qué es BADABUN? ¿Por qué permitimos que un medio de gran alcance mienta?". Medium. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  12. "Exponiendo infieles" de Badabun es falso: usuarios de redes sociales revelan la mentira". Teletrece. 20 February 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  13. "VIDEO: "Exponiendo Infieles" queda al descubierto, todo era falso". El Imparcial. 7 December 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  14. "Lizbeth Rodríguez se quedó fuera de Badabun por esta gran polémica". Metro Ecuador. 15 December 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  15. "BADABUN DESPIDE A CÉSAR MORALES COMO CEO TRAS DENUNCIAS DE YOUTUBERS SOBRE ACOSO Y EXPLOTACIÓN". Animal MX. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  16. "Youtubers denunciaron abusos al interior de Badabun". Infobae. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  17. "Despiden al CEO de Badabun por acusaciones de youtubers; quién es". Milenio. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  18. "César Morales, ex CEO de Badabun, rompe el silencio". DEBATE (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-11-23.
  19. Guzman, Shelia (2019-12-16). "Lizbeth Rodríguez confiesa si tiene una relación con socio de Badabun". Show News. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  20. Jobst, Karl (10 January 2020). "The Worst Fake Speedrun on Youtube". Retrieved 17 January 2020.
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