Youtube's Worst Sponsorship is Back (BetterHelp)
Summary
TLDRThis video script takes a critical look at BetterHelp, an online therapy service, which has faced multiple scandals over the years. The narrator, who had previously promoted BetterHelp, now expresses concerns over the company's practices, including the selling of mental health data for profit. The video also features a master's degree holder in Psychology discussing the service's shortcomings compared to traditional therapy, and includes user testimonials that highlight poor experiences with BetterHelp's platform. The script urges creators to be mindful of the products they endorse and viewers to seek better alternatives for mental health support.
Takeaways
- 📣 The video discusses the prevalence of sponsorships in various media, including YouTube, and the narrator's acceptance of them for better content.
- 🚫 The narrator expresses concern over BetterHelp, a company with a controversial past, and its recent resurgence in sponsorships among YouTubers.
- 🔍 In 2018, BetterHelp faced a scandal for not guaranteeing the verification of their therapists' qualifications, leading to many creators dropping their sponsorships.
- 💡 The video suggests that BetterHelp may have improved since the 2018 scandal, but the narrator remains skeptical and investigates further.
- 📊 BetterHelp is criticized for its high subscription costs, ranging from $260 to $360 a month, compared to the narrator's personal experience with in-office therapy at a lower cost.
- 🚨 The company was fined $7.8 million by the FTC for sharing private mental health data of users with companies like Facebook and Snapchat, violating privacy regulations.
- 🤔 The video questions the value of BetterHelp's services, comparing them unfavorably to traditional in-office therapy, which the narrator's girlfriend, a master's degree holder in Psychology, provides.
- 🙄 The narrator's girlfriend points out that the features advertised by BetterHelp, such as 24/7 messaging, are not unique and can be found in traditional therapy.
- 💔 The video recounts multiple negative experiences from users of BetterHelp, including unprofessional conduct by therapists and poor service quality.
- 📝 The narrator encourages viewers to consider the numerous horror stories and questionable practices of BetterHelp before deciding to use their services.
- 📢 The video concludes with a call to action for creators to be aware of the companies they endorse and for viewers to seek better alternatives for mental health services.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video script?
-The main topic of the video script is a critical review and discussion of the online therapy service 'BetterHelp,' its past controversies, and its current practices.
What is the speaker's stance on sponsorships in general?
-The speaker is fine with creators promoting brand deals through sponsorships as long as it results in better content for the audience.
What was the first scandal involving BetterHelp mentioned in the script?
-The first scandal mentioned involved BetterHelp not guaranteeing the verification of the skills, degrees, qualifications, certification, credentials, or background of any counselor they provided.
What action did BetterHelp take against the speaker after a previous video?
-BetterHelp sent the speaker a cease and desist letter after the release of a previous video.
What is the speaker's concern about BetterHelp's current practices?
-The speaker is concerned about BetterHelp's past scandals, including selling mental health data for marketing without anonymizing it, and whether they have truly improved their services.
What was the FTC fine against BetterHelp for?
-BetterHelp was fined 7.8 Million by the FTC for sharing private mental health data of their users, including IP addresses and email addresses, with companies like Facebook and Snapchat.
What is the speaker's girlfriend's profession?
-The speaker's girlfriend is a holder of a master's degree in Psychology and is currently providing therapy.
What are some of the issues raised by the speaker regarding BetterHelp's services?
-Issues raised include the lack of privacy during sessions, unprofessional behavior by therapists, and the high cost of the service compared to in-office therapy.
What is the price range for BetterHelp's services mentioned in the script?
-The price range for BetterHelp's services is $260 to $360 a month, depending on location, preferences, and therapist availability.
What is the speaker's recommendation for those considering BetterHelp?
-The speaker recommends seeking better help elsewhere and advises against using BetterHelp due to its past controversies and current practices.
What is the speaker's final suggestion for viewers who enjoy the video?
-The speaker suggests subscribing to the channel and watching other videos to become part of the 'cereal bowl' community.
Outlines
📣 BetterHelp Controversies and Sponsorship Concerns
The video script addresses the prevalence of sponsorships in content creation and the creator's acceptance of them for better content. However, it focuses on BetterHelp, a company that has been involved in multiple scandals over the years. The speaker expresses concern about BetterHelp's past issues, including false claims about licensed therapists and the selling of mental health data for profit. Despite these controversies, the company has managed to regain popularity through YouTube sponsorships, which the speaker finds problematic. The summary also mentions receiving a cease and desist letter from BetterHelp for previous content and emphasizes the importance of creators being aware of the companies they endorse.
🤔 Questioning BetterHelp's Services and Pricing
This paragraph delves into the services offered by BetterHelp, questioning the validity of their claims regarding 24/7 online therapy and the ease of switching providers. The speaker's girlfriend, who holds a master's degree in Psychology, provides an expert opinion on the matter, pointing out that BetterHelp's services are not as unique or beneficial as they are portrayed to be. The video script also discusses the cost of BetterHelp's services, which is significantly higher than traditional in-office therapy, and shares personal anecdotes and TikTok horror stories from users who have had negative experiences with the platform.
🚫 The Dark Side of BetterHelp: Misleading Practices and Unprofessionalism
The final paragraph of the script highlights the darker aspects of BetterHelp's practices, including unprofessional therapist behavior, mishandling of sensitive information, and the mistreatment of both clients and therapists. The speaker shares specific stories of poor service quality, such as therapists being late or unprofessional during sessions. The script also criticizes BetterHelp for their high prices and the overall negative impact they may have on the mental health industry. The speaker concludes by urging creators to be responsible for the products they endorse and encourages viewers to seek better alternatives for mental health support.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sponsorships
💡BetterHelp
💡Scandal
💡Licensed Therapists
💡Data Privacy
💡FTC
💡Mental Health Data
💡Therapy Sessions
💡Online Therapy
💡Content Creator
💡Ethical Concerns
Highlights
Sponsorships are pervasive in various aspects of media, including closets, backyards, and even cereal boxes.
The speaker expresses comfort with creators promoting brands as long as it results in better content.
BetterHelp, a company with a controversial past, has re-emerged with sponsorships despite past scandals.
In 2018, BetterHelp was criticized for not guaranteeing the verification of therapists' qualifications.
The speaker humorously recounts receiving a cease and desist letter from BetterHelp for a previous video.
Despite past controversies, BetterHelp continues to be promoted by many popular YouTubers.
BetterHelp claims to offer affordable and private online therapy with licensed professionals.
The company has been fined $7.8 million by the FTC for sharing private mental health data with advertisers.
BetterHelp's practices have led to numerous scandals over the past six years.
The speaker's girlfriend, a master's degree holder in Psychology, critiques BetterHelp's services.
The video includes a comparison chart of BetterHelp's services versus traditional in-office therapy.
BetterHelp's subscription cost is highlighted as being significantly higher than traditional therapy.
The video shares personal experiences and TikTok horror stories about BetterHelp's service quality.
The speaker calls for creators to be informed about the company they endorse and for consumers to seek better alternatives.
The video concludes with a pun, suggesting BetterHelp might be more about social media growth than actual therapy.
A call to action for viewers to subscribe and join the 'cereal bowl' community on YouTube.
Transcripts
hey my bowl of cereal better help
yourself to a seat and some cereal
because today we're in for a wild
ride sponsorships they're everywhere
these days they're in your closet this
video is sponsored by raid Shadow
Legends is one of they're in your
backyard est.com
they're even in your
cereal and I'm completely fine with that
but I don't mind creators promoting a
brand deal if that means that they can
give me better content but there is one
service one company which has clawed its
way back from the depths it was cast
into 6 years ago a company that
seemingly caused most of my favorite
YouTubers to experience a memory
blackout and forgot all about their
first Scandal back in
2018 and that is better help better help
better help me not get a cease and
theist letter from their lawyers after I
released this video
like uh other YouTubers have this
company hired I'm assuming very
expensive lawyers I got a very strongly
worded ceas and desis letter from
betterhelp for the people who don't know
betterhelp well first of all thank you
because that means that this is the
first YouTube video you've watched in
the past 6 years and I appreciate that
because today almost every Creator is
sponsored by it even the ones I love Mr
B the try guys Jacks Nicky jubile and so
many more better help is a 24/7 online
therapy service they promise easily
accessible therapy with licensed
therapists for an arguably cheap price
they're like Fiverr but for mental
health and if that sounds like a
terrible ID to you don't worry that's
because it is the company has been in
scandal after scandal after Scandal for
the past 6 years some of you might
remember that back in 2018 countless of
creators were also being sponsored by
better help until their first candle
came to light remember when I mentioned
that they promised licensed therapists
well in 2018 the only license they had
was for being stinky Little Liars
affordable and private online therapy
with a professional they don't guarantee
the verification of the skills degrees
qualifications certification credentials
competence or background of any counsel
it's your responsibility to determine
whether they have any degree or
qualification or certification once this
game to light everyone started dropping
better help as a sponsorship of course I
was one of the disgusting YouTubers that
um did a better help promotion and this
was before I knew any of the um you know
the the controversy better help better
help yourself out of this P
disaster which they have because they're
back now better health worse than ever
in the past few months many of my
favorite creators have been pushing
better help again and as naive as I
could be I thought hm I mean better help
might have improved themselves their
first Scandal did happen 6 years ago and
I did read that they now do only use
licensed therapists uh that was until I
started reading the comment section on
the videos that they were sponsoring
quick reminder about better help's
controversial past and also how they're
selling your information to advertisers
please don't take better help's money
they do more harm than good I really
wish you wouldn't continue advertising
better help they sold Mental Health Data
for marketing without anonymizing it for
massive profits well screw you random
comments because Alan matz the
co-founder of betterhelp ured me they
would never do anything as crazy as
secretly sell private Mental Health Data
from their users he called it a
far-fetched conspiracy and a gross
violation of federal laws state laws
Hippa regulations and their own terms
and privacy policy which is why they
were fined 7.8 Million by the FTC last
year for doing exactly that yeah so the
FDC proved that they have been sharing
private Mental Health Data of their
users as well as their IP addresses
email address with companies like
Facebook and Snapchat this Mental Health
Data included an answers to very
personal questions such as sexual
orientation specific reasons for wanting
therapy possible eating disorders and so
much more of course when they were
asking those questions of their users
they ensured them that they wouldn't be
sharing this at all except with their
therapist of course and yeah oh boy
can't wait what ads Facebook is going to
show me now that they think I'm an
anxious and employed widowed bisexual
experiencing eating disorders and daddy
issues
an add for better help oh man and those
are just the lies they were caught on so
far and I mean they've been lying about
these ones for years but you know poor
startup multi-billion doll company can't
apologize for their action it's not
their fault that they try to abuse
Goodwill of their users for personal
corporate gain uh so let's give them a
chance and actually check out their
services and who better to check it out
than someone with a master's degree in
Psychology who is giving therapy right
now my
girlfriend hey so I already told you
about better help and how great of a
company they are yeah well since I'm
just a dumb content creator and you're a
literal holder of a master's degree in
Psychology I would like you to talk
about the services better heal provides
their users I mean look at all these
beautiful green better help check marks
while in-office poop sessions have all
these red crosses you know unlike
in-office therapy a better help has
messaging at any time chat sessions
video sessions phone sessions I mean
most in office therapists have phones
and laptops as well no they don't well
you might have a master's degree but I'm
pretty sure you haven't learned how to
message at any time I mean I don't think
the better help therapists are going to
answer 24/7 they have their personal
lives and we as therapists want the
client to be able to process what they
learned and not text us 24/7 because
then you're not going to grow as a
person I think you're wrong wait so you
dare say that better help spks are
actually not perks they're
[Music]
craps stupid I mean you guys don't have
easy to switch providers [ __ ] does that
even mean well either they're talking
about switching Telecom providers but
I'm pretty sure they're referring to
easily being able to switch therapists I
mean an office therapists can be changed
no we all know you're assigned an
in-office therapist at Birth and then
can't change it for the rest of your
life yeah Jokes Aside my in-office
therapist had basically all of these
Services I mean I could text her
whenever I could mail her when I had to
move abroad to Sweden we just did video
call therapy for 4 months so this
deceitful chart should actually look
look like this okay so can you guess how
much they dare ask for this it's
supposed to be cheaper than an office RP
right so12
$300 I'm sorry more specifically $260 to
$360 a month depending on location
preferences and therapist availability
do you know how much I paid for my 260
minute sessions for in-office therapy a
month $130
$130 like who the [ __ ] is this service
even for you know what we shouldn't be
judging the better heal platform without
having tried
it we're not paying for yeah we don't
have $300 laying around no there are
enough horror stories on Tik Tok where
they share what I hope no one will ever
have to experience in therapy so you
want to watch some Tik toks
no I did better help for about three
weeks and the straw that broke my back
was when the therapist was in office for
the first time the last time was in her
living room and I was like I'm just
going to believe no one else is there as
I log on to the video she's talking to
someone and then just stops talking it's
like hey how are you so let's get
started I'm like someone is in there she
gets up walks out an Open Door meaning
there was no privacy goes into the
lounge of like the office makes popcorn
while I'm talking and then comes back
with sits down and is eating po popcorn
with her mouthful just
chewing
what wait was I supposed to react to
something how many years do you think
it's going to be before we see a true
crime documentary about better help so I
tried better help twice um I actually
got a refund from them so my first
therapist um was 10 minutes late to our
10minute meeting our first initial
meeting and then she was like oh wow we
don't have a lot of time I contacted
them and I got a different therapist he
was also late and just completely missed
our first meeting we second said a
second one he missed that one and then
he just texted like oh man I'm so sorry
I was at my other job and I was just
like what the wait didn't they advertise
in-office therapy being bad because they
have waiting times with in-office
therapy you've got to spend time in
their waiting rooms with better help you
can save that time and spend it in our
waiting rooms this is no better help I
tried better help like a year ago and in
my first meeting they're like well what
are you struggling with and I tell them
I have an anxiety disorder a panic
disorder and I'm dealing with depression
to which he goes I don't think you
really have those disorders it's just
society's fault because right now
they're oppressing men you can't go out
and compliment a woman without becoming
a offender now I'm just Gob smacked by
this just like what but he continues
down this tangent and then he goes well
and you're also a straight white man so
of course you're the the reason that
everything in the world is bad when when
you look at history and think about it
we're really the saviors of the world
yeah I closed the laptop after that and
I was done don't do better help imagine
paying like $300 a month just to get
assigned to Andre date with a psychology
degree look I'm not saying that better
help never helped anyone I mean that
would be crazy there have been people
who said that their platform actually
improved their mental health enormous
but with the countless horror stories
and their Shady practices I don't know
if the Goods outweigh the bads there are
also endless articles of how poorly and
disrespectful their therapists are being
treated it's truly just a mess for both
therapists and clients I'll leave some
links in the description if you want to
read up on that again I don't think
YouTubers have to only advertise the
greatest of products however when a
company with such a shady and deceitful
past tries to sell something as
important as a mental health service
that in my opinion is both overpriced
and sucks yeah well that's should be
called out and I think creators should
be informed so if you know anyone that
still does better help sponsorships you
can just show them this video and if you
ever think of paying for better help go
instead seek better help yeah that was
my last pun I promise better help more
like better help me get 1,000 followers
on
instagram.com thee. seral Link in the
description I mean if you enjoyed this
video better help me out by subscribing
to my channel and watching some of my
other vide videos to become part of my
cereal bowl so we can become the largest
cereal bowl on YouTube and I can absorb
all of your fibers and nutrients
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