Why I don’t accept “free” products

I’ve been thinking about this for the last three years and I think it’s time for me to share it. With the one exception noted below I don’t accept “free” products and there are multiple reasons for it. Let’s begin with the most obvious one:

They are almost never free.

Actually I feel like if I took them, I would be the one paying, let me explain: usually a company will contact you if you have any social media presence and will offer to send you a product (a markers set, watercolours, coloured pencils etc) in exchange for a dedicated long YouTube video and an Instagram reel and stories in which you have to show how lovely the product is, how you can use, what you can make with it. Don’t forget to add the links to buy it.

In my view this is called advertising and you would be basically making an elaborate ad for a company that it’s paying you with a 25-50€ set of art supplies.

The full process of making an art video takes a very long time. The planning, showcasing the product, making art with it, then editing the video, adding a voiceover, taking photos, making a reel or two, creating posts and stories and whatnot takes many many hours. I feel disrespected when the payment for all that hard work is a cheap set of paints that it’s of lower quality than what I already own.

However I would happily accept a high value product that I either already love and use or that I’m already interested in and that I would purchase myself. If the product is good, I’ll show it in my videos like I always do anyway

I don’t want to sell you products.

I’m tired of everything been an ad, we are bombarded no matter where we look and I don’t want to participate in that.

Even when I accepted a small table easel a couple of years ago, I showed it quickly in my video and I told the company that I wasn’t going to share any kind of discount code or affiliate link.

I have no affiliate links of any kind anywhere, not on my social media and not here on my website. That’s not to say I never will or that it’s inherently bad but if I ever do, you will know it’s because I genuinely use and love those art supplies.

It promotes overconsumption and waste of products.

I haven’t talked about this on my channel before because there are artists whose work I like and that they do accept these kind of “offers” so I hope I’m not sounding judgemental.

Often these brands will send the same product to many artists for them to share them around the same period of time in the hopes that it’ll create some hype and boost sales.

From the perspective of the artist creating the content it can be appealing because these videos tend to perform well and I understand wanting to have more views on your work but I think it promotes overconsumption and waste of products. These products are rarely of good quality if you compare them with others on the market and if somebody buys them and they don’t meet their expectations, they likely won’t be used and will eventually go to waste and I don’t want to contribute to that.

I think the vast majority of us have more than enough art supplies to make great art. And on top of that many art supplies expire, some quicker than others but many do so I think it’s much better to use what we already have and to only buy the things that we really want, that are good quality and that will make the painting process easier and more enjoyable.

Those video ads can be deceiving.

Any artist that has been making art for a long time is able to create something pleasant to the eye with almost any material, even the cheapest ones or those made for children. That doesn’t mean the product is great or that it was enjoyable to use.

I could make a decent painting with let’s say very affordable oil pastels but that doesn’t mean I didn’t struggle with them more than I should or that it wasn’t a very frustrating process. What I mean is that even if a more experienced artist can create something acceptable with them, it doesn’t mean that they are good or easy to use. It’s often the opposite, the lower the quality, the harder it is to make something nice with it. And that can be deceiving, particularly if a brand is asking you to say some very good things about their paints.

Quality over quantity.

I personally am all about quality over quantity, I think it pays off to have less but better than a lot and of poor quality. You don’t need 50 different watercolours, you’ll be more than fine with 5or 7 tubes of artist grade paint. Or 10 different full sets of coloured pencils, it’s absurd. Why some people hoard art supplies but never use them is another interesting topic.

I know this is very much a personal opinion and some artists love having loads of choices but I get very overwhelmed if there’s too much stuff to choose from. Pastels are different because you need variety of shades and colours to pick since you aren’t mixing on a palette but still, I couldn’t do with those massive pastel collections. They look beautiful though but they are too much for me.

So that’s another reason why I don’t want random products sent to me. After the video is done, what do I do with them? I know I won’t be using them ever again since what I already had was better but now I have to either store them forever, taking space or give them away or have to throw them. I don’t want to deal with that.

I’m not a fan of subscription boxes.

So far I’ve talked about companies offering you specific products but it also applies to subscription boxes offers. I don’t see the point of receiving random art supplies that may or may not fit my needs. I like to carefully think about what new materials I bring into my space and how much use they will realistically get. For example years ago I spent over a month thinking about whether or not I should give oil pastels a try. I’m obviously glad I did but I thought about them for long and decided to give them a proper try. So having random stuff being sent to me is really not appealing, it would most likely end up being clutter and waste.

Proper video reviews are much more useful.

I think it’s much more useful to make a video reviewing something that I have plenty of experience with than to talk about something that was just sent over or that I just bought for that matter.

I know YouTube loves big hauls and showing new stuff all the time but it doesn’t sit well with me. I may be losing some opportunities but ultimately I will do what I think it’s right and I only accept products that I want to try without any requirements. Things that I’m excited about and that I think that may be useful for my audience but I will not work for free or try to sell you stuff I wouldn’t myself buy.

Last but not least, I want you to know that all the opinions that I share about any materials here or on my Youtube channel are my own and aren’t influenced by free stuff or anything else.

Thank you for reading and have a lovely day! ♡