By Emma Jane Cooke
It is no surprise that Molly Mae Hague has had a very public life since her time on Love Island, making it to the final with Tommy Fury. Herself and Tommy have since had a child together named Bambi who is frequently shown in Hague’s vlogs.
It is apparent that Molly and Tommy have had a tumultuous relationship which was recorded by multiple media outlets that constructed their own reasonings as to why the two may have split up and are now seemingly back together.
Both Molly and Tommy have released documentaries that detail the behind the scenes of their lives. Molly’s documentary just recently secured a National Television Award which came under scrutiny for winning over some of the other shows that were nominated. There is no doubt that Hague has made a household name for herself since she reached fame, which is upheld with her Youtube channel, titled MollyMae. The channel is currently accumulating 2.04 million subscribers. It consists of lifestyle vlogs with the usual features of her daughter and her sister Zoe.
Her vlogs have been circulating online, mostly short form clips on TikTok, to discuss Bambi’s behaviour with many users leaving their opinions in the comments. The opportunity that TikTok and social media gives to comment on these clips are extremely harmful in that it allows users to believe that they should have opinions on the child’s upbringing and characteristics, but it almost acts as a violation of privacy as the moments shared online are almost too much of an insight into the family dynamic.
For one instance, during a vlog, Molly finds out that Bambi used the carpet instead of the toilet. Hague then films the spot on the carpet while herself and Zoe try to educate Bambi on why she should be going to the toilet. What could have been a matter addressed off camera, it is instead fully recorded. Although it is a light hearted moment it is still something that might be brought back into Bambi’s future as the clip is now online for however long Hague intends to keep it there.
Another instance can be recalled where Bambi starts to list out the other girls in her nursery that she would like to bite. Molly has previously mentioned that the nursery that Bambi attends has had a biting issue, so the clip with context has provided entertainment to many viewers. Although this clip is quite harmless, it is still adding to this persona that people are creating towards this small child which may result in regret in the long run.
While it is a great idea to create a vlog around your family as a keepsake for when the kids are older, there is a fine line between making memories and exploiting the kids for revenue and views. Just recently, Zoe Sugg and Alfie Deyes have stopped recording their eldest child Ottilie as she will be starting school soon. This decision was made by the couple previously which they have kept their word on. This allows for Ottilie to have her own privacy as she ages through her education years. The pair have also previously stated in their vlogs that they tend to deal with the toddler tantrums and disagreements with their kids out of the vlogs and choose not to record them which not only not only saves the kids from online embarrassment but also protects the family from users online who may feel as though they need to critique their parenting style.
An interesting family to dissect would be the SacconeJoly family. As someone who used to watch the family religiously during my school days, I naturally grew out of their content because I was moving on in my life and did not find myself reaching for their content. Looking at their content now, it strikes a sense of worry and unnerving. A video posted by Origin titled, “The Youtuber Family Exploiting Their Kids” follows Stacey Dooley who spends the weekend with the family.
When confronted with the morals of family vlogging and putting your children in the spotlight, Jonathan Joly is visibly uncomfortable and extremely defensive. It takes one scroll of his channel to see that yes, the kids have grown up but their presence on Youtube is truly concerning for any viewer, especially considering how the vlogs used to be ten years ago. A few searches using the family name, can see multiple opinions and conversations online about how the parents portray their children and how their parenting style has warped to completely align with the vlog styles.
Jonathan Joly’s channel especially is uncanny with extremely edited thumbnails that contain his eldest daughter Emilia in almost every single one of them. It can be argued that Jonathan is just keeping up with the times and editing and thumbnails need to be quick and eye catching but there is no denying that he is crossing that line with how much he depends on his children to bring in revenue and keep his career alive.
As Emilia is growing up, it may be a case of her coming out and telling the internet her own personal experience with her family dynamics and how she has dealt with a camera in her face since she was a new born, but for now, she may still only be figuring out how the internet works let alone the controversies that come with family vlogging and the phenomena that it has created. Family vlogging can exist with the right rules and regulations, but when they are crossed, they are never seemingly brought back down again.