Opinion by ClareEckert

 Just to be clear, I am in no way, shape or form trying to brag. I am super grateful for everything I got!” If you are familiar with haul culture, you most likely know this pre-haul disclaimer all too well. 

And if you are not familiar with haul culture, here is a definition: haul culture is the online phenomenon of people, usually younger people, showing off their recent purchases or gifts on social media.

 What I like to call the “pre-haul disclaimer” is the statement often made by the creator of the haul at the beginning of the video. This statement is the creator’s way of asserting that they don’t intend to brag about their purchases by sharing the haul. Haul culture is especially popular during times of year when gift-giving is extremely prevalent such as Christmas, birthdays and Black Friday. 

The platforms that haul culture is mostly seen on are TikTok and Snapchat. On TikTok, people often post hauls on their accounts and some even have whole accounts dedicated to just hauls. On Snapchat, people usually post hauls on their private stories. Some people also have whole Snapchat private stories dedicated solely to hauls. 

Though haul culture is regarded as “fun” and “entertaining” by the younger generations of Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha, it is not healthy or sustainable. Haul culture promotes unrealistic expectations and a culture of bragging and competition. 

Firstly, haul culture promotes a society based off of materialism and consumerism. Both economic concepts—consumerism and materialism—encourage members of society to believe that happiness can be found in the accumulation of material goods. 

Secondly, haul culture promotes overconsumption. Haul culture does this by promoting continuous and needless shopping. 

Lastly, haul culture heightens financial pressure on viewers. When people showcase themselves constantly buying and acquiring items, it makes the viewers who are not buying that many items feel financially inadequate. Now that we have heard my opinion on haul culture, let’s hear what Marian students think about it.  

On the January Network survey of 135 students, 75.2% of students said they enjoy watching hauls, while 24.8% of students said they don’t enjoy watching hauls. Consequently, 51.6% of students said they believe haul culture is unhealthy, while 48.4% of students said they believe haul culture is healthy. These results are quite contradictory to each other. 

Sophomore Addison Bradley offers a different perspective on haul culture. Bradley is a small content creator on TikTok where she has a “get ready with me” account that has gained some serious traction. The account currently has around 5,000 followers. On the account, she posts “get ready with me” videos, hauls and other various types of content. Bradley said that, second to her “get ready with me” videos, hauls are some of her most popular content. Bradley said she started making hauls for just her friends and they then encouraged her to share her videos with a large audience. She said her intention behind making hauls is to entertain others, not show off. “I really like watching hauls, so I assume other people do,” Bradley said. Bradley said that she thinks the effect that hauls have on people depends solely on the person. “Some people enjoy watching hauls, while others can be jealous,” she said. Bradley said, personally, she enjoys watching hauls. She finds them to be relaxing and a good source of entertainment. She said she thinks haul culture is healthy because she gets mostly positive feedback on the hauls she makes. Though she has received a small number of negative comments, she said the positive feedback always majorly outweighs the negative. She said she understands how hauls can be perceived as negative, but she thinks the perception of hauls is left up to the viewer. “If you don’t like hauls, you don’t have to watch them. Just scroll,” she said. Bradley hopes that hauls culture will continue as she thinks it is harmless and entertaining. 

Junior Maeve Wharton shared her thoughts on the negative effects of haul culture. Wharton said she sees hauls the most around Christmas time, on birthdays and on Black Friday. She said she has seen hauls prevalent on both TikTok and Snapchat. Wharton has never posted a haul and said she does not enjoy watching them. “I will usually scroll past hauls if I come across them online,” she said. Wharton said she thinks that haul culture is unhealthy because it promotes over consumerism, comparison and insecurity. “You are seeing all these things that other people are getting and you’re most likely not getting the same amount of things, which in turn makes you feel bad about yourself,” Wharton said. She acknowledged that some people enjoy watching hauls, but she believes they more often leave viewers feeling insecure. As for the creators of the hauls, Wharton believes that by posting them, the creators of hauls are feeding into a need to validate what they have. “I think it’s unnecessary for people to have to show off what they have in order to feel good about it.” Wharton hopes that haul culture will not continue because of its negative effects. “If haul culture continues, people will always be focused on wanting more and not on being satisfied with what they already have,” she said. Wharton concluded by sharing her hope that one day people will be able to find satisfaction within themselves, without having to compare themselves to others.