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Whether it's farting into microphones or hatching conspiracy theories about Twitch, there's no doubt that streamers keep us entertained even without tuning in to their content. Take Valkyrae for instance, who has launched a new skincare range called RFLCT targeted specifically towards gamers and content creators.
While this doesn't sound like an entirely terrible proposition by itself, it's the so-called "science" behind these products that has caused understandable backlash. The product range claims that content creators and gamers who spend hours in front of the screen can be affected by blue light. "It's designed to protect your skin from blue light that is emitted from all digital screens," said the streamer in the announcement video of the product.
The company claims to have sourced special ingredients that contain "Blue Light Prevention Factor", which the video says is "like SPF, but for the screen."
The most annoying part of this however, is the gamer jargon thrown around in the video. "I power up my skin's defense stats," or "The Eye Revive Gel Treatment is such a lifeline," sound like they were written by some corpo who thinks that people who play video games only talk using gaming terms.
Naturally, this has caused a stir on the internet. While many of Valkyrae's fans applauded her decision and product line, some pointed out that the research was dodgy and that the streamer was taking advantage of her young fan-base's insecurities to sell these products. While the website links to certain studies that support its claim, Twitter is filled with screenshots of studies that claim the opposite.
Valkyrae made a statement after receiving severe backlash about the research done for the product line. "I've been waiting to speak and to stream until after I see how the RFLCT website has been updated," she said. "I also wanted to say that all of the hate and the doubt and concerns and the criticism are all warranted and valid. I understand completely where you're all coming from," she said via a voice note.
"I also was very upset and confused when I saw the website and there were no links to the studies or credits to the labs or the people that worked behind the scenes to make RFLCT happen. It's very confusing, lacking a lot of information, but they're updating it now. And after it's updated I will stream and I will answer everything and I will talk about my experience and all of it."