YouTubers April and Davey Orgill run the YouTube family vlogging channel, April and Davey. The channel boasts 644k subscribers, meaning that, while it is a fairly popular channel, it hasn't reached the ranks of such YouTube vloggers as the 8 Passengers, Yawi Family, Norris Nuts, etc. The channel posts daily vlogs following the lives of April and Davey and their 6 children - Zade, Daisy, Ambree, Ender, EB, and Frankie. Like many large YouTube vlogging families, they belong to the Church of Latter Saints and hail from Utah. However, what differentiates April and Davey from many YouTubers, is that they routinely host exchange students. While this is usually a good thing, their hosting of exchange students becomes problematic when these minor students become the focus of the vlogs. YouTube family vlogging has raised serious concerns about parents exploiting their children, filming them without their consent, and collecting money from filming them with no requirement to share those funds with the children. Now, April and Davey are raising further concerns about exploiting children who aren't even their own and profiting off of it.
Who Are April and Davey's Exchange Students?
April and Davey have hosted five exchange students to date. Previously, they hosted exchange students Luisa, Paola, and Roberta. Currently, they are hosting two exchange students: Nacho, an 11th grader from Spain, and Susi, a 12th grader from Italy. Since Nacho and Susi arrived in the United States and to the Orgills home six months ago, they have been featured in nearly every single vlog on April and Davey's channel since. Viewers have gotten to know Nacho and Susi quite well. Nacho is a soccer enthusiast, who made the decision to be a kicker for the football team while awaiting soccer season. Susi quickly made the cheerleading team and is now contemplating trying out for lacrosse. The two have had the opportunity to attend dances such as Homecoming and Sadie's and have attended weddings, celebrated holidays, and traveled to Lake Powell with the Orgills. Susi is very bubbly and outgoing, while Nacho is a bit more shy and reserved. The Orgills youngest daughter, EB, has a very special bond with Nacho, while second youngest daughter, Ambree, has a special bond with Susi. Both the exchange students are very polite, smart, and athletic kids who help April and Davey out quite a bit with chores and looking out for the younger children.
Then The Exploitation Begins
Once the exchange students arrived, April and Davey's channel experienced a very noticeable spike in views. Their videos went from receiving roughly 10k - 30k views, to routinely receiving 100k views. The only noticeable difference in the videos, was that the exchange students were prominently featured in the thumbnails and titles. At first, the videos were, "Exchange Students Hike Dangerous Mountain," "Exchange Students Say Yes To Terrifying Ride," "Exchange Students Meet The Family," "Exchange Students First American Wedding," "Exchange Students First Day of School In United States." As is plain to see, the exchange student experience is really being capitalized on, with "exchange students" being used in nearly every video. There is definitely a market for viewers who are intrigued by the exchange student experience, and April and Davey are definitely catching on to that.
Vlogging Turns From Documenting To Clickbaiting
Of course, eventually the exchange students run out of "firsts" and "new experiences," causing April and Davey to take another approach to getting views off of the exchange students - clickbaiting. Videos suddenly appeared titled, "Sad News About Nacho and Susi," "Sending Susi Home," "Buying Susi A Cat," "Update on Susi! Can She Stay?" and "Susi Is Leaving." Of course, none of the video titles are accurate. While all of the titles try to make viewers believe that Nacho and Susi are leaving or being sent home, it always ends up being something completely different - like Susi leaving for a trip with friends, a joke the family made, or the inability of Nacho and Susi to go to a specific place with them. Video titles, however, have recently become even more concerning than that with titles such as "Nacho Is A Cheater," "Nacho Got Beat Up," and "Nacho Betrayed His Family." Again, the videos are over-exaggerations that seek to make it seem like Nacho did something bad or got seriously injured, while, in reality, nothing of the sort happened at all. Perhaps, the absolute most outrageous video was "Nacho and Susi Are In Love!" The deeply disturbing video depicts April and Davey dressed up as Nacho and Susi and kissing in the thumbnail, however, the caption covers their faces and poorly attempts to give the illusion that it really is Nacho and Susi.
April And Davey Willing To Give Exchange Students Strikes
How far April and Davey will go to exploit Nacho and Susi became more apparent recently, when they revealed that, due to high COVID-19 levels, Nacho and Susi were deemed not allowed to accompany the Orgills on their upcoming vacation to Mexico. April and Davey expressed deep disregard for the decision and essentially stated they would not take "no" for an answer and would make numerous phone calls to get the decision overturned. Davey also admitted that he and April seriously discussed going against the rules and taking Nacho and Susi anyways. Their reasoning was that it would merely result in 1 strike against them, and they would still have 2 more strikes before being sent home. The discussion showed quite clearly that April and Davey are desperate to get views from Nacho and Susi, to the point that they would endanger their safety and even openly disobey the rules and risk getting them sent home.
Should April and Davey Film Their Exchange Students?
It isn't uncommon for exchange students to share and document their journeys. However, the major difference is that they tend to collect any revenue from gaining audiences and views on their journey. In this scenario, April and Davey are reaping the benefits from their exchange students' journey and also robbing them of the opportunity to do so themselves. It is unclear if Nacho and Susi are being paid behind the scenes, but most likely not. This situation raises very new and unique questions about how a YouTube vlogging family handles an exchange student. Do the parents agree beforehand for their minor children to be filmed? Is there some sort of underhand exchange of money? Do Nacho and Susi have to agree to appear in films to be hosted? The bottom line is that there is something very nefarious about April and Davey gaining a very, very significant increase in viewership from filming Nacho and Susi. Nacho and Susi are minors, they cannot consent to being filmed, and they are exchange students who should be enjoying their experience in America without it being plastered over the internet. The clickbait creates lies about Nacho and Susi, and often seeks to cast them in a negative light or make viewers think a relationship exists that clearly does not. The videos are often deep invasions of Nacho and Susi's privacy and are often made mortifying through clickbait and outright lies. April and Davey will even go as far as to force Nacho and Susi to break the rules to get them to appear in vlogs. It is a very unfair situation for Nacho and Susi, who have their privacy infringed on and are the center of embarrassing vlogs, gaining money for April and Davey while getting nothing in return.
Comments