Chewbacca Mom Has Made Almost $500,000 Since Her Video Went Viral (Um, why?)

[bluestateguy]

Last edited Wed Jun 8, 2016, 06:25 PM - Edit history (1)

She's cackling all the way to the bank! Chewbacca mom Candace Payne has made $420,000 since she posted a video of herself wearing a Chewbacca mask from the Star Wars franchise, Time magazine reports.
PHOTOS: Viral Stars: 2016's Biggest Internet Celebrities

The Grand Prairie, Texas, resident racked up the extra cash from gifts she's received since the video went viral late last month. According to Time, she has received $3,000 from Kohl's, $7,500 from talk show visits (she appeared on shows such as Good Morning America and The Late Late Show), a $7,500 Walt Disney World vacation and VIP passes to the Fan Expo Dallas convention worth $2,000.



http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/chewbacca-mom-has-made-almost-500000-since-her-video-went-viral-w209177

[MrScorpio]

1. I hope that she itemizes on her tax return nt

[ChisolmTrailDem]

2. Good, I'm happy for her. She made people smile, if only for 15 minutes. With your attitude...

...I'm not surprised you're sporting that rightward pointing H.

[Brickbat]

4. With your avatar, I'm not surprised you found a way to make it about HRC.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

9. That the OP rolls his eyes at the good fortune of another is ... interesting. nt

[athena]

52. I agree with you, but I happen to support Hillary.

Please don't use such a broad brush. Also, this is GD, not GDP; it's not polite to bring GDP rivalries into this forum.

[surrealAmerican]

3. That's entertainment!

People make a whole lot more money, in much more damaging ways than this.

[Brickbat]

5. I don't claim to understand it, but corporations saw some free publicity when she started cackling.

It's only news because we live in a society that makes us compete for these kinds of things.

[hunter]

6. That's honest money. Great!

Unlike, say, Dick Cheney, who made his fortune killing and maiming people, destroying the natural environment, etc., etc...

[hfojvt]

7. how much of it is non-cash?

A $7,500 vacation is nice, I suppose, and VIP passes, but I would need a good sum of plain old cash myself. With even $100,000 I would quit my job so fast the sonic boom would break windows all across eastern Kansas.

Both the vacation though, and the VIP passes would actually set me back some. You would have to declare that $9,500 as income and pay taxes on that amount - with your own money. If a lot of the $400,000 is things like that, it will actually set her back quite a bit.

I wish I still had that video of my dog climbing a tree. That ought to be worth at least $40,000.

[MrsMatt]

14. My (minor) child once won a contest with a $5000 travel allowance

that enabled her (and another person) to attend a book launch.

The allowance was only through the sponsoring contest and their partners, which meant that I was unable to do the booking individually.

The $5000 paid for two round trip air fare (coach), a double room for two nights at a Hilton downtown in a major metropolis (in the off-season). Still out of pocket for meals.

When I crunched the numbers, I figured the travel agent received about 2/5 of the total allowance.

I was disappointed that I wasn't able to get more for the $ value, but my daughter was ecstatic to attend so it is in the WIN column.

[TeamPooka]

20. A scholarship is tax-free.

[sharp_stick]

8. Good for her

She seems like a nice lady.

[Warren DeMontague]

10. Good for her. How much money have the Kardashians made for doing absolutely nothing?

Her video was fun and made people happy. That is worth something right there. Good for her.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

23. I can think of a Kardashian video that made some people happy

[Warren DeMontague]

28. And then the same logic applies.

Fuck, some people spend thousands of dollars on therapy for their dogs. I mean, who is to say what is truly valuable?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

48. She seems far more likable and down to earth than the Kardashians, that's true.

But I don't see how exactly how either the Kardashians or her have done something that warrants such attention and praise.

[DawgHouse]

11. $3,000 dollars from Kohl's won't go very far

unless she
1. uses her Kohl's credit card
2. Waits until she has a 30% off coupon
3. Waits until there is a Kohl's Cash promo

[bluestateguy]

12. I guess I'm just not seeing the appeal here

She may well be a perfectly nice lady, but I'm just not getting it I guess.

I have a friend who wrote a meticulously researched book, had it published by a real peer reviewed publisher, and she has been having a real hard time getting the media to pay any attention to it. It's not as cute as growling in a mask on YT, I guess, but I'm fairly certain that she spent more time researching and writing her book than this woman did in planning her YT clip.

[DawgHouse]

13. She's probably got a big internet following now so there is value in that.

[Brickbat]

17. What's the book?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

33. If I were your friend...

...I'd recreate the whole chewbacca video while holding up my book and inserting snippits of info about it during all the chuckling.

[Oneironaut]

16. Hello fellow Kohls shopper. I could have written this.

The whole store is a scam. Why do I go anyways? No idea.

[DawgHouse]

19. I know, I hate their scammy business model.

[PersonNumber503602]

21. What's their scammy business model?

I usually prefer to shop there, but I'm kind of a in and quickly out sort of shopper. So I may miss the scammy parts.

[DawgHouse]

31. Deceptive pricing

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=bc25b7b9-e049-4785-8413-685695ae4226


http://www.law360.com/articles/709566/kohl-s-accused-of-using-deceptive-sale-prices

[PersonNumber503602]

39. Ahh those things.

I've always ignored those assuming they were just BS. I didn't know that was against the law though.

[Oneironaut]

15. What's wrong? Did I miss something?

In a world where twits like the Jenners, Kardashians, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, and of course grand master Trump make all of the money, it's nice to see someone else get some. Her feat may not have been great, but she's a mom and could probably actually use the money. If I missed a detail, I'm sorry.

[TeamPooka]

18. if she monetized the video on Youtube, as everyone should, there is a lot of ad money for her

with 150 million views.

[Egnever]

22. Why not?

Good for her she made millions laugh.

[Texasgal]

24. Who cares?

I don't begrudge her for any reason. So what?

I hope she has fun on vacation!

[WillowTree]

25. So many thought she was just great.

While she was far, far preferable to all the negative stuff that's littering the 'net these days, for the most part I just found her to be annoying in the extreme.

[krawhitham]

26. Good for her

[Kelvin Mace]

27. Because AMERICA!

[Warren DeMontague]

29. She expressed a good 20 minutes of pure, unadulterated joy on video with zero pretense or artifice.

you know, that's harder than it looks.

[Kelvin Mace]

32. That's great

but hardly worth half a million.

[Warren DeMontague]

41. Au contraire.

She got half a million, so it's worth half a million.

[greytdemocrat]

30. Good for her and her family.

[dilby]

34. Yeah $400,000 for her two kids to go to college, how terrible.

Stop being a hater, here is a woman doing the best she can for her kids and was able to get them a college education because she made me smile.

[deaniac21]

35. Good for her.

She seems to be a wonderful human being.

[Adrahil]

36. Good for her. At least she made some folks happy. NT

[romanic]

37. Don't hate, congratulate.

[Buddyblazon]

38. This upsets you...

why?

She made money. Don't be jealous. Be happy for her.

[linuxman]

40. Envy is a stinky cologne.

[Bucky]

42. Welcome to America. (Her income's bigger this year than Trump's)

Grab it while it's good, sister!

[Liberal_in_LA]

43. She has the best laugh...no talent people like the Kardashians make money for nothing

She made us laugh with her

[Vinca]

44. Good for her. Anyone who can make so many people laugh is priceless.

[muriel_volestrangler]

45. Because the university gambled the publicity was worth the chance her kids take it up

The offer to her and her husband probably won't be taken up - they're in Texas, and they're not going to uproot a 6 and 7 year old kid the go to university now, though there's the chance they might do it once the kids are grown, I suppose. The kids may or may not decide to use the scholarships, in over a decade - while free tuition (and accommodation? I'm unsure if it covers that) will always be tempting, you might not want to be directed to a particular college in a different state.

But the university got publicity on national networks, and that's their business model - grab on to the meme of the moment, and get their name out there.

That's why.

[dawg]

46. She's adorable. I'm glad she made some money.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

47. There's nothing at all wrong with Chewbacca mom herself, but I don't get it either.

I mean, she seems nice and I'm glad she got such a kick out of buying a Chewbacca mask, but after hearing so much about it and finally getting around to watching it, I couldn't help but think "Okay? A woman bought a Chewbacca mask and thinks it's funny. Why exactly is this viral?"

By somehow questioning the entertainment value of a viral video, both me and the OP apparently are at risk of coming off sounding like killjoys over someone who did absolutely nothing wrong, but seriously I still don't get it.

It's not a comment against her. She's perfectly fine and free to enjoy her Chewbacca mask as is her God given right to do so. It's more of a comment on what exactly makes her video worthy of such praise and virility and that she's getting dream vacations and college scholarships and media appearances simply for laughing about a Chewbacca mask that she bought. I mean, there are people in dire situations that would love those sort of things....I'm just not sure how making a mildly amusing internet video somehow warrants that attention.

Honestly, I just don't get the whole "Internet Celebrity" thing in general. And I'm no old fart. I grew up when the internet came to popularity. But the Internet has a way of making some people famous for not doing anything exceptional.

[bluestateguy]

55. Thank you.

You said that more eloquently than I.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

56. It's more of a comment on the frivilous nature of celebrity in the Internet age.....

....than any personal comment, but people will misconstrue it as a personal attack and label you a killjoy nonetheless.

I got what you were saying, though.

[Bonx]

60. The frivolous nature of celebrity is nothing new.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

61. Good point.

But the Internet has certainly amplified it.

Google "Youtube Stars" and you'll see how many of those people actually have any real cognizable talent.

[Blue_Tires]

49. Hey, Darren Wilson got a million just for killing one of us...

and Kim Kardashian turned a sleazy, low-rent sex tape with some loser into a $100 million empire that's still growing exponentially...

So I can't work up too much outrage over the viral FOTM for May 2016 cashing in, even though I don't even know who "Chewbacca mom" is...

[Codeine]

50. So what? She made my cynical ass smile

and evidently I'm not alone in that. Good for her! If some businesses want to get some free publicity by kicking her down a few grand then more power to her. She's a genuinely positive and joyful person on a medium that usually rewards anger and nastiness.

[jberryhill]

51. What is the value of making millions of people laugh?

What's a laugh worth?

[Scootaloo]

53. I'm sure you'll live n/t

[athena]

54. She deserves it much more

than those hedge-fund managers who make $400,000 an hour.

[Rex]

57. Drive by threads are sad.

[frogmarch]

58. I'm glad for her. What did she do that

was so wrong? Some of us got a big kick out of her video and found her very likeable. She was a hit. Of course the store where she bought the mask was grateful for the free advertisement, and talk shows wanted to have her on. What's wrong with that?

I smell envy.

[joshcryer]

59. Most of that comes from her kids getting free scholarships.

What's the big deal?

[GOLGO 13]

62. She turned nothing into $omething.

That's a fine hustle she has going there. Any one that can scam corporate America to give up thousands of dollars is all right in my book.