Off topic: See, this is what happens when enough people try to use a mild word for something bad they’re doing in order to try to hide the badness: other people who see this usage alter their perceived meaning of the mild word to represent what they see as prevalent usage. The mild word comes to mean the bad thing.
In this example, “sponsored”. A more accurate term in this case would have been something like “paid dishonest shill”, but the constant use of “sponsored” by paid shills (esp. on YouTube) has altered our perception of the word “sponsored”. I would not be surprised if soon many companies would like to move away from that word and not be “sponsors” anymore, and instead be “supporters”, etc.
It’s the reverse of the euphemism treadmill, really.
In this example, “sponsored”. A more accurate term in this case would have been something like “paid dishonest shill”, but the constant use of “sponsored” by paid shills (esp. on YouTube) has altered our perception of the word “sponsored”. I would not be surprised if soon many companies would like to move away from that word and not be “sponsors” anymore, and instead be “supporters”, etc.
It’s the reverse of the euphemism treadmill, really.