Indie Content Creators: Pero Like’s cultura pride
Accepting the challenge to either leave your place of birth or being raised in a different country for a better future remains a strong reflection of the Latinx community. The struggles of respecting the culture you were born with, while adjusting to a new one, oftenly lead to the constant search of connecting with individuals that emphasize joining forces in order to celebrate it. Pero Like has become a lively platform for all of this to come to fruition.
Established in 2016, Pero Like is a channel that resounds with English speaking Latinx. It is no surprise that this platform has succeeded with its purpose by becoming a very popular outlet for the Hispanic community that continues to fight under or no representation in the media. The YouTube channel instantly grabs your attention with its wide variety of videos that can range from well known challenges to famous recipes that make up the different identities that fall under the Latinx’s patrimony.
The most popular videos rely on sketches that depict FaceTiming with Latina moms, parents attempting to speak English and pranks. In other cases, the talents also bring along their family members to accompany them on videos to either rate men from 1-10 with their mom or read thirst tweets with their dad. This last one in particular becomes hilarious since Eli Vazquez consistently struggles with the issue of having a “hot” father.
The channel also regularly strives to balance out the fun for its audience with educational videos that range from how immigrants are currently being affected by COVID-19 to how the White Latinx correlates with White passing privilege. The videos have also become a foundation for other important conversations in which the talents expose living with addictions, fears of speaking spanish, and fitness journeys in partnership with Latinx businesses, in order to help broaden the knowledge on how the Latinx community is perceived in the United States.
The videos follow a very well executed format. This includes well editing that makes the content interactive, with some videos adding subtitles in order to pay homage to the authenticity of every talent that is featured in their media. Videos can last from 3 to 30 minutes depending on the content shown and count with no less than 388k views.
This has prompted the channel to also gain popularity in other social media platforms. Pero Like currently counts with 355k followers on Instagram, 16.9k followers on Twitter, and over 2.9 million followers on Facebook. This is also due to the project being showcased in BuzzFeed’s official website, which serves as their main platform.
Pero Like is a collaboration between BuzzFeed’s editorial team and BuzzFeed Motion Pictures. The Los Angeles based project was created by Alex Alvarez and Noberto Briceño. The channel counts with the talents of Claudia Restrepo, Curly Velasquez, Maya Murillo and Alexis Tirado, among others, and currently holds 1.31 million subscribers after being launched on February 8th, 2016.
Alvarez stated that the creation of the platform stemmed from BuzzFeed’s attempts to cover more diverse communities. He stated that the purpose of Pero Like relies in featuring the best in depth look at all representations in the Latinx community. This includes from blaxicans to even the people being told they don’t look Latino enough.
If you happen to be in a nostalgic mood and feeling the need to connect to relatable people in the Latinx community, Pero Like is the perfect channel for you. Alvarez and Briceño’s effort to bring this platform to life continues to add to the ongoing plea for faithful representation in the media for Hispanics all around the world. With a mix of cultural pride, delicious food and love for abuelitas make sure that this alluring channel is at the top of your list.
