Chinese vendors are facing backlash for selling customized photos and videos featuring African children via Chinese online marketplace Taobao. As reported by Beijing Youth Daily, these photos and videos have recently become popular as a way to deliver messages for birthdays and other meaningful occasions. They can be purchased for as little as $1, similar to services offered on freelance marketplace Fiverr.

The photos can be ordered from any number of Taobao vendors, and show young children from African countries like Zambia holding a chalkboard with a purchased message, usually around 16 to 20 characters in length. Short videos can also be purchased, where a person behind the camera coaches the children on how to recite the message in Mandarin. For these photos and videos, the vendors usually request between ¥10 ($1.50) and ¥200 ($30), promising delivery within a couple days.

As Sixth Tone notes, the messages are popular both with individuals and companies that use the videos as an inexpensive way to create advertisements. In one clip, a group of children yell to the camera in Mandarin: “Want to see pretty girls? Use Jike! Want funny stories? Use Jike! Want GIFs? Use Jike! Only 10 yuan, really great!” Sixth Tone says other videos show children reciting swear words in Mandarin and advertising X-rated live streams.

The Hong Kong Free Press says some vendors insist on their pages that the videos are a form of “charitable activity,” but when asked about how much money goes directly to the children and their families, had no answer. “I am doing this out of the goodness of my heart,” one vendor told HKFP. “I don’t know how much money is given to the children. Sorry.” Beijing Youth Daily spoke with one photographer who said the children often only receive snacks or a few dollars for completing a batch of photos and videos. An anonymous source echoed the lack of pay when speaking with People’s Daily Online, saying, “The children get very little money from shooting such ads. Most of them just get some snacks or stationery as rewards.”