Piero Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 (edited) So I'm noticing a trend when it comes to Youtube content. Anyone correct me if I'm reading this wrong. Popular Youtube channels for our hobby seem to receive product for the purpose of a 'reviews' without mentioning the fact that the product(s) were obtained at a discount, or for free. Additionally, you can see companies such as Ecotech and WWC sponsoring content creators and providing product for content creation. Feels like a paid advert at the end of the day, but content creators are less than forthright about their inherent bias. In the rare case that content creators do spend MSRP on reviewed products, you're most likely to get a verbal disclaimer, since an unbiased opinion is valuable. Anyone else noticing this horsepocky? Eyecandy: Courtesy of Travis at Upscales. Edited November 12, 2019 by Piero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 This was just brought up today in another thread here on PNWMAS: Daniel's ReeFi lights are an excellent product in my opinion after using them for 3 months now, and I prefer them to the Radion XR30 Pro g4's I replaced. But a "reviewer" is requesting a high fee to publish a video review. Doesn't seem like an unbiased review process to me. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piero Posted November 12, 2019 Author Share Posted November 12, 2019 (edited) Apologies. Thx, I should search before posting. It's been a while, ok?! EDIT: Ok, seems like a tangent but related thread. As consumers it's important to not put up with shenanigans though. And it's generally the norm with MO marketing. Edited November 12, 2019 by Piero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 I dont know where I stand on it. On one hand, you have the "how can it be a decent review if they are getting paid" but on the other hand, YouTube channel takes a lot of effort to grow an audience, the value is in the subscribers, so in one hand, you are paying for advertising which all companies have to do. The same thing happens in every industry. Have you ever read an honest car review from an auto magazine? There is an old adage for a reason... you have to spend money to make money. You could have the greatest product in the world...but if nobody knows about it....Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 6 minutes ago, pdxmonkeyboy said: I dont know where I stand on it. On one hand, you have the "how can it be a decent review if they are getting paid" but on the other hand, YouTube channel takes a lot of effort to grow an audience, the value is in the subscribers, so in one hand, you are paying for advertising which all companies have to do. The same thing happens in every industry. Have you ever read an honest car review from an auto magazine? There is an old adage for a reason... you have to spend money to make money. You could have the greatest product in the world...but if nobody knows about it.... Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk I do think some of this could be addressed by the "reviewer" being more forthright about what "incentives" they may receive to review a product - that way, consumers can factor that into the equation for themselves as to how important they feel that might be. Ultimately, if they only give positive reviews then their integrity will be questioned regardless but if it appears they are hiding some of the financial arrangements it only provides incentive to discount their contributions in my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 I feel like the next generation of reefers is going to have a mystifyingly difficult time de-bunking all the trash that is published(video or written) online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 I dont know where I stand on it. On one hand, you have the "how can it be a decent review if they are getting paid" but on the other hand, YouTube channel takes a lot of effort to grow an audience, the value is in the subscribers, so in one hand, you are paying for advertising which all companies have to do. The same thing happens in every industry. Have you ever read an honest car review from an auto magazine? There is an old adage for a reason... you have to spend money to make money. You could have the greatest product in the world...but if nobody knows about it....Sent from my SM-G960U using TapatalkSpot on here. Doesn’t make it right for companies to deceive consumers because they have the largest budget, but you are right...this exists in every industry...and only has progressively gotten worse thanks to consumers chomping at the bit for more of this exact type of content!It sure would be nice to have some place that was just brutally honest about all product reviews...But then those big corporations would be angry and would just hire a $1k/hr lawyer to shut them up...And then they’d start making infomercials like everyone else....Tuning out.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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