Warner Brothers paid some YouTubers to make positive game reviews and didn't disclose this

[AlTech]

Some  youtubers have been paid by Warner Brothers for posting positive game reviews. 

 

While this practice itself is not illegal (although it's really disgusting and a really shady business practice), the lack of disclosure about the reviews is.

 

Quote

 

The Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with Warner Bros. over claims that the publisher failed to disclose that it had paid prominent YouTubers for positive coverage of one of its video games. The FTC charge stated that Warner Bros. deceived customers by paying thousands of dollars to social media "influencers," including YouTube megastar PewDiePie, to cover Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor without announcing that money had changed hands.

Under the terms of the agreement, Warner Bros. is banned from failing to disclose similar deals in the future, and cannot pretend that sponsored videos and articles are actually the work of independent producers. "Consumers have the right to know if reviewers are providing their own opinions or paid sales pitches," director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection Jessica Rich said in a statement. "Companies like Warner Brothers need to be straight with consumers in their online ad campaigns."

Warner Bros.' deal with the influencers involved stated that they had to make at least one tweet or Facebook post about the game, as well as produce videos with a string of caveats to avoid showing it in a negative light. Those videos could not express negative opinions about the game or Warner Bros. itself, could not show any glitches or bugs, and must include "a strong verbal call-to-action to click the link in the description box for the viewer to go to the [game's] website to learn more about the [game], to learn how they can register, and to learn how to play the game," according to Ars Technica.

The videos earned more than 5.5 million views for Warner Bros., with PewDiePie's monster subscriber numbers accounting for 3.7 million views on his own. Influencers were advised to disclose the video's sponsored status under YouTube's "Show More" section, but some did not, and the FTC says this would not have been enough to skirt the rules anyway, as the disclaimer would not have been visible on videos watched through Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sources.

YouTube has increasingly been seen as a haven for independent video game purchasing advice over recent years, as Let's Plays have taken off as a watch-along format, and movements like GamerGate have cast aspersions against the mainstream media and specialist video games press. But while YouTube allows for a direct connection between these new game-playing celebrities and their fans, the legally murky format and young age of some of the biggest stars mean that people are open to exploitation by companies and YouTubers alike who hide their affiliations.

 

 

http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/12/12157310/pewdiepie-youtubers-sponsored-videos-ftc-warner-bros

 

This is absolutely disgusting. As for Warner Brothers, I just won't buy their games if they keep us with this shady business practice and i certainly won't buy Middle Earth:Shadow Of Mordor.

 

Leave a comment below.

 

Also this video on how LTT makes money also explains things similar to this and explains the laws which were not obeyed here, so go check it out as well if you haven't already.

[SteinerW]

I get up at 4:30 in the morning and read this.... GG, great start to the day. This is disappointing.

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, 3DGamerOnSteam said:

I get up at 4:30 in the morning and read this.... GG, great start to the day. This is disappointing.

Yeah it is disappointing.

[vanished]

Just goes to show that this was rampant for a long while and we probably won't know the true extent for years yet, or perhaps even ever.

[Simon771]

Well that's something few of us already knew.

They are not the only one doing it

 

That's why I want LinusTech to make game reviews also. At least LinusTech isn't corrupted. As far as we know

 

And about that video how Linus is earning money. They won't tell us any numbers, but I bet Linus get more than 5k per month. That's just a guess.

[handymanshandle]

I don't think this should really be surprising, and it doesn't change my opinion on the Youtubers who were paid with out disclosing that they were paid to make positive reviews.

PewDiePie (and others) are probably decent people just trying to make some money even if it is deceptive, it doesn't make them bad people for taking that money. I think it makes Warner Bros. a pretty bad company though and shame on them for doing that.

[AlTech]

3 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

Well that's something few of us already knew.

They are not the only one doing it

 

That's why I want LinusTech to make game reviews also. At least LinusTech isn't corrupted. As far as we know

 

And about that video how Linus is earning money. They won't tell us any numbers, but I bet Linus get more than 5k per month. That's just a guess.

I only put in the video cos it talks about how sponsored content has to be disclosed and what not.

 

Of course Linus is making more than $5K CAD a month!!!!!!! He has to, in order to pay bills, pay employees (at least 6 Full Time employees above minimum wage), pay for event coverage, and sometimes he has to buy products to review them and also rent.

[Simon771]

2 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

I only put in the video cos it talks about how sponsored content has to be disclosed and what not.

 

Of course Linus is making more than $5K CAD a month!!!!!!! He has to, in order to pay bills, pay employees (at least 6 Full Time employees above minimum wage), pay for event coverage, and sometimes he has to buy products to review them and also rent.

No no, I mean Linus himself get 5k per month.

After paying all the bills and employes

[AlTech]

4 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

No no, I mean Linus himself get 5k per month.

After paying all the bills and employes

Well he has to pay for his rent, his food and bills. He has to save up money for Education for his child (this costs an absolute fortune especially with Brexit) And hopefully start paying back mortgage on the car he owns.

[zMeul]

6 minutes ago, wcreek said:

PewDiePie (and others) are probably decent people just trying to make some money

poor asshole: http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/youtube-jattens-stora-vinst-63-miljoner/

he needed some change for the bus

[Simon771]

2 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Well he has to pay for his rent, his food and bills. He has to save up money for Education for his child (this costs an absolute fortune especially with Brexit) And hopefully start paying back mortgages on the car he owns.

doesn't he have some creepy pink car  ?

[handymanshandle]

1 minute ago, zMeul said:

poor asshole: http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/youtube-jattens-stora-vinst-63-miljoner/

he needed some change for the bus

lol.

 

3 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Well he has to pay for his rent, his food and bills. He has to save up money for Education for his child (this costs an absolute fortune especially with Brexit) And hopefully start paying back mortgages on the car he owns.

5k a month is like 60,000 a year (before taxes). But it's likely Linus makes a bit more than that.

[AlTech]

6 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

doesn't he have some creepy pink car  ?

Let's say for arguments sake that he's quite baller and bought the 2016 version of the Civic (the car he has) (Which is really unlikely). he would have to pay $19,000 USD for it IF he didn't purchase any addons. Let's say he's even more baller and spends like $25,000 on the car with addons.

 

Now he has to pay that back. And he spray painted it pink. It was actually black or white before ( i can't remember).

 

Source for pricing http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-sedan/

[vanished]

10 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Let's say for arguments sake that he's quite baller and bought the 2016 version of the Civic (the car he has) (Which is really unlikely). he would have to pay $19,000 USD for it IF he didn't purchase any addons. Let's say he's even more baller and spends like $25,000 on the car with addons.

 

Now he has to pay that back. And he spray painted it pink. It was actually black or white before ( i can't remember).

 

Source for pricing http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-sedan/

Trust me it's not a high end model and it's certainly not a 2016  

[AlTech]

3 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Trust me it's not a high end model and it's certainly not a 2016  

Quote

Let's say for arguments sake that he's quite baller and bought the 2016 version of the Civic (Which is really unlikely).

 

You were saying?

 

In other news, this post brought to you by Honda. Drive it beautiful !!!!!! /s

[AlTech]

28 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

Well that's something few of us already knew.

They are not the only one doing it

 

That's why I want LinusTech to make game reviews also. At least LinusTech isn't corrupted. As far as we know

 

And about that video how Linus is earning money. They won't tell us any numbers, but I bet Linus get more than 5k per month. That's just a guess.

 

Back on Topic: What other game publishers do you think are doing this?

[Clonzoo]

2 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

 

Back on Topic: What other game publishers do you think are doing this?

EA!

[AlTech]

 

1 minute ago, Clonzoo said:

EA!

They still do this? I thought we already called them out on this.

[Simon771]

3 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

 

Back on Topic: What other game publishers do you think are doing this?

 

2 minutes ago, Clonzoo said:

EA!

 

I don't even need to answer  

[Clonzoo]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

 

They still do this? I thought we already called them out on this.

Once a dirty whore always a dirty filthy fucking whore. Or well. I could be wrong, but when you have some wild guesses about EA usually they tend to be true.

[Prysin]

41 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Just goes to show that this was rampant for a long while and we probably won't know the true extent for years yet, or perhaps even ever.

paid reviews will be a issue aslong as there is people willing to accept money for lying.

[WolfDeville]

I'm confused.... Wasn't this already known back when Shadow of Mordor was released????

[AlTech]

8 minutes ago, TehStranger? said:

I'm confused.... Wasn't this already known back when Shadow of Mordor was released????

Nope. the FTC just now sued them for it.

[Godlygamer23]

If you do not disclose that you were paid to do the review, that is illegal.

[MageTank]

No idea if its true or not, but I did see a video earlier that claimed Pewdiepie said from the start that it was a sponsored video. 

 

 

While i personally do not care for the guy, I do believe that article is simply using his name for publicity. 

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20140908074058/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-wdRroa4ms

 

As you can see, as far back as September 8th 2014 (4 days after the video released) he had "This video was sponsored by Warner Brother".