I just think there’s a reason influencers are called influencers, not reviewers. Though, some are both.
Personally, I have no problem with influencers PROVIDED they’re transparent about what they’re doing. Some are, but many aren’t.
The ISBA contracts linked to up above give the game away for some - anyone signing those contracts isn’t a reviewer. They’re a paid marketing shill. And fair enough …. if they’re transparent about it.
One thing that winds me up (and I’m not thinking of the coffee segment here) is those saying “I’m not being paid, but I did get this £x.000 machine for free” Sorry, but payment doesn’t have to be money in the bank. It can also be payment-in-kind, especially if you can then sell it (whatever it is) for a non-trivial sum and put that in the bank.
The problem is there are good reasons for companies to provide free equipment, and/or a reviewer holding on to it for a protracted period (with the supplier’s agreement to do so, of course). One such reason is to do long-term tests, and another (especially for market leading products) is to provide a reference benchmark by which to judge future products.
Also, sometimes companies don’t want products back because it’s just not worth it to them to pay for collection. As soon as they ship a reviewer some product, for argument’s sake it’s a widget, and the reviewer uses it to try and test the widget, it’s a used product and the value has significantly dropped. If the product has been shipped from abroad, getting it shipped back to ‘abroad’ is potentially very expensive, both in the administration required, and in simple carriage fees (and possibly import taxes).
As a reviewer (as I was, back in the dark ages) I saw a lot of kit coming and going. Most was here and gone in a few weeks, not least because magazines picked it up to do product photography, but some sat here for weeks, months and even years. At one point, I added up the value (at cost) of the stuff sitting here, and was a bit shocked to find it exceeded £250,000.
How much of it did I sell? Not one item. I gave a few away, AFTER verifying (in writing) that the company that had sent it was comfortable with me doing that. Some, I actually used in the reviewing process, and the supplier got extended value from that, as it was used in future reviews. Some sat here in boxes, awaiting collection, and a few of those are still here. Given that I’ve been retired about 15 years, I don’t imagine they’ll be collected now. At least one company is no longer even trading. I doubt I could even find a taker for items, after this amount of time, if I gave them away. But I want my warehouse …. I mean, spare bedroom, back!
Could any of those companies have threatened to stop sending stuff for review, if not happy with my review? Sure. Would I have cared? No, because I was being paid by various publishers for writing the reviews, and there was always plenty of stuff to review. What I wasn’t doing, EVER, was being paid by the suppliers of equipment, for either “reviews” or for marketing “content”, whether in money directly, or in kind. Goods that were left here were always on loan, and still the property of the supplier, and they could, at any time, ask for them and expect to get them back. The only exceptions to that were the few rare times, and for items of relatively low cost (say, £100 or lower, RRP) where the company explicitly said not to return them when I notified them they were ready for collection, because the current value was less that the courier costs though some (quite a few) collected them even then. I was never quite sure why? Maybe they were given away to their own staff?
So I see the “free hardware” issue as a grey area. There are good reasons for holding on (with the company’s permission) to some items, entirely consistent with an independent review. But there are also ways to abuse that and use it as indirect payment-in-kind. How the hell the viewer is supposed to tell the difference is the problem.
I have been toying with the idea of starting a Youtube channel for a couple of years. One reason why I haven’t is the general …. scepticism …. evident in his thread.
Here’s the thing. I’m not wealthy, but I DON’T need to earn money from YT. Beyond that, the notion of it generating an income is horrible. Why? Because it took me long enough to shut down my businesses, get clear of Companies House and reporting requirements, and to convince HMRC I wasn’t earning any income from business (which I wasn’t).
The last thing I want in life is the hassle of fending off HMRC or, worse yet, having to start filling in more forms.
So, if I do it, it won’t be monetised, I won’t be adding in any adverts, adwords, I won’t be using affiliate links and I won’t be pimping for “likes”, “subscribes”, “notifications” etc because …. well, in short, because I don’t care how successful the channel is, if it is. I will also release content when it’s ready and I’m satisfied with it, not to sate the whims of the Youtube algorithm(s).
I reckon I can keep myself amused producing some content I hope some people will find, and then find useful or helpful. But if they don’t, so be it. The object of the exercise is for me to have fun doing it. I believe I can get enough content in my area of expertise (and no, I’m not saying) by buying some product, reviewing it, in some cases doing detailed guides to use, then selling it on to recoup a portion of the purchase cost. And repeat.
But what do I do if it turns out some people do like it, and want to “contribute”. Patreon maybe. Or if suppliers decide I’m fair, thorough and honest and want to supply equipment? The latter I guess I can deal with by only accepting such equipment if they are willing to agree to my conditions for a review, including that such equipment will either be strictly on loan and collected by them after the review, or given away to viewers, or Patreons etc, should it ever get that far.
I really, really don’t want to end up making money, and complicating my life with HMRC, etc. If that looks to be happening, I’ll shut it down in a heartbeat.
But given that general level of scepticism, even cynicism about content on YT, will people ever believe that I really, sincerely am not out to make money? That anything I say is purely my own opinion, and that some manufacturer doesn’t have their hand stuck somewhere uncomfortable and is using me as a marketing sock-puppet?
I have my doubts. Which is why, so far, I’ve pondered it, but not done it.
