Originally Posted By: JohnJohnJohn
Gibson has something of value, a shiny new guitar that retails for $10,000 (and prolly costs them less than $500 to make). Youtuber and Gibson reach an agreement whereby said shiny new guitar goes to the Youtuber in exchange for a positive review/promo to the audience.


What of the guitar stinks and the review is all bullsquirt? That's where the ethics comes into play. The arm twisting that goes into the payola is what I am addressing.

If you are good with payola, that's your call. I find it extremely unethical. Those network TV ads you refer to are apples and oranges. You are talking about Joe Average taking a guitar to give a positive review that can NEVER be accepted as any kind of honest as long as there is any doubt that the review may have been positive because that expensive guitar, to Joe Average, is like a 7 figure contract is to a national personality. I ran into this SO often working for that paper and actually watched 3 people walked to the door for it. One took a free weekend at a B&B and wrote a GLOWING review of the place. And it may have been the best B&B she had ever ever seen, but as long as there is the slightest shadow of a doubt that the review was given in exchange for the visit, it will always be suspect. (I went to see it, and it was a manure pile.) If you want to stay with Shaq, he signs a contract to get a lot of money and goes on TV and plugs the stuff. There is no question that he was paid for his endorsement. However, youtubers who don't have 20 bucks in their pocket and will salivate like Pavlov's dog when someone dangles a shiny new toy in front of them are NOT Shaq signing a contract.

The youtubers, IF they state in their comments that the item was provided free to them, are covered legally. If they do not state whether they got the item free, I will suspect that the review was bought and paid for 100% of the time. Have you not seen the fine print on TV ads that say "compensated spokesperson"?

You can do whatever you want. send youtubers GoPro cameras if you like so they will mention you on youtube. Donate money to Patreon channels. Keep supporting able bodied people who have no intention of ever working for a living. (I don't know you, and for all I know you may even be in that group.) I will not contribute to people who do unethical things, and payola in any form is unethical. Wife #3 was the local food reviewer. Restaurants all over town tried to pick up our dinner checks. In all the years together, she declined every time. I also saw her shut down at least 5 restaurants because of her honest negative reviews, and because of that, they all feared her so they tried to buy her off. That is one of the very few things I give her credit for was her integrity.

"Trade" is not payola. And what Shaq does is not what the youtubers do.