Warner Bros. paid youtubers to make positive reviews for the game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor released in 2014 by the game production division of the company, and because the people who made the reviews did not disclose that they were paid to say only good things, the American federal authorities investigated Warner Bros..
We are talking here about a series of video reviews made by various YouTubers for the game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, the developer company paying between several hundred and several tens of thousands of dollars for these creations, all of which are published in the form of various video clips on the YouTube network.
In total, the reviews for the game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor generated 5.5 million views, 3.7 million of them coming from the well-known PewDiePie, the latter receiving the most likely and the highest amount of all those who published reviews for the Warner Bros. company.
These reviews were commissioned by Warner Bros. through the advertising agency with which the company works, and it also paid the YouTubers after the completion of the creations, and the American authorities demand that they be presented to the public as such, i.e. as reviews sponsored by the producer and not independent reviews, as presented by their creators.
Consumers have the right to know if reviewers are providing their own opinions or paid sales pitches. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment always strives to be transparent with our customers and fans when working with social influencers, and we are committed to complying with the relevant FTC guidelines.
Those from Warner Bros. they made a deal with the US authorities and will most likely pay a fine for improperly promoting the game using paid reviews that were not properly presented to the public, but no one will ever know what kind of deal arrived
The reality is this: when a manufacturer offers you something for free to review, whether they pay you or not, they expect you to say positive things about them, otherwise you don't get products and/or money the second time and by default you don't have what else to present to those who read you, or follow you on YouTube, and here you draw your own conclusions regarding the reviews you read/watch.
