mangochutney
Member
It just depends how it is done.I would be worried about how this effects the integrity of some big news sites like IGN, would they go down that route to positively promote X1 for extra cash, since they ofc have a youtube channel.
If I personally see someone bullshitting about it it will denote their credibility in my eyes and they will be removed from my subscriptions. I dislike buying to win.
Im not sure this is lawful in the UK. I guess it depends on what the wording is. If they lie, mislead or exagerate it will be a big factor. You can promote, but you have to follow guidelines based on the ASA's role to:
"regulate the content of advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing in the UK"[2] by investigating "complaints made about ads, sales promotions or direct marketing",[2] and deciding whether such advertising complies with its advertising standards codes. These codes stipulate that "before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove all claims, whether direct or implied, that are capable of objective substantiation"[3] and that "no marketing communication should mislead, or be likely to mislead, by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise"
Source; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising_Standards_Authority_(United_Kingdom)
Microsoft are already paying for IGN to promote the Xbox One in the form of banner advertising etc.
We've also loosened up a bit on product placement now too, it is now allowed but a symbol has to be displayed to let viewers know that the product shown is only being shown because they're being paid to do so.
Personally if it is just a case of pre-rolls or like this video is brought to you by Xbox One with their fantastic game line up and awesome Kinect camera bla bla and then have a video about anything unrelated then that's pretty much conventional advertising.
If however you make an entire video to hype something up for no other reason than to gain money by saying how awesome the Xbox One is then yep that's pathetic.