The Alpinist editor who contacts companies and sets up the reviews was recently confronted with the following response from a company's PR folks after specifying an item or two for the review:
"Obviously, giving away equipment and then receiving a low rating wouldn't be much appreciated"
WHAT??
As Mitch Hedberg would say... "You've got no faith in the product itself."
If you aren't willing to allow for an honest review of your gear, don't let it be reviewed. To agree to a review with a guilt-laden caveat that the reviewer "owes" a good review is total bullshit.
I think the response should be, "Don't worry, if your product doesn't perform to standard. It will be promptly sent back after a truthful review. Thus ensuring only one of your products are returned, versus the thousands that may be returned if we were not honest and recommended a shitty product."
ReplyDeleteThanks to Alpinist for taking a stand for the people that trust them!
Thanks for actually being honest in your reviews. When is the last time you saw anything less than a glowing review in the mags... NEVER. It would be rad to have some objectivity for once. I hope you aren't taking too much flac because I know you tell it like it is.
ReplyDelete