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FTC: Warner Bros. paid YouTubers for positive reviews
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement on Monday with Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Inc. over the studio’s alleged failure to properly disclose that it had paid top YouTube “influencers” to promote the 2014 game Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. While the FTC’scomplaint against Warner Bros. (PDF) does not mention any specific influencer, the commission’s press release calls out PewDiePie, the world's top-earning YouTube video creator, as one of the so-called influencers that took the studio’s money.
The FTC’s complaint says that a third-party marketing team hired by Warner Bros. gave the YouTube game reviewers “cash payments often ranging from hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars,” as long as the videos they made about Shadow of Mordor met certain criteria. Among those criteria were stipulations that the video had to be positive about the game; could not show any bugs or glitches that the reviewer may have found in the early release copy they were given to play; could not contain any negative sentiments about the game, Warner Bros., or its affiliates; and had to include “a strong verbal call-to-action to click the link in the description box for the viewer to go to the [game’s] website to learn more about the [game], to learn how they can register, and to learn how to play the game.”
In addition, the YouTube creators also had to make at least one Facebook post or one Tweet to promote the video they made about Shadow of Mordor.
According to the FTC, the third-party marketing firm hired by Warner Bros. told the YouTube video creators to disclose that the video was sponsored in the information box below the video. However, this ran afoul of FTC rules because viewers had to click the “Show More” box to even see the disclosure. The FTC added that if the video was viewed on Facebook or Twitter, the viewer would never even see the “Show More” link and would be fooled into thinking that the review was objective.
Further still, the FTC claims that some of the paid videos never included a disclosure in the “Show More” area in the first place. In those cases, the video makers only disclosed that they had received early access to Shadow of Mordor.
“Consumers have the right to know if reviewers are providing their own opinions or paid sales pitches,” Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement in the commission’s press release. “Companies like Warner Brothers need to be straight with consumers in their online ad campaigns.”
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement on Monday with Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Inc. over the studio’s alleged failure to properly disclose that it had paid top YouTube “influencers” to promote the 2014 game Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. While the FTC’scomplaint against Warner Bros. (PDF) does not mention any specific influencer, the commission’s press release calls out PewDiePie, the world's top-earning YouTube video creator, as one of the so-called influencers that took the studio’s money.
The FTC’s complaint says that a third-party marketing team hired by Warner Bros. gave the YouTube game reviewers “cash payments often ranging from hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars,” as long as the videos they made about Shadow of Mordor met certain criteria. Among those criteria were stipulations that the video had to be positive about the game; could not show any bugs or glitches that the reviewer may have found in the early release copy they were given to play; could not contain any negative sentiments about the game, Warner Bros., or its affiliates; and had to include “a strong verbal call-to-action to click the link in the description box for the viewer to go to the [game’s] website to learn more about the [game], to learn how they can register, and to learn how to play the game.”
In addition, the YouTube creators also had to make at least one Facebook post or one Tweet to promote the video they made about Shadow of Mordor.
According to the FTC, the third-party marketing firm hired by Warner Bros. told the YouTube video creators to disclose that the video was sponsored in the information box below the video. However, this ran afoul of FTC rules because viewers had to click the “Show More” box to even see the disclosure. The FTC added that if the video was viewed on Facebook or Twitter, the viewer would never even see the “Show More” link and would be fooled into thinking that the review was objective.
Further still, the FTC claims that some of the paid videos never included a disclosure in the “Show More” area in the first place. In those cases, the video makers only disclosed that they had received early access to Shadow of Mordor.
“Consumers have the right to know if reviewers are providing their own opinions or paid sales pitches,” Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement in the commission’s press release. “Companies like Warner Brothers need to be straight with consumers in their online ad campaigns.”
