Commerical sponsorship

[Simon MacGowen]

More and more bloggers are seen carrying some form of commercial sponsorship (e.g. from WC, LV, etc.). These bloggers make references to the products available from their sponsors in their works. Do such sponsorships affect in anyway how you view their opinions on those products?

Simon

[David Weaver]

Sure. And there is proposed language here where folks doing social media and blogs are required to disclose that they've received items for free or have been paid to discuss them, but it's still not well followed.

IIRC from viewing the language, it can't be in the small print either, it needs to be prominently displayed or communicated.

(at any rate, I don't immediately discount the language or message, you can usually tell if it's genuine).

[Graham Haydon]

Doesn't bother me too much, It's hard to disguise bias.

[Zach Dillinger]

Looks like this place doesnt have a sense of humor...

[Sean Hughto]

If someone is being paid to promote products, it is a given that they will not be giving an unbiased presentation of a product's faults. They may also be inclined to oversell a product's usefulness - to make hyperbolic claims about even a good product. A pitchman will pitch; that's what he is being paid to do, after all.

[Jim Koepke]

I know some folks may be swayed by recommendations from a mentor they follow.

I try to remain skeptical and do my own research and make my own decisions.

jtk

-"Skepticism Is A Virtue." - Steven Brill

[Bob Jones]

I really appreciate sponsored blogs and tv shows. Sponsorship makes high quality productions the norm. I blog without sponsorship just because I enjoy it. Blogging is a lot of work, and I know that mine is not top quality. I just do it because I am enjoying it for now. I have very little incentive to continue.

There is is a bigger question at play here - should information be free? I think not. Many pro woodworkers put lots of work into instructional videos and books and sales of those products pay for production. Same goes for pro blogs, but it is funded by advertisers.

In short - if you expect quality information that you pay nothing for, don't complain about the commercials. Good information is worth something.

[Ryan Mooney]

Psychologically its pretty difficult not to be biased, even if you intend otherwise.

OTOH The same thing happens if you buy something, or even two somethings - the vast majority of people will subconsciously be biased to the more expensive one regardless of the absolute facts.

The more you know, the less you wish you did sometimes.. it just complicates the issue.

I guess the take home is that you can't ever really expect a totally unbiased review so take it all with a grain of salt.

[Dan Hintz]

I know some folks may be swayed by recommendations from a mentor they follow.

I don't have much issue with this. If someone is a mentor, it means you appreciate their style of thinking in one form or another, and therefore they are likely to choose a tool based upon some of the same criteria as you... if they like it, you likely will, too.

[Steve Voigt]

Looks like this place doesnt have a sense of humor...

Wait--did someone delete your post? Seriously?
You're right, no sense of humor. Or at least lack of familiarity with 18th c. tool merchants.

[Zach Dillinger]

Wait--did someone delete your post? Seriously?
You're right, no sense of humor. Or at least lack of familiarity with 18th c. tool merchants.

Yup, looks like it was nuked by someone. Guess my sense of humor is a little too Dennis Miller for the mods. Oh well, nothing lost.

[Daniel Rode]

Should those sponsored or otherwise tied to commercial woodworking concerns be required to disclose this in an obvious way? I think the answer is yes but I don't want this to be a barrier to participation. It's important to know that relationship exists but I very much want the input of these folks. Whether it's an author, blogger or company owner, their input is often valuable and on time. Moreover, the communication is bidirectional. My voice might have an influence on something commercial decisions.

Some small but obvious designation ought to be enough.

[Frederick Skelly]

More and more bloggers are seen carrying some form of commercial sponsorship (e.g. from WC, LV, etc.). These bloggers make references to the products available from their sponsors in their works. Do such sponsorships affect in anyway how you view their opinions on those products?

Simon

When I know they are sponsored or get "free"merchandise, I tend to discount their endorsement (notice I didnt say "disbelieve") until I can put my hands on the product and draw my own conclusions. But Ill still view/read their demo, video or article to learn what I can.

I watched Rob Cosman demo the latest WR planes, so I got curious and bought one. After trying it out, I didnt feel like he had exagerated or oversold the product. Its no LN, but he never said it was. It worked as advertised for me. So he and WR made money and I got a data point that said to me "Cosman didnt mislead me to make himself a buck." If it had gone the other way, Id probably avoid something he was hawking in the future. But I tried it and might buy another one.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Should those sponsored or otherwise tied to commercial woodworking concerns be required to disclose this in an obvious way? I think the answer is yes but I don't want this to be a barrier to participation. It's important to know that relationship exists but I very much want the input of these folks. Whether it's an author, blogger or company owner, their input is often valuable and on time. Moreover, the communication is bidirectional. My voice might have an influence on something commercial decisions.

Some small but obvious designation ought to be enough.

I know there's FTC rules about sponsorships and disclosure, and some that apply to bloggers (although I don't know how much they are enforced and if they actually have any teeth behind them) I don't know how broadly they apply, but I do know specifically that if you review an item that was given to you by the manufacturer, rather than something you purchased at retail, that's the kind of thing you need to disclose.

[Keith Outten]

E.
1. Direct Commercial Affiliation

SawmillCreek maintains an active advertising and marketing program. As such, we seek to provide a non-competitive atmosphere for our advertisers by disallowing commercial posts from our members. Posts made by Members with direct commercial affiliation, and with the apparent intent of using SawMill Creek for the sole purpose of promoting a product or service will be subject to removal. Members with direct commercial affiliation are defined to be those Members who stand to benefit financially from such a promotion.

[Moses Yoder]

I think there are some people who give an unbiased view of a product regardless if they are getting paid to review it or not. It really depends on the person. I kind of follow Christopher Schwartz's "Lost Art Press" blog on WordPress and he will occasionally mention his own products. I have some of his products and have found them to be great products. There is a great deal of value in having someone review your product honestly regardless whether the review is good or bad; if it is bad then your product needs to be improved.

[Jim Matthews]

It's sort of like the product placement in movies, to me.

I don't notice it, and it doesn't inform my purchasing choices.
Most of the tools I end up liking are well made, and out of the mainstream.

That makes for high value secondhand purchases.

Even Tom Lie Nielsen shook his head at people lining up to get his name engraved on handplanes.

He asked me if I wanted my LA Jack signed (free of charge).
I declined, indicating that the casting already bore his mark.

I'm weary of any woodworking show (or blog) that spends inordinate time espousing
the virtues of any tool, and makes no mention of practice time or training courses.