FTC Issues Complaint on Machinima for Xbox One Advertising
Issue Based on "Deceptive Advertising"
The FTC has issued a complaint against the YouTube group Machinima for its advertisement campaign for the Xbox One.
As rumors during the campaign suggested, the reviewers were paid to make positive videos on the Xbox One and other things related to Xbox. In short, the respondents (the people who paid for the videos) had influence-rs (the people on YouTube) make videos to promote the Xbox One and the games. Only problem is, the influence-rs nor the respondents had disclosed the fact that the influence-rs were paid to make positive reviews. In fact, some of the views of the influence-rs were not reflected in the videos as, reportedly, only positive things were allowed to be said on the videos.
In truth and in fact, the video reviews for Xbox One and the Launch Titles did not reflect the independent opinions of impartial video game enthusiasts. Respondent’s influencers created the video reviews as part of the global advertising campaign to promote sales of Xbox One and the Launch Titles. Therefore, the representation set forth in Paragraph 23 was, and is, false and misleading. FTC
You can read more of the statement issued by the FTC with the link provided.
Source: FTC
