"Have you ever read and analyzed user reviews before deciding what you want to buy? If so, you probably understand how important access to honest reviews is," MSI writes, encouraging you to take part in the new promotion. Buy an MSI product and write a review on the store's website, and the Taiwanese manufacturer will reward you with a gift.
Everyone is entitled to a prize, but there is a condition. The review must be, whatever that means, verified by MSI employees. When this happens, the buyer will receive a reward depending on the product purchased. These are, respectively:
- $ 25 Steam Gift Certificate for a notebook, desktop, motherboard, graphic card or desktop,
- $ 10 Steam Gift Certificate for player accessories or the housing,
- portable Minipresso coffee machine for one of the premium Prestige laptops.
In addition, special prizes are foreseen, which will be awarded by choice after meeting specific conditions. As we read, it is about reviewing specific products in an exhaustive way. Here, however, the prize is not guaranteed, but chosen by the selection board. However, the value of gifts is also increasing.
Most of the renowned stores around the world take part in this unusual program, including Polish Komputronik, Media Expert, RTV Euro AGD, Apricots and x-com
Accusation of pressure
As you can easily guess, the campaign raises considerable doubts among Internet users. On reddit, she was compared to paying for reviews. Although it is not written anywhere that the opinion must be positive, the record about the need to verify the material is perceived by pressure. Most buyers will surely try to get a free gadget, and the positive assessment implicitly sounds as accepted by the manufacturer.
At the same time, it should be noted that press law requires that sponsored content be marked in a way that raises no doubt that it is not editorial content. Writing reviews in exchange for a guaranteed gift can be pulled into the definition of salary, but the opinion in the store is not a journalistic text. It's kind of balancing on the edge of recipes.
We try to contact representatives of MSI Poland, asking for comment. As soon as the answer goes to the editor, the article will be updated.