Shiny New Product For Your Thoughts?

I’ve got a big problem with product reviews these days. To me they are about 99% chaff. Seldom do I come away from one thinking it will influence my decision to buy the product.

Let’s be clear, the current media/company relationship presents a terrible trap. Companies rely on media to broadcast their products. Media relies on companies for advertising revenue. Company sends media a product to review and even if it’s nowhere near spoken, the threat of pulling that revenue slips like an undertow beneath the transaction.

And what happens? Well, undertows are hard to fight. A banal and toothless review follows that limply prods about the subject, drops some flogged out old phrases and generalities and concludes that the product is perfectly fine for its intended purpose.

For its class, the bike was surprisingly capable on the climbs, but it’s when the trail pointed down then it really came alive…

The bike is long, low and slack and the suspension supple. It soaks up the big hits without sacrificing playfulness out on the trail…

The Comp build represents superb bang for your buck. I would’ve liked to see it specced with a different saddle and slightly wider bars, but those are largely matters of personal preference…

Give me a fucking break.

Even worse, a bit later on you get a review of the revised edition of that product and the reviewer praises the company for sorting out the “issues” with the previous model. Yeah, the issues they happened to leave out of the earlier review. Fucking twits. I don’t know about you, but it leaves me thinking Why did I bother reading that? I could’ve used that time to pull fluff from my navel.

Given the Catch–22 above, you can understand the reviewer’s predicament. But let’s not for a minute excuse it. If you’re in a position to review a product, it’s because you either know enough that people should listen to you, or you can articulate your thoughts clearly. Either way, your primary duty is to the reader, not the company who is lining your pockets and slinging you freebies. And if you can’t take that duty seriously and approach it with some integrity then you should fucking well move aside. Otherwise you’re just wasting everyone’s time.

So I’m putting it right up front. I’m going to post a review of the Niner RLT 9 Steel and I’m going to call it like I see it. It’s going to be weird and rambling but it’ll be honest too. Niner NZ might well hate it. That’s their journey.

Furthermore, you deserve to know what sort of deal I got. I bought it as my bike, but Niner NZ gave me a modest discount on the wholesale price and all that really did was enable me to secure a lower price through the LBS. The frameset still cost me over $2000 so I’ve definitely got some skin in the game.

But it’s important for you to know the deal, and the deal I wrangled included me writing this review. It’s an incentive, and when I give an opinion on the bike’s function or form you deserve to be informed of the relationship. Then you can decide whether to trust the opinion or not. Like an adult.

If you’re interested, stay tuned.

One response to “Shiny New Product For Your Thoughts?”

  1. Aidan Avatar
    Aidan

    Your frustration is understandable. As a consumer, you’re right to expect more constructive feedback from these reviews. But I think in large part, that the problem arises not from the content, but simply the fact that what is essentially a sponsored article, claims to be a review.

    The label belies the article’s true purpose, which could only be to provide consumers with a glimpse of the product in question, and arouse a bit of interest.

    The reviews you’re describing are not based on the longitudinal, personal experience with the product, which should be a minimum requirement to wear that ‘review’ label.

    Unless the author has taken the time to produce a reasonably thorough (and objective) critique, then how could anyone expect that article to significantly influence anyone’s purchase decision?

    There are obvious exceptions here, namely lower value purchases. But certainly if it’s a frame or wheelset we’re talking about, then most of us would have to go a little deeper before committing to spending the equivalent of a month’s grocery shopping in a single purchase.

    Whereas, were the article perhaps instead labelled ‘Preview’, then it’s framed differently, and the reader’s expectation is naturally geared slightly more towards getting a glimpse of the product, and some generic marketing technical information, in order to make their own assessment.

    Then the author is unburdened of the need to find new and creative ways to reproduce generic content, and it’s simply a matter of time until all marketing content is being written by a machine e.g. Articoolo.

    And let’s also not make the mistake of assuming all humans are mindless idiots, who sail through life on autopilot, waiting for someone to tell them what to buy. The responsibility for thinking critically about purchase decisions is primarily incumbent on the consumer.

    The purpose of digital channels is to ensure we’re aware of the range of options available to us, in many cases before they get to the distributor. And then, in my experience, it’s our retailers, and ambassadors in the community who can provide us with more unfiltered opinions about the validity of claims mader on the internet.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.