Can Any Of Us Review Anything Fairly?
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If you have not seen the clip on YouTube which involved Leo Laporte blowing up at Mike Arrington on the Gilmore Gang on June 6, 2009, take a look at it. These two techno nerds brought up an interesting fact. Can anyone really review any product fairly?
Behind this debate are some facts. If a company sends a product to you for free, is it a conflict of interest when you review the product with a positive review? How about if you buy a product with your own money and review the product? Is that a better way to handle a review?
What started the argument between the two technology people mentioned above, was the fact that Laporte had a Palm Pre in his hand. Arrington questioned where he got it from since he was not able to secure the Palm Pre before its scheduled release date. The blow up continued as Laporte was questioned if the Palm Pre was given to him for free which caused a flurry of swear words from Laporte.
But how does one review a product without spending their own money on buying it? Can one still provide a fair review if the item is presented for free evaluation? The reason I am curious on how you the reader feel i that it will dictate which product reviews I will take on.
I have received free software for review and hopefully have been fair in my evaluations.
Let me know what you think?
Comments welcome.
5 Comments
Stefan
June 8th, 2009
at 8:21am
Thats a very good point actually, and one I hadn’t thought of really. If you’ve got to buy a product out of your own money your more emotionally invested in it, so when it comes time to review it youre far more likely to take the price into account, look at what else is about for a similar price point and also be able to be much more critical about a product.
Of course, if you get everything for free then its more down to how the product itself performs over how much it cost. The price point comes after the fact and you sit there and think “hmmm, thats a little pricey” and thats about it.
Having said that, either way, its all just an opinion. Whether you get something for free or have to pay for it, its your individual experiences that will shape the review and so no review is ever really impartial or objective, but within each reviewer’s selection of products and experiences it could be fair.
Sample as many reviews as you can before you make your decision is the best piece of advice I could give to anyone.
Ron Schenone
June 8th, 2009
at 9:06am
Thanks Stefan.
AndyDan
June 8th, 2009
at 3:33pm
“If a company sends a product to you for free, is it a conflict of interest when you review the product with a positive review?”
It wouldn’t be a conflict of interest unless you gave it a positive review BECAUSE they send it to you free. If your positive review is genuine, there’s no conflict no matter how you received the product.
Now, *perception* of conflict of interest is something you can’t do much about, in that case.
Can Any Of Us Review Anything Fairly? - Youtube Blog
June 9th, 2009
at 3:10am
[...] This article is featured on the custom Youtube Blog at Auto-Blogs.us. [...]
Ron Schenone
June 9th, 2009
at 7:02am
Thanks AndyDan for the comments.