WATCH: Ah Here Is This Advice Or Ad? When YouTube Beauty Gurus Pretend
Reviews on blogs and vlogs have now become the most popular way to check out a product before purchase and cosmetic companies are keenly aware of this. They know that a good review from a trusted blog or vlog is worth its weight in gold. But as any blogger worth their salt knows: it's all about the reader. If a blog is good, honest and critical it will tell the truth - if the product is good or great we'll tell you... if it's not so good we'll tell you that too.
But what happens when the lines become blurred? When bloggers start to take payments for product reviews and not declare them? On Beaut.ie if we're giving a shout out for a product for a company we always declare it as a sponsored post so you know the difference. But does everyone else?
No they don't. While 99% of bloggers are completely honest I know of two well known Irish bloggers for example who post paid reviews and have rate cards that they send out to agencies. But they never ever declare this, so their readers think this is all truth and honest opinion. Don't ask me who - unless you want me to be sued.
Depending on which story you read, recently some well known vloggers "discovered" Sephora cards that had been lying around for a while (as you do) and took a trip to buy some goodies. While in Sephora they could buy whatever they liked (or so the story goes) but they all bought the same products and the reviews of their hauls are so similar they sound like they're reading from a script.
Gurureview spotted the similarity in many reviews that came out at the same time and spliced them together. Have a look and see what you think.
Advertisement
Now take a look at this GlamGlow review
And this one is an odd one because it's a relatively unknown product
So what do you think? Coincidence, or do you really care?
I'm writing about the whole YouTube Guru trend over on Beauty Call in the Irish Times today (but these ones are trustworthy!) - check it out.
So what do you make of these vids?