Well said,
I have noticed that in all the magazines I read that its the angling mags that don't do reviews in this manner, they only seem to review items that they think are the best!
Can you trust a review from a sponsored angler?
- Thread starter Ray Roberts
- Start date
Well said,
I have noticed that in all the magazines I read that its the angling mags that don't do reviews in this manner, they only seem to review items that they think are the best!
sam vimes
Well-known member
Mark,
the relatively small scale specialist publications will not usually review in the same way as something like the big car or hi-fi magazines. Based on experience of another type of publication, they are provided with samples, usually from shops and manufacturers that also happen to be advertisers. Slagging a product off jeopardizes future provision of samples and advertising revenue. However, you sometimes find that, before a review gets anywhere near being published, the reviewer has already been involved in the prototyping and testing stages of production. This can account for the lack of very negative reviews seen as all the reviewers negativity has already been dealt with.
The way round it would be for the publications to follow a different business model. That would involve less reliance on advertising for profitability and actually buying review samples. The snag being that the cover prices would have to increase massively. Can you see that happening? I can't, loads of us cheerfully admit that we don't buy the mags at the current prices. What chance of circulation increasing if cover prices double, triple or quadruple?
Reviews and articles in the the angling press are best viewed as an extension of the advertising, as I sit here waiting for this rain shower to pass (before going fishing kids!) Kev Green writing in IYCF has name checked at least 5 manufacturers in his quest for Bream - Kev calls Bream 'slabs' Although, I call Kev Green 'a bit of a ****'
If a sponsored angler uses another company's product it probably means they think that it is better for a given task. It doesn’t mean that their own company’s product is necessarily rubbish - it could be aimed at a different market, be a simple matter of personal choice, or it could actually mean their sponsor's product isn’t very good.
The only review that matters is that of the person buying a product. A lot of tackle is down to personal choice so reviews are of limited value. Take Sensor line for example - lots of people love it and would genuinely give it a positive review whereas I wouldn’t use it if it was free! In fact you’d have to pay me a lot of money to use it!
Most decent reviews generally try to describe the item and leave it to the reader to decide if it may be of interest. Very few items of tackle are radically different to tackle already available and any review that suggests otherwise should be treated with caution. In fact the only item that I can think of in recent years that has warranted shouting from the rooftops is the Spomb.
Sean Meeghan
Well-known member
I was fishing next to him at the time. He's actually a pretty decent bloke.
Morespiders
Senior Member
Shouldnt knock anybody until you have met them, made that mistake myself before today.
Interesting thread this but I am assuming that most people reading it will be adults and therefore conscious that they don't live in a perfect world where everyone always does the "right" thing 100% of the time.
So are some people paid to plug gear - oh yes.
Is there a massive £££ industry centred on people buying new stuff - oh yes.
Do manufacturers, retailers and mags have a vested interest in perpetuating both of the above - oh yes.
It's no scandal, it happens in every industry with a retail arm. Caveat Emptor!
As a newbie it's been bewildering trying to work out what I should buy and what I shouldn't and I've bought tonnes of mags which have all told me different things (often contradicting themselves in the same edition).
In the end the stuff I but might not be the "best" I could have bought but the important thing is whether I rate it and like using it.
Hey, I'm a newbie ok, I don't know much
So are some people paid to plug gear - oh yes.
Is there a massive £££ industry centred on people buying new stuff - oh yes.
Do manufacturers, retailers and mags have a vested interest in perpetuating both of the above - oh yes.
It's no scandal, it happens in every industry with a retail arm. Caveat Emptor!
As a newbie it's been bewildering trying to work out what I should buy and what I shouldn't and I've bought tonnes of mags which have all told me different things (often contradicting themselves in the same edition).
In the end the stuff I but might not be the "best" I could have bought but the important thing is whether I rate it and like using it.
Hey, I'm a newbie ok, I don't know much
mark barrett 2
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Speaking as a sponsored angler I have rarely doner reviews on my sponsored companies products and personally I dont really think that its the place of the companies team of anglers so to do, that should be left to reviewing journalists etc. Only on the occassion that I havce used something that I really, really like would i review something from "in house".
An example of this was the review I did on here on Nash siren alarms which I still think are very ugly, but they work brilliantly.
I also believe in being completely honest in my reviews. when I was briefly editor of Fish n Tips we printed a review on a set of stalking buzz bars which though completely fit for purpose I did comment that I thought that they were too heavy and too expensive.
Finally my belief is that a sponsored angler is there to be seen using the companies products and thereby endorsing them and to that end there has been one occasion when I absolutely refused to be seen using a product because both me and the other consultant to that side of the business told the company that this product wasnt fit for purpose to the extent that my test reel fell apart in one weeks piking in Scotland and the others that I used at our big open day wouldnt work either so I ended up demonstrating with my own ABU multipliers
An example of this was the review I did on here on Nash siren alarms which I still think are very ugly, but they work brilliantly.
I also believe in being completely honest in my reviews. when I was briefly editor of Fish n Tips we printed a review on a set of stalking buzz bars which though completely fit for purpose I did comment that I thought that they were too heavy and too expensive.
Finally my belief is that a sponsored angler is there to be seen using the companies products and thereby endorsing them and to that end there has been one occasion when I absolutely refused to be seen using a product because both me and the other consultant to that side of the business told the company that this product wasnt fit for purpose to the extent that my test reel fell apart in one weeks piking in Scotland and the others that I used at our big open day wouldnt work either so I ended up demonstrating with my own ABU multipliers
sam vimes
Well-known member
I wouldn't worry about that particular product, people made their mind up long before they were available for sale. It makes no odds whether you are sponsored and well known (you) or not sponsored and totally unknown (me), no one will believe either of us when we say anything positive about the Sirens. I don't even mind the looks of them now. They aren't perfect though, I can't find a way of having the heads on silent and the rx'er on vibrate only.
chub_on_the_block
Well-known member
I would think that most brands would still want to advertise their product in a magazine/weekly even if it had given bad reviews. Even if the publication relied heavily on advertising revenue i would have thought they still have the power in this relationship - if brand X pulls out of advertising it leaves an open-door to their competitors to fill the space with their gear instead.
sam vimes
Well-known member
Some specialist magazines have gone to the wall because of less than flattering reviews and subsequent loss of advertising revenue. With relatively small circulation specialist publications the relationship between magazine and trade is symbiotic in a way that those with bigger markets never will be. The other thing to consider is that, despite the proliferation of angling brand names, there aren't that many individual companies. Lots of brands fall under a single overarching banner. Seriously annoy one of them and you could lose advertising revenue from all the brands that fall under the same umbrella.
Sam, you will buy any old rubbish....See, I don't believe you ether
I do try to avoid buying any old rubbish, particularly at full price.
Happily, if they'd not been any good, I paid less than they go for second hand.
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