I’m working on an article about the practice of reviewing free toy samples provided by toy companies. I’ve got a good number of quotes from reviewers and even one from a toy company employee, but what the article needs is some thoughts from the perspective of the review readers (or viewers, in the case of video reviews).
So if you’d like to participate, please send an email to poe@poeghostal.com with answers to the following questions:
1.) As a consumer, does whether or not a reviewer got a toy for free affect how seriously you take the review, or how much weight you give to its opinions?
2.) If you do tend to view free sample reviews more skeptically, in what way are you skeptical and why?
3.) Do you think there’s any difference between free sample reviewing in the toy industry and, say, IGN reviewing a videogame, CNET reviewing a new smartphone, or Rolling Stone reviewing a new CD?
4.) Ultimately, do you think there’s any problem with reviewing free samples of toys?
I can’t guarantee I’ll quote everyone who emails me, but I’ll definitely use some of them. I’m really curious to know your thoughts.