Inconspicuous advertising.

Finding great online makeup communities such as Youtube and Makeup alley was a great revelation for me. I love the tutorials and hauls and the honest, peer-to-peer reviews posted on there. There is strength in number of course, and if 89% of 200 consumers gave a product 4 lippies, or are likely to re-buy, you can bet that I'm gonna trust that information more than what the advertisers themselves boast. However, there is something inherently appealing of this peer-to-peer review in-and-of-itself. I have bought items from just one positive review, just because the girl (or guy) reviewing the product seems like an "ordinary" consumer like myself, unaffected by any monetary attachments or interests linked to the company. Case in point: Gosh Darling lipstick, which I love, and heard from Lollipop 26.

Lately, however, I have noticed a dramatic increase in the number of inconspicuous advertising on Youtube and to a lesser extent, on Makeupalley. They are advertising because the person raving about the product seems to be at least partially motivated by a profit, or free products, that they are receiving from the company. They are inconspicuous because the monetary benefits of such advertising is often not mentioned or not very obvious. I find this to be an ingenious idea on the part of cosmetics companies due to its inconspicuous nature. On the other hand, as a consumer, I also think that these ads should be approached with caution.

While I have not personally encountered a youtube video where it is obvious that the person raving about the item or company does not seem to genuinely like it, you do need to keep some things in mind:

1) the reviewer probably got those stuff for free. This likely sways people's perceptions of items.

2) along item number one, most of these reviewers are personally contacted by the company, and have received personalized and fast service. This may sway their opinions of the items, and may not be representative of the general level of service that "average" consumers get. (I recall there was a bit of controversy on this regarding beautychoice.com).

3) some reviewers are paid for the review, as well as for each sale made on that specific item. How can you tell? If the review has a link to the item being sold or the store, the reviewer may get a flat fee every time that website is visited from the link. Same goes for a personalized code that the reviewer gives you for the items. The conflict of interest here is obvious - how likely are you to give a bad review of something that you are going to make profits from?


Luckily, the most "selling-oriented" reviews are also the ones most easily to spot. The reviewer often has nothing but positive things to say, and the things that are mentioned are generic to the kind of product and are not very specific, nothing is mentioned of the long-term efficacy of the items etc. Companies that are suddenly raved by a lot of people, with a link to the website from the video are also a bit suspecious to me.

I want to also mention that just because a website/product is often raved about does not mean that it is not a well-deserved rave. In the end, it's advisable to approach things with a healthy dose of skepticism and research several sources before purchasing. There are also some makeup gurus and/or bloggers whose ideas and opinions I always trust. These are:

pinkiecharm
lollipop26
makeupbytiffanyd
MissChievous

What do you think of these peer-to-peer forms of advertising?