Warner Bros. has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over claims that the company kept secret the fact that it paid prominent YouTubers, including PewDiePie, for a positive review on one of its video games.
The charge by the FTC against Warner Bros. stated that the video game publisher deceived customers on the reviews of Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. The company is said to have paid thousands of dollars to YouTube celebrities to release a review on the game as part of a marketing campaign and then failed to disclose that the reviews were sponsored by Warner Bros.
Upon paying the so-called social media influencers, the company gave them advance copies of the video game and the details on how to promote it. The deal also required the YouTubers to have a positive note on their promotions of the game and not to divulge any glitches or bugs they come across while playing the title.
The concept of sponsored content is not new in the industry, but according to the FTC, Warner Bros. did not tell the YouTubers to fully disclose the sponsorship. Instead, the company told them to place the disclosure that the reviews were sponsored by them in the description boxes of the videos, which will have the disclosures end up completely hidden as they are shared on different social media platforms.
"Consumers have the right to know if reviewers are providing their own opinions or paid sales pitches," said FTC consumer protection bureau director Jessica Rich.
The video review by PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, for Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor has been viewed 3.7 million times, the FTC revealed. In total, all the sponsored videos in the marketing campaign reached a view count of 5.5 million.
Under the terms of the settlement with the FTC, Warner Bros. has been banned from failing to reveal any similar agreements in the future and told not to market sponsored content as independent work by third parties.
The shady marketing campaign of Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, however, should not take away from the game's achievements. The title was awarded as the Game of the Year in the 15th annual Game Developers Choice Awards in March 2015.
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor is an action-adventure role-playing game that was inspired by the world that was created by J.R.R. Tolkien for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit franchises.
