Keep It or Trade It?: Prototype 2 (360)
Keep It or Trade It?: Tekken 3D: Prime Edition (3DS)
Keep It or Delete It? : Mass Effect Infiltrator (iPad)
Keep It or Delete It?: The Walking Dead Episode 1: A New Day (XBLA)
Keep It or Trade It?: Syndicate (PS3)
Remember back in October when we reported that the FTC approved rules that said professionals who write reviews of a product must disclose all conflicts of interest in the review? This was to protect consumers by separating the shills from the actual independent consumer.
Tracie Snitker (owner) and her employees at Games PR firm Reverb Communications apparently didn’t get the memo, or just didn’t care. They have been found guilty by the FTC of submitting reviews of Reverb’s clients’ products to iTunes, while claiming to be general customers.
Under the ruling Reverb must remove all of its employees’ reviews, and are banned from posting any more reviews unless they disclose their relationship with the product and its owners.
“Companies, including public relations firms involved in online marketing need to abide by long-held principles of truth in advertising,” said Mary Engle, director of the FTC’s advertising practices division.
“Advertisers should not pass themselves off as ordinary consumers touting a product, and endorsers should make it clear when they have financial connections to sellers.”
Apparently Reverb is paid by receiving a cut of the sales for the products they represent. That is a mighty big conflict of interest when reviewing a product. It is exactly this kind of relationship that the new FTC rules are meant to protect consumers against.
Reverb is currently working with a wide variety of companies including 505 Games, Harmonix, and MTV Games on titles like Dance Central and Rock Band 3. Past games include prior Rock Band titles, Fairytale Fights and Zen Pinball. They have also worked with a variety of companies including South Peak Games, THQ, and Red Mile previously.
Since the story has come out, Reverb Communications has taken down their website, but cached versions are still available.
