Pewdiepie responds to Warner Bros scandal

[DivinePaladin]

Veknoid_Outcast said:

SWORDF1SH said:

I partially agree with you but have you watched the sponsored video yet? It's not as bad as you're making it out to be. 

I did watch it, and you're right. It's not like he was gushing about the game. His actions were far less egregious than others.

But it's still an unsavory thing: accepting money from WB to surreptitiously promote a game. PDP is, ostensibly, on YouTube to provide a quality product for his subscribers, yet in this case he was providing a product for Warner Bros.

Again, I don't begrudge anyone who wants to watch PDP's videos for a lark. And I don't want to indict every celebrity that's ever sold Pepsi or Gold Bond. But I do think the YouTube community and video game journalists (those that aren't themselves in the tank for one corporation or another) has every right to question PDP's integrity.

We have to take the era into account as well though. If there's no precedent to explicitly disclose any of that info within the video, then we shouldn't crucify the guy for not having the wherewithal to do so. I agree, he should have known better as an influence to literally millions, but he didn't cover it up in any way we can prove intentional. (If there's anything this Presidential election has proven, you can't prove intent anymore.) 

 

Since then there has been a clear precedent made on this sort of issue. Somebody like The Completionist gives full disclosure as to how he even gets his games, and gives even more warning about paid placements. He's been the catalyst for the rest of the YT community to start doing so as well. In my eyes, so long as we don't have direct evidence he didn't just change the description last night, what he did was fine, if stupid. I'm fairly certain he's been entirely transparent since then with placement (though I don't watch at all so I could be wrong). I pin this mostly on WB for, as an established business, not requiring disclosure on the other end. I get that that reveals the hand but WB is normally better than this.