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So fun. I too was gifted with an Apple Watch iOS creepy crawler update that drains the battery within 10 minutes while it sits on the charger. So now I have to carry around the watch sitting on the charger plugged into an extension cord so I can get my step count throughout the day. So cool….
 
Steve would have never done this
Yes he would--in today's world. Steve was a master marketer and YouTubers have an outsize influence (there's that word again) in today's world. Why read a written review when you can watch someone unbox that hot new toy and use it in front of your very eyes? Face it, for better or worse we now live in a multimedia world.

When you think of the millions upon millions of dollars a company like AAPL spends on a single Super Bowl ad, giving out maybe a 100 headphones that retail for $500 (but cost you much less to manufacture) in order to get your product in front of the eyes of a YouTuber's 100K or even 1 milion+ subscribers is good business. This is a concept Steve would have understood well. And, like it or not, he would have embraced it.
 
Yes he would--in today's world. Steve was a master marketer and YouTubers have an outsize influence (there's that word again) in today's world. Why read a written review when you can watch someone unbox that hot new toy and use it in front of your very eyes? Face it, for better or worse we now live in a multimedia world.

When you think of the millions upon millions of dollars a company like AAPL spends on a single Super Bowl ad, giving out maybe a 100 headphones that retail for $500 (but cost you much less to manufacture) in order to get your product in front of the eyes of a YouTuber's 100K or even 1 milion+ subscribers is good business. This is a concept Steve would have understood well. And, like it or not, he would have embraced it.
Steve was the original influencer. Through keynotes though, not on social media too much.
 
Apple sends out gift boxes to people who can afford to get the products in the gift boxes so they continue to tell everyone on YouTube what they want people to hear. Fixed it for you.

I do wonder if those AirPods Max have usb c?

All that while everyone else has to sell a kidney to pay for the same products.
 
What makes you think these influencers are rich?

Some influencers are but the majority aren't.

Though they’re not multimillionaires, the majority of the influencers do make enough money to be able to easily afford Apple’s super expensive products. Yet they get them for free while everyone else has to sell a kidney to pay for them.
 
There are thousands of "content creators" or "influencers" but the vast majority are not rich or famous. Very few are like those you mentioned yet some people think they are all millionaires.

They may not be multimillionaires, but most of them certainly make enough money to easily afford Apple’s very expensive products. Yet they get them free while everyone else needs to sell a kidney to pay for them.
 
I wonder how many of them already own an existing pair of AirPods Max, because they likely had to buy one to review back when it was released.

Not necessarily. Despite that they can easily afford it, more than one influencer gets the products free for their review.
 
They may not be multimillionaires, but most of them certainly make enough money to easily afford Apple’s very expensive products. Yet they get them free while everyone else needs to sell a kidney to pay for them.
That your third kidney, so I’m thinking they aren’t coming from legitimate sources! 😀

I’m not a huge fan of influencers, but wow, there seems to be a lot of green eyed dislike here. The weird part is how those complaining seem to expect things won’t be given to people that don’t need them, like that is somehow not business as usual. In business, things are seldom given because the recipient needs the item; they are usually given because the recipient has something to provide in return, be it cash or influence. The saying “if you aren’t paying for it, you’re the product” comes to mind.
 
Influencers makes me want to do the opposite. They’re worse than humans that sells their body for money and mask it as selling love. Influencers are so weak minded that a heavy drug abuser seems like a wise man in comparison.
Better to see it as something societal than a weakness in the person themselves - its not always a choice when your influenced heavily by a society and equally you've your bills and rent to pay.
 
It seems the main objection is to the idea of a quid pro quo (potentially) occurring when a free product is given to an influencer.

Kudos (I guess) to those who first figured out how to use social media as a means of target marketing their products to an interested audience via content creators.

As consumers most of us now recognize this tactic for what it is, and should probably be skeptical of all product “reviews” found online.

The bottom line is like it or not marketing products through social media reviewers/influencers works and the practice is likely not going away.
 
It seems the main objection is to the idea of a quid pro quo (potentially) occurring when a free product is given to an influencer.

Kudos (I guess) to those who first figured out how to use social media as a means of target marketing their products to an interested audience via content creators.

As consumers most of us now recognize this tactic for what it is, and should probably be skeptical of all product “reviews” found online.

The bottom line is like it or not marketing products through social media reviewers/influencers works and the practice is likely not going away.
I mostly agree with this sentiment, but I'll add that most people have found reviewers who they normally trust the opinion of. If so they should be able to trust a MacBook review even if the reviewer received a gift box. But an AirPods Max review might be suspect after receiving the gift box although Im not sure why they would be reviewing three year old headphones. If you wouldn't normally trust a reviewer, this gift box should make no difference.

In a similar vein I generally trust the things which The Verge says and reviews, and they usually lead with a "We are owned by Vox media..." disclaimer. Even if they were discussing something Vox Media related I would trust that they are being objective because I trust them normally. I think YouTubers are no different, if you normally trust MBKHD, you can probably trust his reviews even after receiving a gift box, even if he received and kept the gift box. If you never trusted iJustine to be objective, this gift box would make no difference.
 
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