Ugh, brand ambassadors. You know them, right? Like everywhere you look these days, someone’s hawking something, claiming they ‘love’ it more than their mom’s spaghetti. But hoo boy, last week, Pimax took the whole thing to a new level—or like, the basement of new levels. They got caught with their digital pants down, trying to pull a fast one with a program that screamed astroturf—louder than a toddler in a candy store.
Picture this: some Reddit dude—Mavgaming1 or something—drops a bombshell about a secret chat. Pimax, the so-called PC VR hotshots, sneakily started a program where folks got points (woo, points!) for saying nice things online about Pimax. But they were hoping no one would see through this whole charade. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.
Here’s the gist: you post some sugary-sweet stuff on socials, make it through Pimax’s vetting process (whatever that means), and boom—points galore! Points for what? Oh, a little $5 here on Steam or whopping discounts on their VR stuff. Heck, top it off with a potential trip to Shanghai headquarters, all expenses… well, subsidized maybe? It’s like Willy Wonka, without the chocolate, just flying VR goggles or whatever.
They even gave these ‘guidelines’ to follow, spelling out what sunshiney topics to cover, like “My First VR Adventure with Pimax” or “Getting the Most Out of This Thing.” And here’s the twist—our frequent astroturf visitors? Points for posting positive junk about Pimax’s latest gadgets, Crystal Whatever and Light Thingy. Slick, huh?
Pimax jumps in—nope, wait, we got it all mixed up, says they. This wasn’t official! A rogue group of Pimax folk went rogue-r in some wild plot, and Pimax, apparently caught unaware (or were they? Hmm), nixed it fast. They swore up and down they’ve never paid for positive press. Really makes you wonder, right? Nine Discord souls were contacted with this scheme, and only a few bit the hook, so they say. But no reviews leaked out. Nah. Nothing to see here.
But let’s not kid ourselves—it’s more than a flubbed PR stunt. It’s serious business. You can’t just bamboozle the masses; FTC’s gonna knock on your door if you play too fast and loose. Same goes for pals over in the UK and EU. They got laws too, against sneaky under-the-radar marketing antics.
Anyway, Pimax’s Jaap, their spokesperson, said it wasn’t Pimax per se, just humans being, well, misguided. And it almost violated marketing laws left and right. So, basically, a massive whoops all around.
