nVidia Accused of Hiring Actors To Post On Forums

  • Thread starter Shannon
  • 11 comments
  • 717 views
Shannon

Shannon

15,799
The Consumerist, an online editorial blog has claimed that NVIDIA hires actors to post on gamer enthusiast forums in order to raise positive awareness of its products. The website claims that employees are expected to post on at least 50 forums with a target of 100, and up to 5 posts an hour.

Public Relations Director Derek Perez eventually responded to the website after reading the article online, he stated:

"Boy - read your article - you couldn’t have gotten it more wrong.
Do you really not know what AEG does? Did you go to their website? Do you understand their business?
Seems before you write an editorial article on this you would educate yourself."

It seems that wasn't the response they were looking for because the chip maker is now placed in the 'Evil' category of the website. Not surprisingly, a search for ATi turned up no results.

NVIDIA enlists AEG to manage Public Relations specific to online communities, while this is common practice for most companies to have some sort of fan-base PR, the claims appear to have gone wild with some sort of conspiracy that NVIDIA actually hires armies of fans to spam gamer forums with the hope that more people will buy their products.

A quick look at their clients page also shows Atari, Microsoft and Stardock among their client base. Are we to assume that they also hire people to sway opinion on community websites?

View: The Articles @ The Consumerist, and at Elite Bastards

Source: Neowin​


Err... *hugs ATi card*
 
VIPFREAK
:odd: I don't get it? I'm not an Nvidia fan but I don't see anything wrong?
Click to expand...

You don't see anything wrong? People are getting paid to endorse the product but are portraying to be regular end users, who's opinions we generally trust over paid advertising. It's smart marketing, but a little misleading in my opinion. Next we'll find out that Tom's Hardware is getting paid to show false benchmarks, or to endorse a certain card regardless of benchmark results. Since I got rid of my M64 nVidia card, I have been a ATI user, Radeon 8500, 9700 Pro, X850XT, and now the X1900XTX. I tried to go nVidia but it was an experience full of broken promises (shortage of 7800GTX 512mb cards).
 
VIPFREAK
But are they portraying end users truthfully? (if there is such a thing)
Click to expand...

Well that depends. An employee of AEG who doesn't even own a computer, going onto forums boasting about their 3Dmark scores or talking about how great thier nvidia card is......yeah I would call that dishonest.

Of course this is only speculation according to that article. Who knows if that really happens, I hope not.
 
I just see don't anything wrong... yet. The Tom's hardware now that would be a problem. I've generally liked ATi though because they seem less agressive or forceful. They come off as just a good company trying to give people what they want/need.
 
Ok, what if all the top members here at GTP were paid to endorse a new controller that claimed to cut seconds off of your lap times in GT3/4. As a result of those rants and reviews of trusted members, you buy one. What if their claims were false (they don't even own one) and you bought into their lies.

If I want to read paid responses I'll click on banner ads. I don't want paid responses from forum members, I want honest end user reviews and experiences. :)
 
I'd be skeptical and get a second opinion somewhere else. You're kinda discribing an Infomercial if you will and I don't pay any attention to them. I know most of the time they are getting paid to say certain things. It's also like GNC store pills and there claims.

But they are the ones spending the $ to try and grab me so most of the time in my eyes they are the ones shooting themselves in the foot.
 
It's not a good practice, but I don't think they have been doing that, if you read the articles regarding it, both AEG and nVidia have denied the claims, and the first site linked and said they have no reason to not believe them. Think about it, thoes claims could have been made by an ATi employee :lol:, oh how the ball can keep rolling.
 
live4speed
*snip* Think about it, thoes claims could have been made by an ATi employee :lol:, oh how the ball can keep rolling.
Click to expand...

:lol: True, true although it probably wasn't ATI but Matrox! Remember those guys?
 
Matrox, why there hasn't been a Matrox card since nineteen-nintey... What? They still exist? Why has no one told me?

Ahh I remember the Matrox Millenium thingymagig, good times.
 
Albeit, that's not a cool thing nVidia might have done, I haven't been a payed actor promoting nVidia. I've had better luck with my nVidia cards than my ATi's. Maybe it's more circumstancial than what they say it is. Maybe it's not as big of a difference between companies. Who knows? Who cares? I say just choose your fancy of video cards, buy it, and enjoy it. 'nuff said. :D
 

Latest Posts

Back