Comments on: Open Forum Friday: Should Film Critics Be Allowed to Accept Free Stuff?

By: Reed Farrington

Reed Farrington — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:00:02 +0000

I’ll change my opinion on the last Star Trek movie if CBS / Paramount sends me the DVD to review.

By: Byron

Byron — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:27:31 +0000

Sometimes I get frustrated with say certain mags because what I would consider a leniency on a Mr G Lucas or when The Texas chainsaw massacre remake got a great review on aint it cool and you see Harry Knowles actually in the fucking film. However, if free stuff is going out and you give it a bad review, I’m sure the PR guys can find a nice blurb elsewhere.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:54:13 +0000

critic and critique are different words right? i mean, one is a noun and the other is a verb… am i wrong about this…because Ian’s post confused the hell out of me the first time i read it.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:49:11 +0000

” If they all of a sudden started to recommend terrible movies Iâ€™d stop visiting the website.”

<__>

You should know Jay is in the back pocket of Big Poutine.

By: Niklas

Niklas — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:08:20 +0000

I don’t think it matters much. I come to Filmjunk and listen to the podcast because I have similar taste in movies to Sean, Jay and Greg so if they recommend something Im willing to check it out.

If their opinion is based on freebies or not doesn’t really matter. If they all of a sudden started to recommend terrible movies I’d stop visiting the website.

By: Duke Togo

Duke Togo — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:14:24 +0000

I’m all for full disclosure, even putting an itemized dollar amount as a footnote at the end of the review.
If advertising didn’t work, companies wouldn’t spend billions of dollars on it, same thing with swag and junkets, it’s effective, that why it won’t go away.

The itemized footnotes would probably be more entertaining than alot of the movies themselves.

By: Ian

Ian — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:41:53 +0000

hmmmm … well yeah you give a product that you are confident about to a critique to review that product. Ideally the critique being a person that is reputable will do an appropriate critique and will get people interested in the product, even if the critique doesn’t like the product. A good movie review can be negative but should also include a bit of anti-thesis that can sway some people to wanting to see it. Example: “…If you love a mindless gorefest… OR … It’s a hipster romantic comedy about banal people and might be good to butter up a date…” etc.

Following this logic (ideal though it may be) I have no real problem with the freebies that critics get. In the end a critic is only worth as much as his or her reputation and established sensibilities if that is lost then their value is zero.

By: Nat Almirall

Nat Almirall — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:18:38 +0000

There’s no need for a law dealing with something so trivial. If a critic writes bogus reviews, people’ll stop reading them.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:01:45 +0000

From an article at PCMag since that NY Times link sent me to a login page:

“The FTC provided the example of a college student with a well-known gaming blog who receives a free copy of the latest game for review, and posts a positive review. The student would have to tell readers that he received a free copy of the game, and the manufacturer should tell him that he has to disclose their relationship.”

We’re not talking about Roger Ebert or A. O. Scott. We’re talking about people even lower on the totem pole.

Also:

“The issue highlights the difficulty in distinguishing between legitimate news sites and paid content in an age when anyone with an Internet connection can set up a blog.”

Indeed, and it also raises the question of enforcement, particularly with movie reviews. How can YOU be sure I wasn’t “compensated” in some way to talk nice about a movie you hate? I love this gem as well:

“It’s unlikely, therefore, that a positive review for the latest iPhone on a popular gadget blog would result in an FTC investigation, provided that the blog reveals that Apple provided them with a free iPhone for testing purposes.”

Which is exactly why the FTC provided the video game example at the beginning, so you know it is NOT about that. They claim their biggest concern is with bloggers promoting health care products without actually trying them, but doesn’t that fall under the domain of the FDA? By the by, why isn’t FTC being aggressive in regulating how much pharmaceutical companies can advertise on television directly to consumers? This whole thing reeks of a smoke screen and is completely unnecessary. Bah!

By: rus in chicago

rus in chicago — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:56:34 +0000

Reed was bought off with a set of glasses from Burger King, can you imagine what he’d do for a free trip?!

By: stevie_baby

stevie_baby — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:11:18 +0000

I have no problem with critics receiving free stuff, plenty of them are barely scraping by and this helps them continue doing what they do. On the condition they’re reasonable things like free tickets, screening dvds etc, not things like plane tickets and opulent prizes.

The minute someone’s criticism is affected by bias due to freebies, screw them. In fact, it’s probably safe to just refuse these things fullstop.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:38:00 +0000

I seriously don’t give a flying fook what critics have to say about a film, bribes or no bribes.