[Arjun Reddy]

Thanks To Volkman 10 for initially sharing this advert on the Maruti Swift thread

Given that leading Auto journalists are wired up and giving their thumbs up to a product in a Maruti advertisement.

Is this not conflict of interest?

I was expecting unbiased reviews from these journalists, last thing that was expected of them was to be the stars for a car advertisement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV-lEFjRHtU

Thoughts are welcome.

Mod: Please move as appropriate.

[Olympal]

Journalists get as excited over a new car as anyone else so initial opinion is bound to be positive. It is only after sustained driving and gathering all your thoughts, that one is able to form an objective opinion.

It is shocking that so many well known auto journalists became willing guinea pigs in this 'brain mapping' exercise.

They are supposed to reserve their thoughts for an objective review post-drive and not allow their excitement to be captured during the drive.

As a former auto journalist myself, I am quite sure some from the fraternity may have refused to partake in this PR exercise. We will get to hear more about this Ad in the coming days.

[GTO]

Dumb ad, but it is an innovative concept. Just shouldn't have been carried out on journalists and they shouldn't have agreed either.

The conflict of interest has existed since time immemorial:

1. You pay my bills (i.e. car manufacturers pay the bills of the magazines).

2. I will review your products in an unbiased manner (i.e. impossible due to point 1).

Since a while now, at the end of press drive events, a videographer will approach all journalists and ask them for their opinion of the car. Many years back, we also participated in this. However, to our shock, all the negative comments we gave were edited out and only the positive stuff was published. Since then, as a strict policy, Team-BHP will not speak in front of a manufacturer's camera.

Originally Posted by Olympal

Journalists get as excited over a new car as anyone else so initial opinion is bound to be positive.

Not really. One of the most unimpressive new cars we drove recently was the Captur (related post). Of course, it's a different matter that it has been winning comparison tests in car magazines . Thankfully, the only award that really counts is that of the actual customer and he's given it a thumbs down (as evidenced by the sales).

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Conflict of interest starts the moment they depend on advertisements from these same. companies that they are supposed to evaluate.

And in that sense, only Team Bhp stands apart from the others.

[S.MJet]

Depending on advertisements is their business model, taking up ads of same products they evaluate is unethical but more or less has become an acceptable norm, now chief editors openly endorsing products by featuring in advertisement clip has descended to a new low.
Seeing this, how ethics will further be compromised in future is unimaginable.

[SJM1214]

Here is an amazing thread by GTO related to the same topic.

The Smaller yet Significant Things

• On an average, 5 team members contribute to each Team-BHP Official Review.

• Because of the unique nature of Team-BHP, manufacturers are often confused . We get a lot of questions about Team-BHP on media events. Why we don't accept advertising for new car models, how Team-BHP is a Forum (NOT a blog), that Team-BHP Moderators have other full-time professional / entrepreneurial interests, why we don't see any value in launching a Team-BHP magazine...the list goes on.

• Manufacturers frequently offer long-termers to us...say, a new car to drive for a year or so. We politely refuse; don't need them because we have real-world ownership reports from BHPians.

• Inexpensive caps, t-shirts, scale models, bags etc. are still okay, but high-priced gifts make us uncomfortable (politely refused an iPad once and a laptop another time). IMHO, sufficient time with the car is all that we want. Manufacturers should do away with gifts.

Have a look : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ives-work.html

[arvind71181]

What conflict of interest? There is no conflict of interest in auto journalism. All the journos are interested in protecting the "interests" of the manufacturers and not the customers

Even then, this must be a new low.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by GTO

The conflict of interest has existed since time immemorial:

Many years back, we also participated in this. However, to our shock, all the negative comments we gave were edited out and only the positive stuff was published. Since then, as a strict policy, Team-BHP will not speak in front of a manufacturer's camera.

One of the most unimpressive new cars we drove recently was the Captur (related post)

What happened GTO? I know how it feels to experience something which was never worthy. The kind of praise showered on Captur reminds me of any film producer spending more money on promotion and leaving the movie cash starved. I am waiting for the official review, my observation is, the driver seating position is the biggest flaw, neither it suits the taller guys nor the shorter ones.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

And in that sense, only Team Bhp stands apart from the others.

Us & Consumer Reports in the USA which makes its money from subscriptions. Consumer Reports also buys their own cars for reviewing, although they do participate in some media drives (time factor, else their reviews would take too long).

[RavenAvi]

Social media was never stronger as it is today. Customers who do their research online are well aware of auto publications and their staffs, so any/all opinion from these "respected" people is held in high esteem. Manufacturers are aware of this and are utilising it to the full.

Recently someone who has finalised a Honda WR-V was telling me how it was a great alternative to the Jeep Compass and in fact it had more features than the Jeep! When asked, he elaborated on a discussion he had had with a leading newspaper editor who had "good knowledge" about automobiles. I instantly realised that this editor guy was good friends with the local Honda dealership owner.

Valuable and assertive opinions, indeed.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Frankly, the Maruti Suzuki one posted by the OP was far better. It was clearly an ad and was posted by MSIL.

Here's a collection of some of my 'favourite' videos over the last couple of months, which clearly scream 'advertisements' without mentioning that its a sponsored content.

The least i expect is to be frank - And put up a disclaimer when doing funded content.

https://youtu.be/dpSe80Lr1Zk

https://youtu.be/4YdT9KgbQKc

https://youtu.be/OS8jIsyCzIs

Then there are auto journalists who do this -

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Auto Portal announced their car of the year awards.

Car of the year - Hyundai Verna.

Best Compact Sedan - Maruti Suzuki DZire.
Best Upgrade Award - Honda City.

Best Compact Sedan - Maruti Suzuki DZire.
Best hatchback - Maruti Suzuki Ignis.
Best variant award - Maruti Suzuki Baleno RS

Best Crossover - Honda WRV
Best SUV - Ford Ecosport.
Best Design award - TATA Nexon.

Best premium SUV - Jeep Compass.
Best Luxury SUV - Volkswagen Tiguan.
Best 4*4 - TATA Hexa.

Best luxury car - BMW 5 series.
Best Performance Award - Audi S5.
Best Supercar - Nissan GTR.

Please all manufacturers in one shot, so no one can question their partiality. Some might think it could be genuine as well, but then they come up with such reasoning to justify it -

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Anyways - Hear it directly from the source, why Hexa was awarded the best 4*4. They say it's a very good car off road but the reason for the award is also - 1. 7 seats. 2. Great family car 3. Long list of features and carry people in style - compared to XUV and Innova. Being a rival to SUVs and MPVs makes it the best 4*4 this year.

https://Youtu.be/iKKQKjjC1Ok

Frankly - Their entire awards was nothing more than a joke. So let's get back to the Team Bhp results.

Ah! This topic really gets on my nerves. Time for some meditation.

[giri1.8]

Being a swift owner I had a look at the new swift, frankly I can't believe how they could praise it so much, it's hardly any different overall and priced very close to superior Baleno!

Independent Youtube channels too seem to be influenced.

[am1m]

That auto magazines are biased towards the manufacturers and depend on the income from their advertisements has been obvious for a long time. Did any of the auto mags carry the story of the Maruti Baleno fake service experience that a BHPian posted and that also went out on several other news websites? I stopped taking auto mags seriously after reading an article on the new Yamaha R15 that hailed it as the 'successor to the RD 350'!

A good friend's brother used to work for one of these mags. It's a famous mag and he used to be a well-known name for them. He's confirmed that none of them were allowed to write anything negative about a new product from any of the big manufacturers.

Major newspapers also fall into the advertising trap. Remember how none of the newspapers would carry any negative stories about IIPM when it was obvious to everyone that it was a massive fraud. But they would all carry full-page adverts from IIPM. It's partly our fault. None of us readers pays enough for quality content and so the media is dependent on advertising revenue.

I used to think that independent bloggers were going to be the 'last bastion' of objective and more importantly, critical journalism. But I'm beginning to see that a lot of the popular ones have been co-opted by big brands. I remember one blogger I used to follow suddenly coming up with random blog posts on a particular new Honda car being used to go across India and how well it performed. Surprising, as ANY modern car would have easily done that journey so there really was no reason to flog the Honda brand...unless...

Another really puzzling thing is people who spend their hard-earned money on a bike or car and then go and do free publicity for the brand online. I can understand writing up a good experience, but I've seen posts where people go out of the way to defend a brand, even going so far as to counter someone else's genuine negative experience with the brand. Why do unpaid PR for a manufacturer who has an advertising and legal budget of crores?!

I love TeamBHP as this is one of the few places where people let go at the brands! I love it when a car or bike is ripped apart by people who have actually used it and paid hard-earned money for it. I find a bad review for a product I'm considering waaay more useful than a fanboy post about a brand (the brands have enough advertising budget for that). I hope it remains this way!

Originally Posted by GTO

Since then, as a strict policy, Team-BHP will not speak in front of a manufacturer's camera.

[arunramaswamy]

It's akin to a TV channel promoting only young and beautiful girls and guys in a reality show because it's easy to rope in fashion apparel manufacturers as sponsors.

I do not see anything different in mainstream auto-journalism. It survives on sponsorship. How else can one explain Verna becoming the most awarded car in India when it does not even top the sales chart?

[mpksuhas]

I don't think this is limited to 'Auto Journalism' as such. This stands true to any profession, you would go lengths to protect your bread and butter (in case of journalism - Advertisement revenue).

While here we are discussing specifically about auto journalism, I am aware of couple of incidents where main stream media has taken additional advertisement to keep quiet on certain issues related to certain corporate houses.