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Theme Park Worldwide

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If he was receiving payment / incentives for Robin Hill in particular, he was certainly deliberately trying to hide it which is not on at all.

Particularly regarding the upcharge Bobsleigh attraction he repeatedly said what "good value" he thought it was for £1.50, "worth another go for that price". Before going on to say that he'd "definitely have bought the £10 unlimited rides pass" for it for he had been there for the whole day.

Deliberately misleading if financial incentives were involved. The attraction as a whole did seem massively overpriced based on the vlog so I was slightly surprised by such glowing praise.
 
TakeYourMedicine said:
Bloggers/vloggers often get free tickets for PR reasons, even smalltime ones.

This is most the reason why some do vlogging to be honest (having spoken to some), since it's so effortless to make a vlog or write a post and you get a free day out of it.

The major parks also invite them to media events such as new ride launches, so where the product placement begins and ends it's hard to tell.

Vloggers are always going to be rose tinted because they want the PR relationship with the park, so it's already kind of biased before any direct deal is in place.

I know of some blogs that are run by people who actually work in a theme park's PR department, suspiciously singing praises about the park for which its their job to promote. They don't make this clear on the page obviously, which is disingenuous
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Which vloggers work for pr dept?


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FarGone said:
If he was receiving payment / incentives for Robin Hill in particular, he was certainly deliberately trying to hide it which is not on at all.

Particularly regarding the upcharge Bobsleigh attraction he repeatedly said what "good value" he thought it was for £1.50, "worth another go for that price". Before going on to say that he'd "definitely have bought the £10 unlimited rides pass" for it for he had been there for the whole day.

Deliberately misleading if financial incentives were involved. The attraction as a whole did seem massively overpriced based on the vlog so I was slightly surprised by such glowing praise.
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To be fair this is all "ifs". It's not unusual for Shawn to be glowing about something, he may have been paid but we don't know.
 
Mikw said:
To be fair this is all "ifs". It's not unusual for Shawn to be glowing about something, he may have been paid but we don't know.
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I agree. Shawn is a very positive person (like myself, as I like to think!), and he has expressed that multiple times in his videos.
 
He’s a non offensive guy, walking around theme parks with his video camera, making some cash for it. Give the guy a break.

Fair play to him, he’s been doing it for years and I for one thinks he deserves any success he gets. He’s clearly done something right.

I’m sure some people on here are just annoyed that they didn’t do it first and that he may get freebies out of it.
 
Graeme said:
He’s a non offensive guy, walking around theme parks with his video camera, making some cash for it. Give the guy a break.

Fair play to him, he’s been doing it for years and I for one thinks he deserves any success he gets. He’s clearly done something right.

I’m sure some people on here are just annoyed that they didn’t do it first and that he may get freebies out of it.
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Yes but the issue is when freebies cloud the judgement

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monkeyboy said:
Which vloggers work for pr dept?
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The biggest one (more of a blogger but does vlogging) is probably 'cupcakes and coasters' having a full time job doing the social media for Thorpe Park.

Does that compromise their position on Thorpe, the wider Merlin parks, and therefore the whole of the UK industry? Probably.
 
FarGone said:
Particularly regarding the upcharge Bobsleigh attraction he repeatedly said what "good value" he thought it was for £1.50, "worth another go for that price". Before going on to say that he'd "definitely have bought the £10 unlimited rides pass" for it for he had been there for the whole day.
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Yes the bobsleigh was one instance. With a gate price of £17 then in any other park he would not be happy with the upcharge on this as they only had a few rides anyway. He then went on another ride which was included in the price and commented that in some parks there is an up charge for these types of rides (the go ape style attraction) so this was an advantage over other parks. Contradictions.

I also notice the packed lunches seem to have disappeared of late and he just looks at the menu for prices as if he hasn't had to pay.

As I said. Fair play if he's getting deals but please tell people up front so they know that your opinions might be impacted.

In the Black Gang Chine video he compared it to DisneySea Shanghai! And in a recent (another freebie) Paultons Park Vlog he compared the landscaping to that of Europa Park! C'MON!! These are examples I think of how the reviews/opinions will get distorted if there is money/gifts involved.
 
I swear the Bobsleigh at IoW wasn't extra charge when I went a few years ago... Must be desperate times there...
 
Getting free tickets is considered payment in kind, so yes, it applies, (there is an exchange of a monetary item in return for promotional work,nits immaterial if it is real money or an entrance ticket) it's the same as receiving a free product to review, the reviewer must make it clear the item was provided free and by who, otherwise they're breaking Youtubes T&C's and in the UK's case, the law.

I have nothing against TPW, but if they have been provided anything in kind or not for doing a review, they seriously need to make that clear, otherwise taking a photo on the rapids will be the least of their worries, especially if it seems that someone does have a problem with them.
 
I think he gets a press pass and invited to special events such as the opening of Wickerman for example. I also think he has been sent free annual passes for some parks in the past, again, as a "media" person. I dont think however that he is paid or invited around the world to visit the various parks, I think he does it because he enjoys it, and his youtube videos fund his lifestyle, good on him.

However, as with others, im not 100% on this.
 
I think Vloggers who get invited to places are always a bit sheepish to disclaim they receive free entry etc. as it kind of invalidates the whole video...

If you say at the start "We were invited out here and were given free tickets for this park" it kind of puts an impression in the viewer's mind that the words coming out of the Vloggers mouth are disingenuous (sometimes that may not be too far from the truth).

I have been given tickets to parks in the past for review and always try and provide constructive positive criticism, "This wasn't the best experience but could be improved by X,Y and Z" as after all, that is what the parks want at the end of the day. Parks want improvements arguably more than they want praise.
 
He said he was invited down by the park, I don't recall him disclosing that he was given the tickets for free,

I thought his video was too positive, ive been there and we enjoyed the day but there is certainly a lot of room for improvement which he didn't touch with a bargepole, this is why I didn't like this vlog.
 
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