Man, I gotta say, everyone and their grandma seems to be jumping on this brand ambassador train these days. But wow, last week Pimax did something a bit bonkers. They all but yelled from the rooftops, “Hey, we messed up!” The whole thing started spiraling when they tried to pull a sneaky move. It turns out they cooked up this plan—kind of like a secret recipe—for spreading sunshine and rainbows about their PC VR headsets.
So, there’s this Reddit guy, ‘Mavgaming1’, who spilled the beans last week. He dug up this chat where Pimax reached out to folks through Discord. The gist? They wanted people to be part of this shiny new Community Engagement Program. The catch? Write nice stuff about Pimax on social media and boom, you’d rack up points to unlock rewards. Sounds simple, right?
And what kind of swag were they offering? Well, a bit of everything, from five-buck Steam gift cards to whopping discounts on future gadgets. The jackpot reward? A $1,000 trip to their Shanghai HQ. I mean, who wouldn’t dream of posting praise in exchange for a trip, right?
But there was a tiny snag. To play ball, you had to draft up a sweetly positive post for Reddit—or any forum, actually—send it to Pimax for a thumbs up, post it online, and watch those points roll in. At least that’s what the guidelines that Mavgaming1 caught a glimpse of said.
Some of the suggested love letters, er topics, were things like “My First VR Thrill Ride with Pimax” or “How to Rock Pimax VR Like a Pro.” Basically, anything to paint the brand in a glowing light.
They were even dangling points for chiming in with happy comments on Pimax-approved social media chatter. Honestly, it was like orchestrating a flash mob of positive vibes to make it look like everyone and their dog was wild about Pimax’s headsets, like the hyped Crystal Super or the feather-light Dream Air models.
Pimax’s spin on the whole drama? They’re saying it wasn’t officially blessed off. Just a misguided idea cooked up by rogue employees, they claim. The company nixed it fast. They also swear on their VR cables that they’ve never shelled out cash for kudos in the past.
Turns out, they only nudged nine Discord peeps about this little venture, and three of them got the full spiel. Pimax’s frontman, Jaap Grolleman—who’s kind of the face of the brand these days—explained to Road to VR that those messages were rogue missives, a sort of “oops” moment from some well-meaning team members.
Jaap went further, saying they’ve never made journalists or anyone else sing their praises unless it was their own tune. Except, you know, for that one time around May 22—oops again.
He pretty much summed it up as a goof in judgment, but reassured everyone that no review ever saw the light of day under this well-meaning disaster.
But it’s not just a slap on the wrist kind of mistake. Even though only a trio of users got the pitch, the fiasco might’ve tangoed with marketing laws in some countries.
See, the Federal Trade Commission Act kinda frowns on sneaky tricks in commerce. Basically, pay-for-play reviews without a seriously clear relationship disclosure? Yeah, that could land them in hot water legally.
And globally? Lots of places, like the UK and the EU, aren’t big fans of covert marketing masquerading as spontaneous consumer love notes. They’ve got rules against this, too, calling it astroturfing. Psychic facepalm from Pimax, right?
Let’s see if Pimax can right the ship or if this is just the start of a bumpy PR ride. Who knows…
