World of MTB - BEST OF 2017 and other bullshit dishonest publications

Ed here from Robot Bike Co.

I might make a few enemies with what I am about to write, but this has been bothering me for a while and then something I read online today was the final straw, so here goes...

You lot, consumers, are what sustain the bike industry, without you we'd all be out of a job. I'd like to think that we all want to make great products for you, and receiving hard earned praise, awards, and good reviews etc from impartial publications and websites means a lot to us. You as consumers can then use that information to help you decide what to buy. It should be that simple shouldn't it.

Sadly it's not, there are what I would call the unscrupulous few (I'd like to call them something far worse) who ruin it for everyone else by not playing fair, which then tarnishes those that are with the same brush. As some of you may know I previously worked at Dirt Magazine as Technical Editor for a decade, and the one thing that used to drive me mad was seeing comments online about how any reviews we did weren't honest, that they'd been 'bought' by companies as part of an advertising deal. Other publications may well have played that game, and like I said tarnished the brush for everyone else, but I am proud to say that it was NEVER the case at Dirt, we knew that the minute we gave away our integrity Dirt was worth nothing.

Dirt of course isn't the only one with integrity, there are plenty of others that are run with equal levels of passion and integrity, but it's not easy. You imagine telling a brand that actually you don't think their product is that good...and that brand may well be one that advertises with you...and without advertisers the reality is that you can't exist. Not easy, but it can be done, it all relies on honesty. Yes a brand may make a dud product, but hopefully they'll also make some great ones, and honest feedback should help them to make even better products in future.

The easy option? Instead of being honest to the consumers you simply say everything is great in return for money, and that is what this post is all about.

To finally cut to the chase, last year I was sent the email below

"Dear friends and partners,

Very soon we will start to produce our anual product-special - world of mtb "Best of 2017".

This is an editorial selection of outstanding Bikes & Parts for 2017 model year. This unique magazin has conquered his established place on many coffee-tables, bike-shop-counters and bathroom shelfs….

We do our own studio photos, wheigh all products on our precision scales and write individual editorial texts for every single item.
Check out the sample pages from 2017 issue in attachement. In case you would like to recieve a 2017 print issue by mail please let me know.

Release date is before Christmas time on 20th December 2017 – 3 months at newsagents. Print run 40.000 copies.
3 months after print release the magazine will be published online:
https://worldofmtb.de/
https://worldofmtb.de/material/best-of/

For participation we charge a cost contribution of 200 EUR per presented product.
Presentation will be on min. 1/3 page for parts or 1/2 page for bikes and framesets.
All products need to be shipped to our adress by 1st November 2017.

We also offer the cover pages for advertisement placement. Please request for pricing.

We´d love to present one or more products of your brand! Let me know if you will be participating.

Best regards."

So, I think you can probably work it out, but basically this is a mass email sent out to god knows how many companies and if you pay your 200 EUR per product you can get as many awards as you want for a 'Best of 2017' product. You only have to look at pretty random and often questionable 'winners' from previous years for further proof that there is zero selection process in this whatsoever.

As a relatively young and small company any critical acclaim is obviously especially good for us, and we could have afforded to pay the 200 EUR in order to be featured, but the last thing we want to do is help fund what we believe is an entirely misleading publication.

The final straw that I mentioned at the start of this was seeing yet another bike company post on social media about how chuffed they were to have 'won' a 'Best Product Award' in the World of MTB mag. Personally I think it's disgusting that brands are supporting this kind of thing. Like I said it is completely dishonest to consumers and does no good for the industry as a whole. I urge all other bike companies to boycott any publication such as this, and even better do as I have done and 'out them' for what they really are. The people behind these things are making serious money, almost certainly far more than those who are doing it the honest way. Let's try and put an end to it, it will be better for everyone in the long run.