Pimax Issues Apology Following Controversy Over Secret Social Media Incentive Program

Alright, let’s dive into this tale of VR drama. So, brand ambassador and referral gigs, they’re popping up all over the place these days, right? Everyone’s using them to crank up engagement and, hopefully, sales. But last week, Pimax decided to play with fire—and got burned. They kinda admitted it publicly. The PC VR headset folks were caught trying to launch this sneaky little program. The idea? Reward people for posting nice things on forums. Sounds like fake fanfare, right? Total backfire moment.

Anyway, things kicked off when a Redditor named ‘Mavgaming1’ spilled the beans. They shared a chat from Pimax’s official Discord. Basically, Pimax wanted folks to hop on board with this Community Engagement Program. The deal? Post about them on social media, earn points, get rewards. Easy peasy—until it wasn’t.

And get this, Pimax even confirmed to Road to VR that the program was legit. But soon after the cat was out of the bag, they nixed it. I mean, we’re talking goodies from $5 Steam cards to big discounts on new Pimax tech. Oh, and the top dog reward? A $1,000 spin to their Shanghai digs. Yeah, really.

Here’s the kicker: all participants had to do was scribble out a nice post for Reddit or wherever, send it to Pimax for a thumbs up, slap it online, and boom—points. Below are some deets they shared with Mavgaming1.

Yeah, they handed out topics like “Your First VR Experience with Pimax” or “Tips for Getting the Best Experience with Pimax.” All to shine a glowing light on their XR headsets. And these points? They’d give them out if you said something nice on Pimax’s social posts too. Smells like a planned fan club movement, huh? Just to make it look like folks were hyped about their PC VR headsets and upcoming stuff like the Crystal Super, and lightweights like Dream Air and Dream Air SE.

So, Pimax’s official line: This wasn’t a company-backed plan. More like a rogue employee adventure that they shut down pronto. And oh, they never shelled out cash for good press before, they swear.

They reached out to just nine people on Discord, spilling the whole beans only to three of them. Jaap Grolleman, who’s kind of been Pimax’s face these past few years, told Road to VR the messages didn’t go through the usual company channels. Just some private Discord pings from coworkers.

“We never asked anyone—journalists, developers, users—to use anyone else’s voice but their own when talking about our products. No enforced happy talk. That’s been our thing for 10 years,” Grolleman said. Except for this tiny blip in May.

He also called it a “big judgment error in several areas,” but says no reviews went live under this scheme. Still, it’s kind of a big mess-up in the marketing world. Even if only three got the pitch, it skated close to ditching marketing laws everywhere.

The Federal Trade Commission? They say no to dodgy business. The FTC Act lays down the law—you can’t trick people in commerce. And yeah, that includes not being clear when you’re paying for good reviews. It’s not just shady, it’s probably breaking the law.

Globally, others feel the same. UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, EU’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive—they all say no to misleading marketing tricks. Basically, pretending consumers adore you? Not cool. End of story.