Brand ambassador and referral programs are everywhere, aiming to drive engagement and sales through influencers and loyal fans alike. But last week, Pimax crossed a line, the company publicly admitted. It was discovered the PC VR headset company was secretly aiming to launch a program that offered rewards for verifiably positive forum posts—an ostensible attempt at astroturfing that quickly unraveled.
It all started with Reddit user ‘Mavgaming1’ last week, who leaked a private conversation initiated by Pimax through its official Discord. The proposition was clear: Pimax was looking for users willing to take part in a new Community Engagement Program, which would allow them to collect points to unlock tiered rewards by posting about the company on social media.
The program, which Pimax confirmed with Road to VR to indeed be genuine before being discontinued following the leak, featured everything from $5 Steam gift cards to hundreds of dollars in discounts off future purchases of Pimax hardware. The top reward tier even offered a $1,000 subsidized trip to the company’s Shanghai headquarters.
The only thing selected participants needed to do was type up a verifiably positive post for Reddit “or any other forums you visit,” submit it to Pimax for approval, post it online, and rack up the points. Below is an excerpt from the posting guidelines given to Mavgaming1 via Discord.
Suggested topics included “Your First VR Experience with Pimax”, “Tips for Getting the Best Experience with Pimax” or anything else relevant to bringing a positive light to the company’s XR headsets.
The company was also prepared to give out redeemable points for making positive comments on Pimax-sanctioned social media posts. In effect, it resembled a coordinated astroturfing effort—an attempt to simulate grassroots support for the company’s PC VR headsets, including its upcoming modular flagship Crystal Super, and new slim and light entrants Dream Air and Dream Air SE.
Pimax’s response in a nutshell: The company claims it wasn’t an officially sanctioned program, but rather one regrettably devised by employees acting independently. The company quickly moved to shut it down. Additionally, Pimax says it has never paid for positive coverage in the past.
In all, the company admits to contacting nine Discord users about the program, three of which received the full pitch of content guidelines and reward structure.
Pimax’s Head of Communications Jaap Grolleman, who has largely become the face of the company over the last three years, tell Road to VR those messages “didn’t go through our internal application process for any external communication, but was sent privately over Discord messages by colleagues.”
“We have never demanded any journalist, developer or user to use any other voice but their own to describe our products, and never demanded a review or comment to be positive. That is in all 10 years of Pimax,” Grolleman tells Road to VR. “That is, with the exception of three messages being sent out around the 22nd of May.”
Grolleman characterizes the program as “a big judgment error in several areas from some individuals, who did nonetheless represent Pimax.” What’s more, he affirms “no reviews were published under this program.”
It’s more than just a marketing misstep though. While only three users received the pitch before the program was shut down, the initiative potentially could have violated marketing laws in multiple countries.
According to Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. § 45), “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce are hereby declared unlawful.”
This language underpins the FTC’s endorsement guidelines, which dictates that companies must not solicit or compensate for positive reviews without clear, conspicuous disclosure of that material relationship. In other words, paying users for good coverage—especially when disclosure is omitted or downplayed—isn’t just unethical, it’s potentially a violation of federal law.
Similar standards are enforced across the globe, including by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the European Union’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, both of which prohibit misleading or covert marketing tactics designed to simulate organic consumer opinion—aka astroturfing.
