Toy stores and retailers in general are racing to publish their top toys lists for the coming holidays. But are they genuine ideas or simply ads?
Recently Bloomberg reported that Amazon’s Top 100 Toys list for 2019 has a bit of a controversial side. It turns out that manufacturers can sponsor the list and pay for slots on it.
And the more they pay, the more slots they get. All of this is despite the claims that the list is “thoughtfully curated”, Bloomberg also reports.
Sponsored slots earn millions for Amazon, but they seem to not be labeled as sponsored. Amazon though doesn’t feel that this changes anything about the validity of the list:
“Every product on our annual Holiday Toy List, which features family gift ideas from new releases to customer favorites, is independently curated by a team of in-house experts based on a high bar for quality, design, innovation and play experience. We source product ideas from many places, including our selling partners who have an opportunity to nominate their best toys for the season and increase visibility of those toys,” Amazon said in response to Bloomberg.
Despite that, maybe keep it in your mind that some top lists may feature ads. Of course, now that this is out, many retailers will jump on the opportunity to claim fully honest choices, but still, keep an eye out for those sponsored tags.
