Collectibles > The Black Series 3.75"
3.75" Black Series Rumors
Nicklab:
Word has been spreading that Hasbro and their new PR firm are clamping down in a restrictive way. This may be at the direction of Disney, but that's unverified. But that seems to be the reasoning behind some rather.... cryptic communications from some sites lately.
JediJman:
--- Quote from: Nicklab on February 14, 2017, 09:25 AM ---Word has been spreading that Hasbro and their new PR firm are clamping down in a restrictive way. This may be at the direction of Disney, but that's unverified. But that seems to be the reasoning behind some rather.... cryptic communications from some sites lately.
--- End quote ---
Cryptic communications...like this post? ???
P-Siddy:
I've gotten the same sense that Nick has. At JTA and Yak. Maybe Jayson or Jeff can verify this?
Nicklab:
The short version (from what I've heard from one site owner) is that Hasbro's new PR company is playing hardball with fan sites that don't tow their line. Run a rumor report or leak or some new product that they don't want publicized yet, and the PR company may cut off access to that site. That could mean no press releases. Or possibly no credentials for an event like Toy Fair.
I heard about one site being in just such a doghouse with the PR company (and by proxy Hasbro). That site wound up resorting to some cryptic postings in an effort to work around the conditions set by the PR company.
JediJman:
I think any of those guys would tell you that they are at times privy to information that Hasbro doesn't want released to the general public yet. They're trusted with early news along with other perks like samples or special events, so they can add to the buzz once Hasbro has made their official announcements. I can kind of see their point - if they have some big announcement for Toy Fair and it gets out early, that has the potential to hurt ticket sales, make the event less relevant, or whatever. It's their news to share, so I suppose they have a right to be dicks about who gets to share it and when, though I do think they could go about it in a much more productive way.
But spilling the news early has always been a big deal with Hasbro - that's not a new mandate coming out of Disney or some new PR managment. In a prior life (over a decade ago now) I shared some news about six new SW figures I saw in a planogram room. I was excited to share something new with fellow collectors and there was no policy on keeping product info from the POG quiet (seeing as how I worked on a category that didn't have those kinds of concerns). I didn't even share pictures - just mentioned the package type and the characters I saw. The official news came out a week or two later anyway. Still, Hasbro tracked me down by threatening the collecting site. They sent me an apology that they had to divulge their source, then Hasbro went to the retailer I was supporting and forced that retailer to take me off the account -even though I was working in an entirely different department and rarely had access to anything in Toys. No warning, no explanations. Just a complete ban. Luckily my own company understood and assigned me to another retailer, but that's a lot of effort on their part to punish someone for a fairly harmless mistake.
These days, there's all kinds of information coming out of online retailers, inventory applications, or even overseas. If collecting sites like this one see product codes or descriptions on other sites, they can hardly be blamed for sharing information that's already been made public by someone else. Its really unfortunate in my opinion. You take the most die hard supporters and information brokers of your product and neuter their ability to generate excitement and interest for new stuff. It has the potential to create a lot of negativity around something that should be making people excited and happy.
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