VFTBL

Time for a little Boot Wizard special. The Rant.

This is something that has been coming, maybe for years and is more than likely a product of the times we live in and the current state of social media and instant gratification from short form content like Reels, Shorts and Tik Tok. In most other industries such as sneakers, football shirts & fashion this is an almost acceptable trend (provided everyone stays civil), however, in the world of performance products, like football boots, this is catastrophic, and I've had enough of it.

What am I talking about? I am talking about the knee jerk reactions all over social media outright slamming boots (or in some cases praising them), as the worst thing ever, or the best thing ever, when the people making these claims haven't even tried the boots. Not even held them in their hands. They've taken one look at a press picture or a leaked image and decided that because it doesn't suit their own personal preferences or there is an element that they think they might dislike it's the worst boot in the world. I'm not being hyperbolic here, I have seen the comments, I have seen the online conversation, people have said that certain boots are the worst boots ever made despite them not being released yet.

Now, it's one thing to make these completely erroneous claims and it just be a comment. However, this doesn't seem to be what is happening, there are huge swathes of people who are piling on to this one idea and it spreads like wildfire. Then you get people who see this, latch onto it, decide to repeat it for fear of being left out or being in the minority, and people who take these original baseless claims as fact, because they are written as such, this then influences people's buying, potentially stops people picking up a boot that they might like, because someone 10 threads ago threw their toys out of the pram because their favourite boot was being replaced. A favourite boot I might add, that is only their favourite boot because the internet says so, and they haven't tried that one either.

This has mainly been happening to Nike boots recently, and Nike are big boys, they'll recover, it won't affect them too badly, and they should be pleased that the backlash seems to have come about due to love for previous models. However, all it takes is this to start for a smaller brand, let's say it happens to Sokito, this could be hugely damaging, people write off a boot, it somehow becomes fact and the damage to the boot and the brand is permanent. All from a group of people who haven't even tried the boot.

I also have a personal "beef" with this occurring that I don't address in the video. I have put many years into building my review channel, acquiring knowledge, building relationships and understanding the minutia of how football boots (soccer cleats) work, all to try and provide a well rounded review with some objectivity but of course also information based on my own experiences and preferences, which are always expressed as such. On top of that I have also poured 1000s of euros into making this channel possible, in boots, hardware, software and even things like pitch hire. I believe I have earned the right to express an opinion about a boot THAT I HAVE TRIED. As have many other reviewers on the Internet. the lockhartbootblog, noah cavanaugh, ocbootblog, BOOTHYPE, the bootcast podcast, alllacedup, substanceftbl, x.quetzalcoatl.x, sr4u & unisport (although remember unisport is company selling a product) are just a few other names that have poured the same amount of time, effort and money into this endeavour (sorry if I missed anyone). If you want a genuine review or opinion, check them out, don't jump on the bandwagon of the next idiot on line who hasn't tried the boots, or even held them in hand.

For anyone who questions the money aspect of the above, a little bit of transparency for you, I earn from YouTube and affiliate links approximately 100 euros a month from my channel. A single pair of boots to review is between 200 and 300 currently. My channel runs at a huge loss.

Thanks for watching and if you have thoughts on this please do share them in the comments.

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