In fact, new research from consumer advocacy group Which? suggests the label has been applied to products boosted by either incentivised or fake reviews.
In one instance, a dash cam product—the Innosinpo Upgraded Dash Cam Car Camera 1080P—had 24 reviews noting the vendor offered a free SD card in exchange for a positive review.
Another item—an ANCwear fitness tracker—had a 4.2 rating, but one reviewer posted an image of a card offering an incentive. “Don’t believe the five-star reviews, the watch looks and feels very cheap… only reason it is getting good reviews is the £15 bribe,” the person wrote.
In a third example, Which? said a company selling a baby monitor—the Victure 1080P FHD WiFi IP Camera—included a comment from a person claiming an employee asked them to upgrade their previous negative review to a full five stars in exchange for a new camera free-of-charge.
Also of concern to the analysts, the Choice label appeared on products from little-known brands. Some sellers linked to boosted tech products didn’t even appear to have websites.
It was found that some item reviews were describing entirely different products, a process known as product merging, that works to give the items more algorithm clout. Which? said a pair of wireless headphones had 2,000 reviews, including some for acne cream and razor blades.
But how the algorithms work in reality remains a mystery, Which? said.
The firm has suggested that its technology is helped along by human auditors, but the exact process remains unknown.
A spokesperson for ANCwear, a vendor of one product in the Which? report, said: “Only those who are satisfied with our products and are willing to leave feedback will [get] a coupon.”
