Reporter Pulls Blanket Off Cozy Ties Between Mattress Companies And Reviewers
Kenny
SHAPIRO: Your discovery started in the spring of 2016 when you met  a guy named Kenny who gave you a free mattress . Who is this dude?
ZAX:  Kenny 's a nice guy. Let me begin by saying that.  He 's my neighbor.  He 's a friend of a friend. And I heard that  he  had mattresses to spare. So I actually just walked over one day with a bottle of wine under my arm and traded  him  a bottle of wine for a free mattress. And I sort of asked  him   what's going on here? I hear you're handing out free mattresses left and right. And it emerged that  he  reviewed mattresses online and that  he  actually got paid a commission from companies when  he  managed to persuade the people reading  his  reviews to buy a given mattress.
SHAPIRO: We actually have a clip here from one of  his  YouTube videos. This one's from 2015.
KENNY KLINE: Hey  I'm Kenny with Slumber Sage. Today I'm reviewing the Leesa mattress. I've been sleeping on the Leesa about three weeks now. It's been a great experience.
SHAPIRO: So he goes on to rate the firmness of the mattress. And right under the review is a link for a coupon  $60 off the mattress. This has more than 60 000 views. What does Kenny get for doing this?
SHAPIRO: Your discovery started in the spring of 2016 when you met  [TGT] . Who is this dude?
ZAX:  [TGT] 's a nice guy. Let me begin by saying that.  He 's my neighbor.  He 's a friend of a friend. And I heard that  he  had mattresses to spare. So I actually just walked over one day with a bottle of wine under my arm and traded  him  a bottle of wine for a free mattress. And I sort of asked  him   what's going on here? I hear you're handing out free mattresses left and right. And it emerged that  he  reviewed mattresses online and that  he  actually got paid a commission from companies when  he  managed to persuade the people reading  his  reviews to buy a given mattress.
SHAPIRO: We actually have a clip here from one of  his  YouTube videos. This one's from 2015.
KENNY KLINE: Hey  I'm [TGT] with Slumber Sage. Today I'm reviewing the Leesa mattress. I've been sleeping on the Leesa about three weeks now. It's been a great experience.
SHAPIRO: So he goes on to rate the firmness of the mattress. And right under the review is a link for a coupon  $60 off the mattress. This has more than 60 000 views. What does [TGT] get for doing this?