In reply to Deadeye:
> So, go ahead, please put in a video section talking about your sponsored products and what you genuinely believe are their strengths and benefits. Why you like them. The broader work the sponsor does for good in the world if you like.
If you want "direct honesty", it'd presumably sound a lot like "Er, they're decent shoes and the makers will give me three pairs a year for free."
I'd find it thoroughly patronizing if I was expected to believe that, for example, Climber X suddenly discovered how awesome La Sportiva shoes are and how they are objectively the best in the world and La Sportiva are the nicest people ever -- coincidentally right after Five Ten dropped them and La Sportiva picked them up.
Ondra and Megos aside, most sponsored climbers are not in a position to pick and choose their potential sponsors out of all the manufacturers in the world; they'll be lucky to get a few options. They almost certainly didn't choose a certain brand of harness or cam because they thought it was the absolute best on the market; they chose it because that was the company that'd give them free stuff.
I'd rather have a few awkward close-ups of stuff with the sponsor's logo on it, versus watching minutes of some poor sod who is not a professional actor having to grovel and deliver a speech on why the new Techno-500 high-tension exploding underscore heel makes this shoe the best ever for steep overhanging routes and also delicate slabs and the manufacturers bottle-feed orphan kittens in their spare time.