Hi,
Actually, at least in the computer market, I know for a fact that lots of promotion by manufacturers/importers etc. is done by actually sending/giving products to magazines, here in Holland/Europe as well.
When the Dutch Amiga Magazine shut down years ago (note: NOT AmigaScene) they had about 2 carloads full of Amiga products which they got for free for (p)review purposes. Now this doesn't mean that it were automatically postive reviews, but it did work fine.
I think it does depend a little on the branch you're in though, I don't think Ford gives away it's latest models for free to magazines to get them to review them.
Cheers,
Ron
