It's interesting because up until the AVE 2 shit, he presented himself as an honest and objective reviewer, but now he's admitting that it was all marketing and he got paid for it. It's pretty ridiculous that he's trying to split hairs by saying it's good because they didn't give him talking points or script the review. The fact that he got a paid deal to market the AVE 2 means objectivity has been completely thrown out the window. They flew him out to california in business class, gave him the experience of some bizarre "industry" meet and greet with AVE, and made him feel recognized by one of the major shoe companies in the industry.
I do get pretty irked when I hear people use the old "I am trying to secure my families future" line. It's appealing to the emotional empathy of his audience by framing it in this way, but in reality he's shilling out to the demand of a corporation for a payday because he's a Youtuber. one minute he's singing the praises of the etnies joslin, the next minute he's saying "every time I try anything else I'm not skating as well as I am in the Vans" and then he's praising the asics japan pro. One minute it's about the issues with Youtube and having to make content, and the next he's saying he would make another video for a company if they paid him and gave him free shit. Completely sidesteps the price-point being $130 USD/$175 CAD. It's absurd, and from this point forward it's kind of blatantly obvious that every video review could just be a paid ad. Maybe Asics sent him those free pair! Who the hell even knows.