They did, but Sony lost money on that. Most of the Sony "influencers" got all their kit for free.
I went on a Sony event a few years ago. 3 days paid for. Wined and dined. Hot air balloon ride, a special tour of the San Diego zoo.... some kind of fast sailboat ride (sailing up to an aircraft carrier was... a holy crap moment though! We don't have those in Canada), great restaurants and vino... though it's very much a beer town. Great hotel, play with all their gear. I don't know what they expected inviting me, but I'll take it. I met some cool people that I still talk to and they're extremely talented.
There were 12 of us on that trip..... 6 ended up getting free kits and off they went. Not many are getting rich in this industry, so if you can get all the tools that want and not have to pay for it? Any sort of brand loyalty you may have probably won't matter.
Canon did this sort of stuff in the early nineties to attack Nikon's dominance in certain areas, so it's not a new strategy. It can be effective though, as Canon proved back in the day.