As some of you may know, the FTC recently decided to require bloggers to disclose whether or not they were given compensation (either money or free stuff) in exchange for mentioning said product or service in their blog. For some odd reason --at least to me--quite a few bloggers and media persons are upset. Cries of unfair and government intrusion are being written all over cyberspace and in the printed media. I of course am wondering why the big fuss?? It seems only fair that those who write about a product or service would be obligated to let the rest of us know that their love of "Comfy Butt Toilet Paper"springs from the fact they receive several cases of the stuff a year and in return promise to only wipe with it and write endlessly about its heavenly softness.
Now I know that most of us who blog do it as an outlet or to pass information on to family and friends. Many blogs I read are small and have less than 100 followers. Some do have ads on the side but most don't. As a rule I personally do not read the celebrity gossip blogs or political blogs or any blog written by a movie star, actor, musician, or 15 minutes of fame idiot. I would assume that the FTC rules would apply more to those blogs of the latter category than my little rinky-dink blog. A grayer area of course are those so called travel blogs, movie blogs, restaurant blogs and blogs on wedding and pregnancy sites. Personally, if I read a gushing account about how the blogger spent a wonderful fun-filled carefree vacation in Las Vegas I would want to know that said blogger got the trip paid for by the ritzy 5 star hotel with the intention of writing about how much fun she or he had. Same goes for the bride to be that can't say enough about the zit cream that saved her wedding day or the mom to be who just loves her support pillow. I would assume that the movie goer or restaurant eater paid for the meal or movie but if they were given the stuff free with the assumption a good write up would follow then of course I would want to know that before plunking down my hard-earned money.
The last category of bloggers who are probably most outraged are those who I will call
"ad-whores" They are the ones who write an "informative" blog and focus on products and services that they use and find useful. These are the bloggers companies sit up and take notice of. The intent of many of these writers is to see if they can get companies to send them coupons or free stuff as a "thank you" for using their products and services. To be fair, there are those honest folks out there who use items and services and truly love them and willingly write accolades. However, in my humble opinion, I think that I as a reader should know if the blog I'm reading is sponsored by companies X,Y an Z. I"m pretty sure that's why bloggers and companies are so up in arms. It's not that they can't write a positive and glowing opinion about a product, it's the fact they are getting compensation to blog about the product and they can make it seem like they use the product out of the pure love of their heart. That my friends is just plain unfair not matter how you look at it. I really don't mind reading about how wonderful "Flower Power Water" tastes. I wouldn't mind if I got a free sample of the stuff to try. I will even disclose in my blog that I received a free bottle of the water and tried it. However....just because I got it free does not mean I'm going to absolutely love it. If I get a free sample of "Delicious Discriminating Deli Delights" lunch meat and I feed it to the kids and they and I decided that I could make a sandwich using the contents of Trina's litter box that would taste better then by all means I'm gonna write it. But of course that's just me.
In closing I'd like to add that if certain advertisers want to send me free stuff then I won't say no. If you are Coca Cola...please please send stuff. I'll acknowledge you. I'll change my background to red and white and post photos of me happily drinking an ice cold delicious Coke. If you're Taco Johns..same offer except I'll change to yellow and black and post me eating potato oles.
OK, now I'm just being an ad whore. Or is it product slut?
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