Companies are increasingly reaching out to parenting bloggers instead of more traditional channels to market their products. If you’ve got a blog that more than three people read, you’ve probably gotten offers for free stuff to review.

This article details the gifts, trips and free products that companies lavish on some bloggers. I was at an event a couple weeks ago for parenting bloggers put on by Ford, and while I’m local so I didn’t get the full treatment, many of the people I was with were from out of town and got free flights, stayed in a very nice local hotel and we all got fed nicely. I talked to a couple people there who did a lot of product reviews and one blogger said she thinks bloggers are obligated to give a positive review to a product they get for free, or they shouldn’t review it.

This may be my journalism background, but I find that really troubling. If a company wants me to do their PR and marketing for them, they can pay me what they pay a PR consultant, and that’s a lot more than some free product. Or they can buy an ad on my site. And while I’ve never really reviewed products on my personal blog, I feel that if a company wants me to review something they actually want me to review it, not shill for them. My stance is that the economy is tough and if a product actually sucks, people should know before they waste their money on it. And if it actually is a good product, what do these companies have to fear from honest reviews?

In many cases, I think this is companies taking advantage of some people’s naivety. If they can get you to do a whrl story or a series of tweets about their product for free, why should they do an ad buy or do any other traditional, more obvious marketing? I mean, yeah, sure, I liked the new inflatable seat belts and the Ford safety lab, the belts are a good innovation and the safety lab is a super cool thing to get to see. But Ford didn’t pressure me to do a good review or a positive post. If for some reason I’d hated these things or thought they were lame, I would have told y’all, and Ford would likely have crossed me off their list of people they invite to social media events, and we’re square.

I support the FTC guidelines so readers know if they are reading a blog that mostly considers itself a PR partner for companies, or if they are reading someone who gives honest reviews. And for me as a reader, obvious shilling is a huge turnoff. I read a couple of the big alpha mommy bloggers who get a lot of swag and what we called only half jokingly in my newspaper days “graft”, and I’ve noticed they’re pretty honest about what the companies provided them and how they feel about it. While I have no idea what they might be up to on Twitter or whatever, they don’t generally turn their main blog over to gushing about products.

But I think the most important thing is to read critically. If a blogger lovvvesss everything and they are waxing enthusiastic about things that sound a little suspect (lots of highly processed food, etc.) then I think that person loses a good bit of credibility. On the other hand, people who don’t sell out their voices for any corporation willing to send them free stuff garner my respect and I am a lot more likely to believe them when they do like a product.

What are your thoughts? Does obvious product shilling turn you off, or if it a matter of “more power to ‘em if they get a free trip out of the deal?”

Photo: LA Times

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