Would You Accept Payment for Blogging Or Spreading Postive Comments about a Product?

[Bathsheba]

I was listening to a discussion on a BBC radio program last night that was high-lighting a new development in our digital world: Large multi-national companies paying bloggers to promote their products.

This worries me... especially if the pay-for-positive-comments is not disclosed.

Apparently the movie making industry is doing this... paying mum and dad bloggers to write positive reviews about the movies they have taken their kids to see. It seems that they have discovered that the opinion we share as parents can have a huge influence on consumers. I guess BB is a part of this trend (not the paying, just the opinion sharing). I have discovered many a fine product from reading threads in here.

I just want to say, for the record, that I DON'T believe bloggers or mums and dads should be paid to endorse a product. Our opinions do matter BUT we are not and never should claim to be experts in our fields. Once the people we are talking to get wind that payment has been made then all credibility flies out the window too.

What do people think?

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

Would I accept money to write a positive review? - No.

Would I accept money to review a product/movie? - Yes.

My blog has nowhere near enough followers for this to even be an issue for me, but as far as I'm concerned, I would never lie about a product for the sake of a payday. I'm more than happy to endorse/advertise products I'm happy with, and if I get money/free product by doing that, even better! But it wouldn't change the way I reviewed the initial product/movie

[Bathsheba]

Oh and if you would accept payment would you choose to disclose that you had been paid?


Just speaking for myself if i knew that a person had been paid i wouldn't "rate" it as much as an unpaid opinion... i couldn't help but be sceptical.

[Lulu]

That's how alot of bloggers make money - endorsing products. In fact there are alot of bloggers being taken advantage of and not being paid decent rates and expected to do all sorts of stuff. Which some of them do without realising cos they are just trying to make some spare cash from home.

and just for the record I'd never flog someone elses stuff on my blog - I think people get jack of it, especially when they will flog anything.....

I'd expect to be paid to review a movie or something, but you would get MY opinion!

[Bathsheba]

They (the companies involved) only pay for good reviews though...

ETA: it's different if an entity is paying for advertising because the traffic level on your blog is high though. I'm talking about specific payment for positive comments about a product.

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

To be honest and upfront, yes I would say that I had been paid. But I don't tend to be sceptical when it comes to other Mummy Bloggers endorsing products and getting goodies. I suppose that they may be the ones that initially get me to try a product, but it's my choice to continue to buy it, so it doesn't really matter whether they're paid or not, and whether that affects their reviews. DTMS?

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

They (the companies involved) only pay for good reviews though...

But does that necessarily change the product? Fair enough they pay for it - they pay for advertising, whether its TV ads, magazine ads or Mummy reviews. I think the difference if whether or not you respect/trust the blogger to have written a fair review, as opposed to a good review based on the reward.

[Lulu]

but why wouldn't a blogger be an expert in a field? Isn't it just about liking a product?

[Bathsheba]

It doesn't change the product but it's like any form of advertising... not trustworthy IMO. Advertising, no matter who is doing it, is not a shortcut to doing your own research and to me that means getting unpaid for information about a product. I trust unpaid scientists (or I should say, salaried scientists) more than i trust ones that are paid by interested parties. Same goes for the opinion of my friends.

Lulu: yes we are experts when it comes to our preferences but if i endorse, say a well known shampoo maker... and make claims that it's sooo good for eczema etc how true is that really? Anecdotal experience isn't the same thing as clinical trials.

[Liz]

hmm... it's a bit like having affiliate links. I avoid these like the plague.. there's a nasty streak in me that makes me not click on these and just go to the parent site myself LOL. I looked into affiliate stuff when I was setting up a website, and I felt bad using them. It felt kind of sneaky.. so I don't click on other people's affiliate links now either haha.

I don't think I would really endorse products for money. If I wanted money from a blog I think I'd just do ads or something, that are quite obviously ads, if that makes sense.

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

But why would accepting money for what you would've written anyway undermine your opinion?

ETA - If I'm researching a product/movie, I want to hear from my peers, people who are in a similar situation as me. I personally put far more weight behind a mummy blogger recommendation than I would a TV ad, because I assume that the mummy blogger has at least tried the product for themselves yknow?

[Lulu]

According to that report it's only in the movie industry and that's pretty harmless - it all comes down to the buyer beware and choosing where you get your info from.

If you choose to take someones opionion over clinical trials that's your problem, yeah?

[Bathsheba]

[QUOTE=Keikemamaki;2444039]But why would accepting money for what you would've written anyway undermine your opinion?

Just because i know that people can be bought and i don't trust bought opinions. Like Liz said: an ad is more upfront... if people want to advertise on your blog then fine... i have no problem with the blogger accepting payment... but weaving in paid opinions as well is different... and for me it's distasteful... just my personal thoughts.

ETA: it's similar to John Law's Telstra Cash-For-Comments media frenzy. People were outraged. Rightly so.

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

Sorry darl, realised I'm coming on a bit strong - sometimes its hard to remember you're not physically in front of me, seeing the genuinely puzzled expression on my face I understand your reasoning too. I guess there must be a fair few people who do put stock in paid blogger reviews, otherwise there wouldln't be a market for it - but that's why there are so many different forms of advertising, to make sure that even if people don't listen to one, they'll listen to another...

[Bathsheba]

That's fine Keike Not too strong at all. I hope i'm not being too over-the-top about it as well LOL I'm ok with advertising and it's great to hear of mums and dads getting a little extra $ from simply maintaining a blog (from people advertsing on the site) but payment for the content: the opinions and reviews in the actual blog to me is like Trojan Horse advertising... a bit too subliminal for me LOL

[Liz]

Being paid to review a product is different to being paid to endorse it. If a blog was full of glowing reviews and recommendations I would be very skeptical. There are review sites out there that I'm sure get paid or receive freebies to test out, and the manufacturers would just cop it sweet if it got a bad review.

I think it would be easy for people to get caught up in the whole money making side of it.. especially if the money is really needed, and it would change the whole feel of the blog, and possibly sway their 'opinions' of certain products.

[wysiwyg]

I don't have an issue when it is disclosed that they have received money or gifts etc from that company. If I had a blog, and I did think a product/film was good I wouldn't have an issue with being given something for stating my opinion on my blog, and in my own words, but I would always disclose it, so then people can make up there own mind. People have all sorts of biases which affects what they promote on their blog which are unrelated to being given anything, just the way they are and the experiences they have had so you always have to research advice anyway to make up your own mind. If people give false opinions based on endorsements people will soon realise that the opinions are not worthwhile and the blogger will lose subscribers and then no one will pay them for anything, so I think most people are fairly careful about what they pick to promote.

[Rouge]

I hate it. I think it's extremely dishonest. If they were saying they were being paid to endorse the product then that's fine. But the blogs I've read that do these reviews try and pass them off as REVIEWS. That's dishonest. I think it leads to people endorsing products they don't believe in or haven't even tried. To me it's unethical. And anyone who spams me with this kind of crud I stop following