Product Placement on Blogs, An Ethical Dilemma?
by Kalyn Denny

What happens when a cookbook publisher offers to give 25 food bloggers a free copy of a soon-to-be-released cookbook if they agree to post about the book on their blogs? For me, at least, it created a bit of an ethical dilemma.

In a fairly brilliant bit of online marketing, publishers of a new cookbook called Kitchen Sense worked with Sara of I Like to Cook and Cath of A Blithe Palate to arrange an event where 25 food bloggers were given a free cookbook and asked to post about what they made. The event was organized through a great site called Weekend Cookbook Challenge.

I was one of 25 food bloggers from all over the world who was invited to participate, and at first I didn't see any problem with it, since we didn't have to promise to give the cookbook a positive review, and I post recipes and spotlight the cookbook they come from all the time on my blog. When we were asked to write about what we made without posting the recipe (just a miscommunication, not changing the rules after the fact), I wondered if I had done the right thing. I solved the dilemma for myself by stating in my cookbook spotlight post that I had received the book free, and making it completely clear to my blog readers that I would have sent the book back and not written about it if I hadn't liked the book. Since I honestly thought it was a wonderful book, I didn't feel any conflict in spotlighting it for my readers. I don't know if any other food bloggers had the feelings I did, or if they just were glad to be part of the fun of trying a new cookbook. What do you think about this kind of product placement on blogs?

The other part of this story is the amazing variety of things that food bloggers cooked when they tried the book. You can read the roundup of entries from Cookbook Spotlight at Cookbook Spotlight at Weekend Cookbook Challenge and Cookbook Spotlight at A Blithe Palate. And since I wasn't the only food blogger who really liked this book (and many were brutally honest about saying that they were initially turned off by the lack of photos in the book) this may have turned out to be a win for everyone.

Contributing Editor Kalyn Denny also blogs at Kalyn's Kitchen.

Submitted by Kalyn Denny (view blog) on Thu, 07/20/2006 - 09:01

Comments

 

I don't think there is much

I don't think there is much of an ethical issue, unless in exchange for the merchandise/media, you're expected, or agree, to write only a positive review. This "product placement" has been happening for some time - a friend of mine has had a site for years where he does media reviews (music, books, movies, tv, etc.) and gets advanced copies of all sorts of things because he has a medium-sized (few hundred) readership who very strongly respect his opinions. If a PR person realizes there's a problem or issue to which they are pretty sure he'll give a negative reaction, they don't send him the product. I have several other friends who recieve media according to their individual interests (fiction books, history books, alternative music, etc.). None of them have issues with what they are receiving and reviewing.

Some have policies of not doing negative reviews about a product they receive, and I do disagree with that. No, their readers never know they've received the item, but I still think it smacks of dishonesty.

Ultimately, it's about the person doing the receiving and the review. If they are the type of person who will give a good review so that they'll keep getting swag, then eventually their readers will catch on that something is off with their recommendations, and stop reading. If the reviews are accurate then I don't think there's an ethical dilemma at all, even without mentioning that it was free.

Amaya Rain

Submitted by amaya rain on Thu, 07/20/2006 - 09:10
 

All the same

I actually declined to take part although I was invited. I had accepted books a couple of times in the past, but I refused to make any guarantees about writing anything at all, good or bad. That was the condition of me accepting the books. I wasnt sure that I really feel comfortable with it. It turns out that after accepting the review copies (I was encouraged by another blogger to do give it a try), that I am certainly not comfortable with it. As it happens, of the three books I have received in two years, I have not written one word about them, although one of them I could have since I quite like it, but only after I have had time to try its recipes a few times would I even to begin to consider giving it a mention [with the caveat it was sent to me, of course]. It just boils down to the fact that my blog is, for me, primarily a voyage of self discovery, and if someone tries to dictate my direction, it's simply a complete turn off to me. It's a turn off if someone asks for a link, sends me a press release, gives me a free product, tries to make me write something I dont want to write about. I even get turned off by memes thse days! What an old grump I have become!

I wonder how many other bloggers there were who took the same decision as I did. Perhaps for every blogger who said yes, there was one who said no.

I think it was great that everyone who did join in was totally transparent. But I can't help thinking that few of the bloggers would have actually bought the book unabetted. To me the lack of pictures would most definitely have meant that this book would never have made its way into my shopping cart. And still it won't, despite the praises of 25 of my dear blogging friends.

Sam

Submitted by sam breach on Thu, 07/20/2006 - 09:41
 

Product reviews

I don't hold much with "blogging rules" on my personal site, but I agree with your take on product reviews. I love products and trying new products, but I would have to have freedom to say what I truly thought and I would disclose that I had been asked to review the product and got it for free - because that's interesting, too, actually.

I think it's cool that you got to review a cookbook!

Liz

Liz Rizzo

Everyday Goddess

Submitted by Liz Rizzo on Thu, 07/20/2006 - 10:00
 

I don't see a dilemma

I write reviews of music and other children's media on my blog, and I don't see an ethical dilemma in receiving copies for the purpose of review. As another commenter said, if you were bound by the publisher/promoter to accept it only if you planned to give it a good review, that would be an issue, but I've never come across a situation like that.

I receive free/advance copies of nearly everything I review, and I'm fairly up front on my blog about that. I don't think that makes me more or less credible - it just means that I'm able to review more media than if I was only reviewing things I had purchased myself.

Amy Davis
The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What to Think

Submitted by The Lovely Mrs. Davis on Thu, 07/20/2006 - 12:31