Blogger Moms Selling Out
July 17, 2009 by Karlynn Johnston
Filed under Featured
This article caught my eye instantly this morning, as it is a topic that has been brought up in our house quite a lot the past couple weeks. I have thought about this topic intensely, because one thing that I have stuck to while raising my children is my deep seated beliefs, and my hardheadedness has allowed me to stand up for myself quite regularly. For those of you who don’t personally know me or read my blog, these beliefs would include extended breastfeeding, not “feeding my children up” with formula, co-sleeping and other battles with healthcare professionals regarding my deviations from mainstream parenting ideals for my (perfectly healthy) children.
So when it came time for advertising on the Super Mom, I have standards that I stick to. I just had my husband remove one ad that I found particularly offensive, one that was about a program for misbehaving children. Others include dieting ads that just drove me nuts because I already can’t stand the pressure on moms to instantly get back into shape after having children, so having them on my site would be ignoring my strong feelings just for a buck or two.
I also have thought about several children’s clothes retailers that have been caught using child labor in their manufacturing process, and since I boycott them in real life and won’t purchase from them, I certainly will not post their ad on my site and generate revenue for them, or receive any for myself. That also includes giveaways or any other promotion on my site, their names simply are not going to appear here.
I could probably make a fortune allowing formula ads on my site, but because I believe that these companies regularly and purposely contravene the standards set by the World Health Organization concerning advertising and their evil deeds in third world countries have me sick in my heart, to allow these ads on my site would lessen myself not only in in the eyes of everyone I have ever talked to about this topic, but I would unforgivably be letting myself down as well.
So I was very sad to see that the integrity of some mom bloggers is being questioned, thousands of women are reading and trusting their opinions, and it is true; sometimes when these mom bloggers receive a product and conduct a giveaway contest, the readers think that they endorse the product unquestionably, but in real life, someone just sent them a product and they posted it up on their site to gain notice and traffic.
This quote from Newsweek was incredibly interesting, that bloggers might have to disclose when they are paid by an advertiser to talk about a product:
However anyone cuts it, Christine Young, of FromDatestoDiapers.com, thinks her time is worth a few bucks. She’s parlayed her online success into consulting work for companies like Johnson & Johnson and other writing assignments. She also charges to do giveaways on her site. Right now, Young doesn’t have a monetary charge for product reviews, but she does request a sample, although that does not guarantee she will write about it. Her policy is to be very transparent about the process to her readers.
That works out nicely, since the Federal Trade Commission recently announced it is considering new guidelines so that bloggers will have to disclose in their post when they are paid by an advertiser to talk about a product. While some bloggers are already calling this “Big Brother–like,” Bradley disagrees. “Some feel like the mommy blogger per se is being targeted in all of this, but I think they’re being protected,” she says. “There are people who aren’t that savvy, and they’re going to write that kind of stuff and their credibility will get destroyed.”
It is something that I have considered revealing on my site as well, which books have been sent to me personally by the author to review, or which products I have been asked to review. There are more and more requests that I receive each day, and so far I haven’t revealed on the site which have been sent my way. However, on that note, I also have not said yes to a product that I don’t approve of, that is my instant way of weeding out any controversy. Notice that no one has asked me to review Bill My Parents ? (one of my top viewed posts on this site is about how I loathe the concept). 
A few articles, such as this one, give a “bored eye roll” about the topic, but I think when it come to parenting, we can’t ignore the fact that moms listen. Intently. And advertisers know this. The aforementioned article also states that travel writers get lavish vacations, and that restaurant critics get free meals, but this is in a completely different stratosphere. Parents are the single biggest purchasing force in the world. Period. The power that mom bloggers wield is infinite and has been blogged about extensively.
No one blogs about restaurant critics and their swaying powers. Just saying.
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