This is in continuation with our on-going discussion about paid blog post advertisements, endorsements and the grand opening of Krispy Kreme. Connie explained it more clearly than me in her latest post About Endorsements. Max, Connie and Me (parang yung sa movie ano? I should have used “I” but “Me” rhymed better) may have varying ideas on this issue but one thing is clear here, one’s credibility is always at stake if you’re a public figure whether you’re a veteran newscaster, a celebrity endorser, or a blogger with just 100 RSS readers.
She also mentioned about a comment she got from the PR firm of Krispy Kreme. I also got an email from theme informing me about their local branch’s launching at City Center, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City on November 30.
Unlike Connie, I don’t think I will have time to line-up at Krispy Kreme and grab a bite before I can blog about it. The fact that the PR firm acknowledges this blogger that his opinion about their product is valuable is fine with me. They can send me a truckload of doughnuts to try (most of it I might just give to the kids caroling here every night) and it won’t affect my opinion about the product. If it tastes like shit, it tastes like shit. Nothing more, nothing less. They asked for it. (In mathematical terms: Product Sampling != Blog Endorsement)
The same is true with Globe. They’ve been very gracious in sponsoring events, giving us free DSL/wifi accounts, and allowing us to demo test their units. That doesn’t mean all they’ll hear from me are positive reviews. Just read about what I wrote on the Samsung Z560 they lent me. They told me that they want an honest assessment of the unit and they got it. Even if it were a negative feedback, they’ll surely ask me to do some more testing in the future.
Then, there were other product samples like the iPod skin (iFrogz) and the Invisible Shield we reviewed at PTB. We could never have gotten hold of those items and review them if it weren’t shipped to us by the manufacturers from the US. If everything we reviewed in our blogs we need to buy ourselves, we’d have to file for bankruptcy before the year ends. I don’t think even Engadget, the most popular gadget blog, can afford to buy everything it reviews. Much much more with the Autoblog.
Let’s dig in and go a little closer to home. In blogging, blogrolls have an iconic meaning. It tells your readers that these link are worth reading and you endorse them as good reads. TextLinkAds comes in willing to pay you to be on that blogroll. You create a new section on your sidebar and label it paid links. It’s still an endorsement, right.
How about we go to Adsense, the blogger’s staple. If most of what you write on your blog includes those stop words, you’ll end up with non-paying PSAs. So what do you do? Would you refrain from using the stop words to get normal ad impressions. How about if you were lambasting AirborneAccess for their crappy service but your Adsense shows an ad by AirborneAccess?
Product sampling is a marketing strategy. It used to only target columnists and journalists because of their reach. But most of those reviews were merely lip-service. Now, it has entered the blogosphere as well. Will it still be lip service truthful reviews? With Krispy Kreme’s case, I think they’re hoping for a buzz with this product sampling. The brand is already out there and well-known, they just need word of mouth to spread the news that they’re here.
So I go back to my original point – it’s up to that person, whether journalists or blogger, to sacrifice his credibility and I think there’s a lot of gray area here.
Ok, ‘nuf of that. Let’s move along.
YugaTech.com is the largest and longest-running technology site in the Philippines. Originally established in October 2002, the site was transformed into a full-fledged technology platform in 2005.
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Marcus says:
There is a possibility that this is affected by the salmonella virus on the peanut butter. My sister is working for Krispy Kreme. It’s surprising that her company gave them 2 boxes of Krispy Kreme REESE’S Peanut Butter Doughnuts. My father got a diarhhea while my mother felt week after eating. So far they are not vomitting, if it does happened possible na salmonella virus nga.
It’s ashame of them that they gave away food that may affect the people’s health instead of throwing them in the garbage bin.
Krispy Kreme should clear this out. I guess this flavor of their doughnuts are not selling good that’s why they gave them away.
Jazzy says:
hi abe,
just saw your clip in clickthecity and now one of your thousands of follower. :)
I agree that if “it taste like shit”, post it that “it taste like shit”.
Connie says:
Yuga, sponsors yun. Yung San Miguel beer commercial, endorsement yun.
JC John SESE Cuneta says:
We still have to see who will win between Go Nuts Donuts and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts :)
But so far, some people already gave their comments, via my blog when I first blogged about Krispy Kreme opening a store here in our country. -> http://gameshogun.ws/Snow/2006/08/08/krispy_kreme_doughnuts_vs_go_nuts_donuts
Abe Olandres says:
@ Obet
I think they will make variants of what they have in the US. Kaya siguro sila nagpapa taste test to get feedback kung matamis nga mashado so they can reduce the sweetener or something.
@ Connie
About the links, mejo iba nga opinions natin. But I look at the links as if I were looking at Manny Pacquiao’s jacket will all those branded patches as endorsed products.
noel says:
sa wakas. malapit na ako makakain ng krispy kreme :-)
Connie says:
Sorry, na hit ko agad yung “submit”.
To continue…
To “endorse” means to VOUCH for a product or a service.
Does a newspaper or a TV news program VOUCH for the advertisers? Course not. Same with blogs.
In the case of TV programs, it is when they integrate the ads with the program itself that they blur the line. Example, those Liver Aid segments in GMA 7’s morning show. That already constitutes an endorsement kahit ba may nakalagay pa sa ilalim na ad yun kasi nililito na nila yung viewer kung ano yung programa at kung alin yung commercial.
Connie says:
I disagree that text links constitute a blogger’s endorsement. That’s why it’s best to clearly label them as “adverts”.
Obet says:
Krispy Kreme is too sweet IMHO. I like Mr. Donut better. Stay away from KK, it’s bad for you.
Abe Olandres says:
@ Max
I’ve had that Budget Laptop Review in mind as well. Will post about it on PTB this week.
I also edited your comment as requested.
Max Limpag says:
Hi Abe,
Can you do me a favor? I messed up my comment below: Can you delete “giving” in the first line and change “telling” to “tell” in the second line of the third paragraph? Sorry for the bother, I couldn’t edit it myself.
Max Limpag says:
Hi Abe,
Not to belabor a point but ads are different, giving product samples are different. You were not paid by Globe to write the article. iFrogz didn’t pay you to write about them and require a specific length of article for the review.
Personally, I’m okay with product samples and I hope more companies give them to bloggers to try out so that as a consumer, I’d have more sources of reviews on goods and services I might want to buy.
PR people, in my experience, don’t giving product samples around and then tell you to write “at least 200 words” and within a certain time frame for the review to be valid. They’d give a product sample then pray you like the product enough to write about it. It’s just similar to product samplings you see in malls, only they’re conducting the sampling for someone who might want to write about it.
But being paid for an article, for me, is an altogether different thing. The company is buying an article from you.
It’s okay to say you’re buying ads, they’re the life blood of any mass medium. But how would you feel if you hear someone saying he’ll buy an article from your favorite newspaper or website?
With ads, even text links, you are just placing them around your pages, optimizing them, changing colors. Ads aren’t formatted as posts. They do not have headlines and facilities for comment. They are safely ensconced within boxes within the article or in the sidebar.
At first glance, even with ads blending, you’d know as a reader which parts of the site are being paid for by advertisers. But if you accept payments for stories, the space reserved for what had been purely editorial content is now also being occupied by paid content.
With a purchased article, you are actually producing something for money. You are writing something about a company that pays for the article.
But you’re right. As with most things, it ultimately depends on the person.
With that said, any chance Pinoy Tech blog can put up an updated roundup of cheap laptops for bloggers who don’t get as large a monthly AdSense check as you guys? Been scouting for one. I might e-mail you and JAngelo for advice :-) as I turned IM off in GMail (I use a separate IM account since I only instant message with my wife :-)
Mike Abundo says:
I hear those things are so good, they may as well crack in them.
Toni says:
Kimbofo of Reading Matters wrote a blog entry of a similar topic at her blog. This is the link to her article: http://kimbofo.typepad.com/readingmatters/2006/11/the_pitfalls_of.html. You might be interested in reading it! It is about how free books/contests targeted at book bloggers can tarnish blogging credibility. Very well- written, as yours is.
vespinoy says:
much like trying to do a review of motorcycles, heck i can’t afford them. hmmmmm, why don’t we ask them to have you review one bike abe hehe…..personal insurance not included hihihi