Comments on: My Bad. I Took a Freebie http://diannej.com/blog/2009/10/my-bad-i-took-a-freebie/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed Pithy snippets about food writing Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:18:16 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: parisbreakfasts http://diannej.com/blog/2009/10/my-bad-i-took-a-freebie/comment-page-1/#comment-1020 parisbreakfasts Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:06:13 +0000 http://diannej.com/blog/?p=1072#comment-1020 Eeep..thanks very much, but I meant Nathan Bransfords blog.. To answer previous question myself - Yes I think he's good because I found The Intern through his links. HA! http://internspills.blogspot.com/2009/10/publishing-observations-round-up.html Eeep..thanks very much, but I meant Nathan Bransfords blog..

To answer previous question myself – Yes I think he’s good because I found The Intern through his links. HA!
http://internspills.blogspot.com/2009/10/publishing-observations-round-up.html

]]> By: diannejacob http://diannej.com/blog/2009/10/my-bad-i-took-a-freebie/comment-page-1/#comment-1015 diannejacob Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:00:21 +0000 http://diannej.com/blog/?p=1072#comment-1015 Hi, Yes, thanks, I read that also. What a relief! Thinking of writing yet another post about it. Re your blog, I love the visual feast and your sense of humor. It captures Paris perfectly. Hi, Yes, thanks, I read that also. What a relief! Thinking of writing yet another post about it.

Re your blog, I love the visual feast and your sense of humor. It captures Paris perfectly.

]]> By: parisbreakfasts http://diannej.com/blog/2009/10/my-bad-i-took-a-freebie/comment-page-1/#comment-1011 parisbreakfasts Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:44:44 +0000 http://diannej.com/blog/?p=1072#comment-1011 According to <a href="http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/10/this-week-in-publishing_23.html" rel="nofollow">Nathan Bransford blog,</A> book review blogs will not be affected. I shall rename myself Paris-book-breakfasts...Paris-breakfast-books...hmmm Wonder what you think of this blog..? According to Nathan Bransford blog, book review blogs will not be affected.
I shall rename myself Paris-book-breakfasts…Paris-breakfast-books…hmmm
Wonder what you think of this blog..?

]]> By: diannejacob http://diannej.com/blog/2009/10/my-bad-i-took-a-freebie/comment-page-1/#comment-961 diannejacob Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:39:10 +0000 http://diannej.com/blog/?p=1072#comment-961 Hi Helene, thanks for writing. Marketers are giving you the product because you are a blogger. They hope you will write about it positively and thus influence your readers to buy it. They are not giving you the product because they want you to buy more of it as a consumer, although they wouldn't mind. I took the pitcher because I was acting like a consumer. I just wanted it for my kitchen. I don't think that's cool. I should have been acting like a blogger. Consumers were not invited. Does that sound reasonable? Hi Helene, thanks for writing.

Marketers are giving you the product because you are a blogger. They hope you will write about it positively and thus influence your readers to buy it. They are not giving you the product because they want you to buy more of it as a consumer, although they wouldn’t mind.

I took the pitcher because I was acting like a consumer. I just wanted it for my kitchen. I don’t think that’s cool. I should have been acting like a blogger. Consumers were not invited.

Does that sound reasonable?

]]> By: Hélène http://diannej.com/blog/2009/10/my-bad-i-took-a-freebie/comment-page-1/#comment-956 Hélène Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:02:22 +0000 http://diannej.com/blog/?p=1072#comment-956 I think like Susan, if you go to any conferences (food or not) and they offer free stuff, I take it. It's good for them because if you like the product you'll buy more of it. I don't get the big fuss over this right now. I think like Susan, if you go to any conferences (food or not) and they offer free stuff, I take it. It’s good for them because if you like the product you’ll buy more of it. I don’t get the big fuss over this right now.

]]> By: parisbreakfasts http://diannej.com/blog/2009/10/my-bad-i-took-a-freebie/comment-page-1/#comment-955 parisbreakfasts Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:28:26 +0000 http://diannej.com/blog/?p=1072#comment-955 Interesting that in France, where they don't have these stringent rules and I doubt they ever will, since no one gives away anything for free. At the Salon du Chocolat, where I was "presse" I did get a reduction off an ice cream cone of 50 centimes (from 3 euros), though I didn't ask for it. There was a "presse tasting" - I missed it :( Otherwise the chocolate tastes offered free to everyone required a magnifying glass to see - such tiny crumbs-hardly worth the trouble. I bought what I liked at the show - no other choice except in very few rare instances - Le Whiff (a no calorie sniff of chocolate instead of the real thing- who needs that?) The only stand giving away tons of chocolate to ALL attendees-Tokyo Chocolate and they sold a ton too! Cultural differences on freebies are interesting indeed! Interesting that in France, where they don’t have these stringent rules and I doubt they ever will, since no one gives away anything for free. At the Salon du Chocolat, where I was “presse” I did get a reduction off an ice cream cone of 50 centimes (from 3 euros), though I didn’t ask for it.
There was a “presse tasting” – I missed it :(
Otherwise the chocolate tastes offered free to everyone required a magnifying glass to see – such tiny crumbs-hardly worth the trouble.
I bought what I liked at the show – no other choice except in very few rare instances – Le Whiff (a no calorie sniff of chocolate instead of the real thing- who needs that?)
The only stand giving away tons of chocolate to ALL attendees-Tokyo Chocolate and they sold a ton too!
Cultural differences on freebies are interesting indeed!

]]> By: diannejacob http://diannej.com/blog/2009/10/my-bad-i-took-a-freebie/comment-page-1/#comment-951 diannejacob Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:53:54 +0000 http://diannej.com/blog/?p=1072#comment-951 Hi Nani, While there was no explicit mention of having to blog or mention anything, the message is implicit: We want you to know about our product. Marketers don't hand out freebies to just anyone. At BlogHer, they targeted bloggers who reach potential buyers of the product, hoping they might write it up, or at least discuss it with other "influencers" in their community. There is no rule that says you have to write about the free stuff you take. But I was at the conference because I was a blogger and a professional, not because I was a consumer who just wanted free stuff for my own use. The conference was not open to the general public. You and Sarah mentioned the chocolate. What's funny is that like you two, I just ate it. Strangely, I didn't feel guilty about it. Why is it different from the pitcher? Hi Nani,

While there was no explicit mention of having to blog or mention anything, the message is implicit: We want you to know about our product. Marketers don’t hand out freebies to just anyone. At BlogHer, they targeted bloggers who reach potential buyers of the product, hoping they might write it up, or at least discuss it with other “influencers” in their community.

There is no rule that says you have to write about the free stuff you take. But I was at the conference because I was a blogger and a professional, not because I was a consumer who just wanted free stuff for my own use. The conference was not open to the general public.

You and Sarah mentioned the chocolate. What’s funny is that like you two, I just ate it. Strangely, I didn’t feel guilty about it. Why is it different from the pitcher?

]]> By: diannejacob http://diannej.com/blog/2009/10/my-bad-i-took-a-freebie/comment-page-1/#comment-950 diannejacob Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:45:03 +0000 http://diannej.com/blog/?p=1072#comment-950 Susan, Please don't feel guilty. You are the second person to say so. I didn't mean to guilt-trip anyone. It's only a pitcher, and if the p.r. person is reading this she's probably thrilled. It is an interesting question, to ask why we shouldn't take all the free stuff handed out at conferences. Susan,

Please don’t feel guilty. You are the second person to say so. I didn’t mean to guilt-trip anyone. It’s only a pitcher, and if the p.r. person is reading this she’s probably thrilled.

It is an interesting question, to ask why we shouldn’t take all the free stuff handed out at conferences.

]]> By: Nani http://diannej.com/blog/2009/10/my-bad-i-took-a-freebie/comment-page-1/#comment-947 Nani Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:21:45 +0000 http://diannej.com/blog/?p=1072#comment-947 So clicking through Katie's Nesting Spot she got turned onto the water kit via the product review place, which is basically a site where people go to pick up products to then write about hoping they are going to attract more people to their site. Seems like an easy out for big companies to avoid paying for ad dollars, and for those that like doing that kind of blogging thing-an easy attraction. Not my cup of water, at all...and don't people have better things to do with their time? wow.. Here's the number 2 idea behind the product site: 2. A place for bloggers to get added exposure for their reviews and because they put snippets up on the site, it should give click-thru to their blogs. It is also a place to learn about reviews and find pitches from companies/PR that need reviewers. So clicking through Katie’s Nesting Spot she got turned onto the water kit via the product review place, which is basically a site where people go to pick up products to then write about hoping they are going to attract more people to their site. Seems like an easy out for big companies to avoid paying for ad dollars, and for those that like doing that kind of blogging thing-an easy attraction. Not my cup of water, at all…and don’t people have better things to do with their time? wow..

Here’s the number 2 idea behind the product site:

2. A place for bloggers to get added exposure for their reviews and because they put snippets up on the site, it should give click-thru to their blogs. It is also a place to learn about reviews and find pitches from companies/PR that need reviewers.

]]> By: Nani http://diannej.com/blog/2009/10/my-bad-i-took-a-freebie/comment-page-1/#comment-946 Nani Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:14:43 +0000 http://diannej.com/blog/?p=1072#comment-946 I don't get what the big deal is. We paid to go to the BlogHer conference, hence all that 'freebie' stuff came with our ticket, and most of it was junk. There was never mention, to my ears, of having to blog for anything, mention anything, or otherwise do anything to receive this stuff. Like Sara I handed over the canned stuff to the food bank (why they didn't just send directly is beyond me-seems like most people did the same thing), ate the chocolate, and similarly (how funny) my kids snagged the the USB stick before I opened my bag and I haven't seen it since. The water pitcher is still in the box. I have no intentions of mentioning it all and will in fact probably give it away. But why all the fuss and worry? Where is the rule that says you have to write about something just because it is given to you? I don’t get what the big deal is. We paid to go to the BlogHer conference, hence all that ‘freebie’ stuff came with our ticket, and most of it was junk. There was never mention, to my ears, of having to blog for anything, mention anything, or otherwise do anything to receive this stuff.

Like Sara I handed over the canned stuff to the food bank (why they didn’t just send directly is beyond me-seems like most people did the same thing), ate the chocolate, and similarly (how funny) my kids snagged the the USB stick before I opened my bag and I haven’t seen it since.

The water pitcher is still in the box. I have no intentions of mentioning it all and will in fact probably give it away. But why all the fuss and worry? Where is the rule that says you have to write about something just because it is given to you?

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