| Will Write For Food | Pithy snippets about food writing |
A blogger thought she got a product for free, then was asked to return it. On a listserv, she wrote:
“A PR person contacted me, representing a large cookware store. ‘If they could do anything for me…let them know.’ I told them I was testing bread cookbooks and could use a scale. If they could work somemagic on that end…great!
“The response I got was a link to their entire kitchen scale inventory and was told (more…)
Photo from Gourmet article, 2004The other day I sent out a Tweet about a list of best food books of the decade at the UK Guardian. Amy Sherman replied she found the list strange because of two books on Indian food, but then, the British now say they like curry more than fish & chips.
I enjoyed that exchange, but actually, Indian cookbooks were not what I found odd — and ultimately wonderful — about the article. It was because it said, a few paragraphs in, “We had an interesting nomination… David Foster Wallace’s essay Consider the Lobster, written originally for the now defunct (more…)
Remember an an earlier post about all the loot food bloggers receive, including offers of a free car? It’s happening again, at the Northwest Food and Wine Festival (note home page promoting Buick rather than food and wine) coming up in Portland, OR.
Two well-known bloggers forwarded this email, which offers them not just a car but lodging for two nights and free tickets to the event:
“Because we know you love fine wine and good food, we wanted to invite you to be Buick’s guests the weekend of the Northwest Food and Wine Festival, Nov. 13 and 14 in Portland, Ore. Buick is the (more…)
Okay, now this is getting strange. First, as mentioned previously, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) created a big flap a few weeks ago when it said it will fine bloggers $11,000 if they endorse a product without admitting they got the product for free. Now, at least one FTC official is backpedaling or clarifying, depending on how charitable you want to be.
The good news: Book reviewers are safe. The bad news: Those Amazon links on your website may not be.
According to an article in Publisher’s Weekly, FTC lawyer Mary Engle said at a blogger conference that writers with a “personal blog, writing a genuine or organic review,” did not need to disclose (more…)
At the BlogHer Food conference in San Francisco, I passed a booth where I could either take a free water purifier (and lug a bulky box around all day) or have one sent to my address.
My husband Owen and I discussed getting a new water purifier recently. Our old one was crusty from deposits in the water, and no amount of scrubbing removed the stains. So without thinking, I forgot about the third option available to me: keep walking. I gave the public relations person my address.
Back at the office the following Monday, going through cards and flyers, yet another company offered to send me a free chopper and grater. I thought about whether I could use it before acknowledging the truth: my site doesn’t review or mention kitchen products, and I have no business taking one. Then I realized I had no business asking for the purifier either. I felt my throat tighten.
When the cardboard box arrived on the porch, at first I was excited by having a mysterious package (more…)
As mentioned in a previous (and my most popular) post on accepting freebies, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) now targets bloggers in its updated guides on endorsements and testimonials. If you write about a product or service, and don’t disclose that you got something for free, you risk a fine of $11,000.
Before you freak out, let’s review the categories that might require disclosure if you choose to write favorably about them:
1. Free products or services (also called product-in-kind) including:
If you’re involved in a viral marketing program, such as General Mills MyBlogSpark program, you must say so. (If you don’t know about this kind of program, welcome to the new world of inexpensive marketing. According to an article in AdWeek, “General Mills contacted 100 mom and food bloggers in conjunction with the launch of a new blueberry acai flavor of its Yoplait Yo-Plus yogurt. It provided coupons to try the product as well as tote bags and other swag to give to readers. General Mills also sent out key product messages touting the yogurt’s health benefits…Overall, the program resulted in 5 million total impressions and over 8,000 comments with no media costs. [General Mills does not buy ads on blogs, Witt said.]“
2. Free trips or free meals at restaurants or events.
3. Nice blogging gigs for pay, such as Shauna James Ahern’s blog for the National Pork Board, Pork, Knife & Spoon. (Are there other examples? I’d love to hear about them.)
4. Independent reviews in exchange for cash. I’m sure none of you do this, where you get paid to endorse a product by writing positive comments on blogs and websites. Plenty of unethical people are willing even if you aren’t, and I hope the FTC fines them all. Still, if you get a book for free and write a positive review on Amazon without disclosing, that could be a problem.
Now, let’s get to the wording. I suspect saying “ScharffenBerger sent me this new baking chocolate” or “a sponsor gave me this” is not specific enough. The FTC rule says “bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.” You have to say you got it for free, or that you were compensated. Conversely, if you bought the item, it seems more important than ever to say so, to cover yourself. And if you don’t have a policy on your blog about receiving free products and services, now’s a good time to write one. Of course, if you don’t review items you receive, or if you return them, these rules don’t apply.
The good news is that individual bloggers are not the target of this ruling, according to an interview with Richard Cleland of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. It’s more about going after advertisers, he says. Still, the best practice is transparency in writing, and being held accountable to your readers, who trust you. I hope this new ruling results in fewer positive reviews now that bloggers might feel less beholden, or more honesty about personal reasons for trashing or praising.
Thanks to Mary Margaret Pack, Carole Bidnick and Faith Kramer for sending me links for this post. They were free and I did use them.
So, are you ready for this new law? Do you already have a process in place? Let me know how your food blogging will or will not change.
