![]() It was nestled between words of praise: "The kids loved them," one mom wrote, "me not so fond, but i would buy for the kids!!!" In 31 posts about the Influencer program for Hot Pockets microwavable meals, only one included a mildly negative sentence. "It is just so cool."Įven with lower priced items, there's a clear excitement at receiving something for free. "I'd never had it happen before," she says of receiving a free computer. Getting something so valuable for free was a fantastic experience, she says, and she'd love to participate in more Influencer giveaways. The page is filled with exclamation points and smiley emoticons. Her post about the product, which she said her kids loved, is glowing. She was informed each time that her review should be unbiased. Tonya Smith-Baker was chosen three times as an Influencer, once receiving a free HP TouchSmart laptop to review and keep. But the experience clearly delights many of them. Participants aren't required to say anything positive about the products, says CafeMom marketing executive Laura Fortner. If chosen, they receive products to try out and write about, sharing their thoughts with other moms. It's hard not to get excited about that.Īt, mothers are invited to join the site's Influencer program. But for an individual woman writing a blog from home, a free shipment of diapers represents a huge savings in her monthly budget. Magazines and large parenting websites do receive product samples for review. Traditional journalists are expected to refuse freebies to avoid any conflict of interest. "Those who are compensated to promote or review a product" on their personal websites "are not exempt from the laws governing truthful advertising," said Richard Cleland, the FTC's assistant director of advertising practices, in a recent statement. The Federal Trade Commission has begun reviewing their advertising guidelines with mom bloggers in mind. Marie Hulquest, a mother of two who lives near Boulder, Colo., and Stephanie Joynes, a mother of one in suburban Washington, D.C., say they've bought products specifically because they were recommended by mom bloggers.īut can mothers who have relationships with corporate sponsors, formal or informal, really speak without any agenda about these products, unaffected by the flow of freebies? Readers flock to these blogs for real opinions from real moms whose lives appear to resemble their own. "I don't want it to look like one big commercial." "I try to be very natural with my reviews and when I talk about companies and products," Young says. But products also pop up conversationally, amid anecdotes about family life. It's become the standard model for successful parenting blogs: Women review products on their websites, sometimes mentioning that they've received the items for free. ![]() Raising six kids, she's grateful for the flow of free products, including a Nintendo Wii and other pricey items. ![]() They asked her, "to test products in exchange for a little bit of buzz on my site," she says, and she happily obliged. Like many mom bloggers, Young originally wrote about products she bought. She isn't paid a salary, but the perks include free snack food for her family of eight and a recent trip to Los Angeles, complete with parties and pampering at a ritzy hotel. Young has, in her words, a "relationship" with Frito-Lay, the maker of Cheetos. Bedtime stories and beloved teddy bears? Snack-time silliness and bath-time hijinks? The rules are clear for mommy bloggers: If it relates to your kid, go ahead and blog about it.īut when Christine Young does it - when she writes, say, about how adorably orange her children's fingers get when they gobble down handfuls of yummy Cheetos - things get a bit more complicated.
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