Comments on: Pay to Play? Ann Taylor’s Blogger Blow-Up http://mommarkettrends.com/mom-bloggers/pay-to-play-ann-taylors-blogger-blow-up/ Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:16:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: Sylvia http://mommarkettrends.com/mom-bloggers/pay-to-play-ann-taylors-blogger-blow-up/comment-page-1/#comment-587 Sylvia Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:08:35 +0000 http://mommarkettrends.com/?p=1462#comment-587 This whole thing is absurd. While Ann Taylor LOFT's ploy was really obnoxious, this was because all gift cards were $10 not $10-500 and not a single attendee we know "won" the $500 card (side note to LOFT, writers all know each other and we talk). This wasn't because it was pay for play. Is the FTC unaware of how many freebies writers (including this editor) get from companies in general? Whether a print journalist like myself or a web blogger, we are showered with stuff. It arrives via courier, we get it in gift bags, you can't stop the flow. It just is. If my publication spent money to send back every unsolicited gift we received, we'd actually go bankrupt. Do journos from Vogue, Elle and Harper's and all the mags bypass the goody bag handed out to us at an event? Of course not. Witness last Thursday's Ann Taylor party at the Ace Hotel. We all (and no, I won't tell you which one I write for) collected a goody bag on the way out. Lookbook and a pretty necklace. Is that a bribe? Don't be absurd. No self-respecting journalist (print or web or whatever you want to call bloggers) can be bought off with a $50 necklace, much less a $10 gift card. The fact is, that all this merch allows us to see (and experience) what we are being pitched. We write about things which capture our imagination - and newsflash, FTC, if I'm holding it in my hand, yes, it's more likely to make sense to me. End stop and out. This whole thing is absurd. While Ann Taylor LOFT’s ploy was really obnoxious, this was because all gift cards were $10 not $10-500 and not a single attendee we know “won” the $500 card (side note to LOFT, writers all know each other and we talk). This wasn’t because it was pay for play. Is the FTC unaware of how many freebies writers (including this editor) get from companies in general? Whether a print journalist like myself or a web blogger, we are showered with stuff. It arrives via courier, we get it in gift bags, you can’t stop the flow. It just is. If my publication spent money to send back every unsolicited gift we received, we’d actually go bankrupt. Do journos from Vogue, Elle and Harper’s and all the mags bypass the goody bag handed out to us at an event? Of course not. Witness last Thursday’s Ann Taylor party at the Ace Hotel. We all (and no, I won’t tell you which one I write for) collected a goody bag on the way out. Lookbook and a pretty necklace. Is that a bribe? Don’t be absurd. No self-respecting journalist (print or web or whatever you want to call bloggers) can be bought off with a $50 necklace, much less a $10 gift card. The fact is, that all this merch allows us to see (and experience) what we are being pitched. We write about things which capture our imagination – and newsflash, FTC, if I’m holding it in my hand, yes, it’s more likely to make sense to me. End stop and out.

]]> By: Stacey @ Tree, Root, and Twig http://mommarkettrends.com/mom-bloggers/pay-to-play-ann-taylors-blogger-blow-up/comment-page-1/#comment-453 Stacey @ Tree, Root, and Twig Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:35:08 +0000 http://mommarkettrends.com/?p=1462#comment-453 There has to be a finer point to this that I am missing, or else why would I be so confused about the "blow up" over this? I participate in a few momblogger review panels online, and at least two of them offer incentives similar to this. Here's the exact text from a recent email (though I omitted the names of the products they were promoting): <i>If selected for this program, you will receive samples of the *** and the *** weeks before they hit the shelves so you can try them out and share your feedback with your readers. After the tour, we will send all participants a $20 gift card as a thank you for posting.</i> Another panel I belong to doesn't reward every post, but does offer those who post a chance to be randomly drawn for one of any number of prizes (including gift cards). I've seen both of these panels applauded for showing support to the momblogging community by offering tangible compensation (beyond simply providing product). I'm sincere in saying that I'm not sure what the difference is between what LOFT did and what these review panels do. It seems that LOFT is just following a business model that has already been established by other momblogger marketing/word-of-mouth providers online. I don't think it's fair of the LA Times to suggest that the bigger/better the LOFT coverage, the greater the amount of the gift card - that's assuming quite a bit. But I do agree with everyone's concern over any of the bloggers not disclosing the details of the LOFT event. Even the two panels I mentioned absolutely insist on transparency. So my honest question is: what did LOFT do that others have not already been doing (and with success and some degree of respect) online? There has to be a finer point to this that I am missing, or else why would I be so confused about the “blow up” over this? I participate in a few momblogger review panels online, and at least two of them offer incentives similar to this. Here’s the exact text from a recent email (though I omitted the names of the products they were promoting): If selected for this program, you will receive samples of the *** and the *** weeks before they hit the shelves so you can try them out and share your feedback with your readers. After the tour, we will send all participants a $20 gift card as a thank you for posting. Another panel I belong to doesn’t reward every post, but does offer those who post a chance to be randomly drawn for one of any number of prizes (including gift cards). I’ve seen both of these panels applauded for showing support to the momblogging community by offering tangible compensation (beyond simply providing product).

I’m sincere in saying that I’m not sure what the difference is between what LOFT did and what these review panels do. It seems that LOFT is just following a business model that has already been established by other momblogger marketing/word-of-mouth providers online.

I don’t think it’s fair of the LA Times to suggest that the bigger/better the LOFT coverage, the greater the amount of the gift card – that’s assuming quite a bit. But I do agree with everyone’s concern over any of the bloggers not disclosing the details of the LOFT event. Even the two panels I mentioned absolutely insist on transparency.

So my honest question is: what did LOFT do that others have not already been doing (and with success and some degree of respect) online?

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