Hokay, so.
There’s this site, TotalBeauty.com…you’ve probably heard of it. They have a blog network, product reviews, all sorts of yummy things. Yeah, a blog network. So…what the frack is this?
Hypocrisy, let me show you it. The title starts:
Beauty Brands Should Not Be Working With Bloggers…
Boo-urns.
If you read or skim the article, you will read all about why Emrah Kovacoglu, founder & CEO of Total Beauty Media, believes beauty brands should not work directly with bloggers. He says beauty brands need a “buffer” to protect standards of ethics and yadda yadda blah blah blah. Do you think it’s a coincidence that Total Beauty is being recommended as that buffer? Do you think if Susie’s Makeup Company wants to use Total Beauty’s blogger network to market its products that they do that for free? Um. More like Total Beauty recommends beauty brands use their service instead of just contacting us, the bloggers, directly.
Kovacoglu asserts that having this buffer in place will prevent bloggers from receiving kickbacks companies that want favorable reviews and prevent brands from “penalizing” a blogger for a negative review. He even has a cute term “Blogola”, which if you don’t know is a throwback to the term “Payola”– money that radio stations received for preferential play of various artists from their record labels. As a blogger I really do not appreciate drawing that comparison and questioning my ethics under the guise of trying to protect me.
Secondly, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I really hate it when people assume a blogger is going to review something favorably because they got it for free. If anything, what have you got to lose then? It was free! As to the idea of various bloggers’ trips and outings being sponsored, every industry gets sponsored, people! Athletes, journalists, everyone. Do you think reporters and reviewers paid to go to Cannes on their own dime? Makeup Forever and Royal Brush sponsored an after party for IMATS on Saturday. Do you think people had less “real” fun at the party because it was a sponsored event? Puh-lease.
To bloggers…Kovacoglu swears he’s had bloggers tell him they do not want to publish negative reviews for fear of retribution and/or penalization from a brand. I do believe him when he says that. My message to my fellow bloggers on the subject is: What are you so afraid of? A company approached you and asked for your opinion. Your website is your voice. Nowhere else can you completely ensure that your words are accurately portrayed and not censored in any way. Why on earth would you give up that opportunity to share your thoughts and opinions?
Other Bloggers Weigh In…
Purely Cosmetics: Blogger Product Review Uproar
Beauty & Fashion Tech: Responding to Total Beauty’s Suggestion That Companies Should Not Work Directly with Bloggers
Casual Lavish: TotalBeauty.com CEO Knocks Down Bloggers
Beauty Junkie London: TB-Gate: A Beauty Blogging Uproar!
I also spoke personally with the founder of Illuminare Cosmetics, Ruthie Malloy, who had this to say (among many other things!) “…I think sending free product samples to beauty bloggers who have a good following, are reputable and non-biased, who have a personal code of ethics to uphold and who have a large audience to speak to is just plain good business…”
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