Krispy Kreme & Blog Endorsements

This is in continuation with our on-going discussion about paid blog post advertisements, endorsements and the grand opening of Krispy Kreme. Connie explained it more clearly than me in her latest post About Endorsements. Max, Connie and Me (parang yung sa movie ano? I should have used “I” but “Me” rhymed better) may have varying ideas on this issue but one thing is clear here, one’s credibility is always at stake if you’re a public figure whether you’re a veteran newscaster, a celebrity endorser, or a blogger with just 100 RSS readers.

She also mentioned about a comment she got from the PR firm of Krispy Kreme. I also got an email from theme informing me about their local branch’s launching at City Center, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City on November 30.

Unlike Connie, I don’t think I will have time to line-up at Krispy Kreme and grab a bite before I can blog about it. The fact that the PR firm acknowledges this blogger that his opinion about their product is valuable is fine with me. They can send me a truckload of doughnuts to try (most of it I might just give to the kids caroling here every night) and it won’t affect my opinion about the product. If it tastes like shit, it tastes like shit. Nothing more, nothing less. They asked for it. (In mathematical terms: Product Sampling != Blog Endorsement)

The same is true with Globe. They’ve been very gracious in sponsoring events, giving us free DSL/wifi accounts, and allowing us to demo test their units. That doesn’t mean all they’ll hear from me are positive reviews. Just read about what I wrote on the Samsung Z560 they lent me. They told me that they want an honest assessment of the unit and they got it. Even if it were a negative feedback, they’ll surely ask me to do some more testing in the future.

Then, there were other product samples like the iPod skin (iFrogz) and the Invisible Shield we reviewed at PTB. We could never have gotten hold of those items and review them if it weren’t shipped to us by the manufacturers from the US. If everything we reviewed in our blogs we need to buy ourselves, we’d have to file for bankruptcy before the year ends. I don’t think even Engadget, the most popular gadget blog, can afford to buy everything it reviews. Much much more with the Autoblog.

Let’s dig in and go a little closer to home. In blogging, blogrolls have an iconic meaning. It tells your readers that these link are worth reading and you endorse them as good reads. TextLinkAds comes in willing to pay you to be on that blogroll. You create a new section on your sidebar and label it paid links. It’s still an endorsement, right.

How about we go to Adsense, the blogger’s staple. If most of what you write on your blog includes those stop words, you’ll end up with non-paying PSAs. So what do you do? Would you refrain from using the stop words to get normal ad impressions. How about if you were lambasting AirborneAccess for their crappy service but your Adsense shows an ad by AirborneAccess?

Product sampling is a marketing strategy. It used to only target columnists and journalists because of their reach. But most of those reviews were merely lip-service. Now, it has entered the blogosphere as well. Will it still be lip service truthful reviews? With Krispy Kreme’s case, I think they’re hoping for a buzz with this product sampling. The brand is already out there and well-known, they just need word of mouth to spread the news that they’re here.

So I go back to my original point – it’s up to that person, whether journalists or blogger, to sacrifice his credibility and I think there’s a lot of gray area here.

Ok, ‘nuf of that. Let’s move along.