It's Official: No Sponsored Posts

Really great discussion yesterday about blogger relations and sponsored content on Chris Brogan's website. It actually put some things in perspective for me.

As readers of this blog know, I've been agonizing over the question of whether or not to blog for money. Gosh, we've even written a story in WHY magazine about how to do it. There's so much money out there to be had for people to write about companies and products, a new and exciting PR stream of revenue for us starving writers. But it looks like I've decided that I want no part of it.

Gulp.

This was made clear to me after reading all the comments from people who said, "Hey, I'll write about stuff too if you want to pay me" and "Write whatever you want, I don't believe any of it anyway."

For someone who values authenticity, perhaps even naively, it all left me feeling a bit deflated. Is that how it's going to be now? Can't trust anything? anyone? Is Dr. House chugging Vicodin not because it's authentic to his character, but because the drug company is sponsoring the telecast? Does Tony Soprano really want to eat Gulden's mustard or is ConAgra strong-arming David Chase? Am I being paid to mention Vicodin and Gulden's in this blog?

As a journalist, I've been trained never to accept paid trips or gifts from people. Yes, many times I have been treated to lunch at a press conference or by a PR exec or gotten tons of swag when my publisher decided to clear out the product sample closet. Yes, sometimes I think we're all kidding ourselves with all this talk about objectivity and honesty, but however you may feel about journalism, the goal, I think, is at least to strive for objectivity. Whether or not it can be attained at all is another issue.

The goal for blogs, on the other hand, is subjectivity, the opposite. Blogs are a serialized personal essay and, really, you can do whatever you want as long as your readers are on board and that includes writing sponsored posts.

But for me, as I mentioned in the comments section of Chris' blog, sponsored posts are really no different than advertorials, which, as you know, we run in WHY as part of our sponsorship package. Advertorials are articles, often with a specific point of view, that have been paid for (many of them, unfortunately, are schlocky). It doesn't matter whether or not they are negative or positive or whether or not you would have written the same thing anyway had you not been paid. That article is there, right now, because you have been paid to put it there. Advertorials are ads, clear and simple, and, in WHY, we define them that way -- as ads in a magazine. There's no gray area. It's understood.

But as a journalist trying to write a blog, ads/advertorials/sponsored posts -- it all makes me uncomfortable. There are no real boundaries when you have sponsored content within the context of your blog. Google AdSense on the side? Yes, that makes sense. There it is. I see it. You're making money (or maybe some people are...) for your blog that way. Good for you! But writing "this is a sponsored post" on one of your entries is not really a boundary; it's an apology. It's like when my husband attended a free workshop on how to raise a gifted child and was told by the session moderators that instead there would be a discussion of a new exhibit at a local museum that might be nice to take our gifted kids to. Huh?

The comment on Chris' blog that probably sealed the deal for me came from John Eich who wrote, "Whenever I'd get this slightly squeamish feeling in my stomach, even though what I was doing felt perfectly ethical, I knew there was a boundary somewhere that was being crossed. When I avoided those situations, I had internal clear skies...when I didn't, I could justify my actions, but there were clouds..."

So, long story long, no sponsored posts for me. I need all the clear skies I can get, inside and out. As I wrote to Martin Neumann of HomeOfficeVoice.com this morning: I'll be a happy, but poor idealist.