October 31, 2006 at 17:38Honest Blogger Disclaimer: “I Take Bribes”
As you know, the PayPerPost service and its followers are trading platforms where advertisers post their offers to bribe bloggers. The task of the latter is to publish positive reviews about a particular product. The blogger then receives a reward for his work.
I must admit that the American merchants from PayPerPost turned out to be quite pragmatic-minded people. They realized that without a compromise with the blogging community, their business would order a long life. Immediately there are thousands of volunteers who will track hidden advertising and cruelly spread rot both the bloggers who post it and the advertisers, not to mention PayPerPost itself. It is vital for marketers that their business model does not cause such a clear rejection.
Unlike their Russian brothers in mind , American marketers are still trying to find a compromise and make hidden advertising not so disgusting. At least they announced a new DisclosurePolicy initiative, within the framework of which each blogger can hang on his website a special button and a disclaimer in the style of "Advertising is allowed on this blog" or "The author of this blog never accepts money or gifts from sponsors and advertisers." In general, the disclaimer can be any. The most interesting thing is that PayPerPost promises to pay $ 10 to everyone who posts such a disclaimer on their blog, regardless of its content .
The meaning of the action is clear. PayPerPost is trying to find an acceptable form of hidden advertising. The main problem here is: how should a blogger report that his message contains hidden ads? According to marketers PayPerPost, a sufficient condition would be to publish a disclaimer, so they are promoting this idea.
However, there is a catch in this idea, because even with the “I take bribes” disclaimer, a blogger can carry out hidden marketing. Readers don’t know which particular blog post is paid. Therefore, independent experts immediately warn that the DisclosurePolicy initiative can be compared with the actions of tobacco corporations, which allocate millions of dollars to fight nicotine addiction. This is a lie and hypocrisy.
In fact, the message about hidden advertising should be integrated directly into the text of this very advertisement, so as not to deceive the reader. But then advertising will cease to be hidden , right? It turns out that hidden advertising is immoral in principle. And no disclaimers here will help.
I must admit that the American merchants from PayPerPost turned out to be quite pragmatic-minded people. They realized that without a compromise with the blogging community, their business would order a long life. Immediately there are thousands of volunteers who will track hidden advertising and cruelly spread rot both the bloggers who post it and the advertisers, not to mention PayPerPost itself. It is vital for marketers that their business model does not cause such a clear rejection.
Unlike their Russian brothers in mind , American marketers are still trying to find a compromise and make hidden advertising not so disgusting. At least they announced a new DisclosurePolicy initiative, within the framework of which each blogger can hang on his website a special button and a disclaimer in the style of "Advertising is allowed on this blog" or "The author of this blog never accepts money or gifts from sponsors and advertisers." In general, the disclaimer can be any. The most interesting thing is that PayPerPost promises to pay $ 10 to everyone who posts such a disclaimer on their blog, regardless of its content .
The meaning of the action is clear. PayPerPost is trying to find an acceptable form of hidden advertising. The main problem here is: how should a blogger report that his message contains hidden ads? According to marketers PayPerPost, a sufficient condition would be to publish a disclaimer, so they are promoting this idea.
However, there is a catch in this idea, because even with the “I take bribes” disclaimer, a blogger can carry out hidden marketing. Readers don’t know which particular blog post is paid. Therefore, independent experts immediately warn that the DisclosurePolicy initiative can be compared with the actions of tobacco corporations, which allocate millions of dollars to fight nicotine addiction. This is a lie and hypocrisy.
In fact, the message about hidden advertising should be integrated directly into the text of this very advertisement, so as not to deceive the reader. But then advertising will cease to be hidden , right? It turns out that hidden advertising is immoral in principle. And no disclaimers here will help.