Lately many of the raw food blogs I read are having contests with prizes.  The prizes are supplied by “generous” vendors who just happened to send the blogger products to sample.  I have no idea whether these “donations” were solicited by the bloggers or if the vendors targeted bloggers and just sent them stuff.

Either way I don’t like it.

I rarely see any type of editorial policy posted at these blog sites which tells me whether the blog author actively seeks these donations or not.  I don’t  see disclosure during a product review to show whether the author plunked down their own hard-earned cash on an item or if they got it gratis in the mail.

I have seen one or two policies which state something to the effect of, “I get stuff sometimes from vendors expecting reviews. I only give good reviews to the stuff I actually like.”      That’s something.  At least I know there is a potential for bias in the writing. And I have seen contests where the prize was purchased by the blogger.  That’s a-ok by me.  What I object to is give-aways without any indication of where the prize came from.

It’s a matter of trust.  Vendors are not giving out goodies because they’re nice.  They are promoting their product.  They are acting in their own self-interest.  They have chosen you, Mr. or Ms. Raw Food Blogger, because of your audience and your ability to influence them.   You owe it to your readers to be up-front about how you obtained the product under review and your relationship with the producer.  Especially if you provide links to the vendor which give you a commission on sales or if you sell the product yourself.

Otherwise your reviews are suspect.  I’ve unsubscribed from blogs which do product reviews without any explanation or policy. Some of them were so blatantly in bed with vendors that they accepted junkets — free vacations trips to visit the production facility or, even worse, to a nice hotel for a presentation by the vendor.

My policy on product or service reviews is avoidance and transparency.  I avoid soliciting product samples.  I clearly state the origin of anything I review.  I express my interest in the product – financial, social, or political.  I state my opinion, good or bad, should I choose to write about a product at all.

That doesn’t mean I won’t register to receive a sample of a product if I’m interested in it.  It has to be a sample offer that is available to anybody, however.   I won’t be asking any company for freebies as a special favor. I will disclose how I obtained any product or service I review.  I’m happy to receive any samples a vendor decides to send me.  I may or may not  review it on this blog.  No guarantees express or implied.

I seriously doubt that I’ll be running any contests involving commercial prizes.  No time, energy, or money for that.  I reserve the right to run contests for my own products or services when I’m done chef school.  At that time, the blog would morph into a business blog and cease to be personal.  It would be obvious that a contest would be supporting my business interests.

Usually I find contests on personal blogs to be irritatingly commercial.  Personal blogs are supposed to be personal.  I read them for the author’s unique voice and experience.  If I wanted to read about a given product, I’d google it and read about it directly from the vendor’s web site.  There is some merit in discussing and reviewing products on a personal blog as a form of information dissemination.  One needs to learn about new products somewhere.   It’s a matter of degree.  Any personal blog that constantly shills products is a blog that I probably won’t be reading anymore.

The key is disclosure.  I need information about where you got a product so I can decide for myself where your biases are.  I promise to keep readers of this blog informed about any item mentioned.