re: Blogging with Integrity
Mommy Bloggers have been on the frontlines of the ethical battles involving disclosure and compensation as detailed in this Ad Age article and sidebar video.
We live in a world where people trust the opinions of people like themselves more than they trust marketing messages from corporations. Which means mothers will trust what another mother says more than they will trust what a company says in a commercial. As a result, brands like Pepsi, Kodak, General Motors, Wal-Mart, and many more are reaching out to mothers who blog because their opinions have considerable sway.
“Mommy Bloggers” have come under scrutiny for accepting freebies in return for writing a positive blog post. It’s a classic case of a few bad apples spoiling the whole bunch.
Susan Getgood, Liz Gumbinner, Kristen Chase, and Julie Marsh became fed up with all the negative perceptions and decided to address the issue head-on. They’ve started a volunteer, grassroots, self-policing program called BLOG WITH INTEGRITY.
To participate, bloggers sign the pledge and promise to clearly disclose their interests, treat others with respect, and take responsibility for their words/actions. Once the pledge is signed, bloggers can post a BLOG WITH INTEGRITY badge alerting readers to their ethical stance.
It’s a great beginning. However, I can’t help but think the pledge needs more bite. It needs more guidance on what exactly is unacceptable disclosure.
WOMMA has been giving bloggers and marketers such guidance about proper disclosure and acceptable behavior since 2005. The most updated WOMMA ETHICS CODE (.pdf) details the following fundamental do’s and don’ts:
- We require marketers to disclose their relationships with consumers in relation to word of mouth initiatives.
- We require marketers to effectively monitor disclosure of consumers involved in their word of mouth initiatives.
- We stand against marketing practices whereby the consumer is paid cash by the manufacturer, supplier or one of their representatives to make recommendations, reviews or endorsements.
- We require consumers involved in a word of mouth initiative to disclose the material aspects of their commercial relationship with a marketer, including the specific type of any remuneration received.
- We require consumers involved in a word of mouth initiative to disclose the source of product samples or incentives received from a marketer.
- We comply with FTC regulations that state: “When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product which might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience) such connection must be fully disclosed.”
I applaud the BLOG WITH INTEGRITY initiative. Love the grassroots nature. And love the passion behind the program. I just believe it could use a little more bite to better clarify acceptable behaviors such as WOMMA provides.
In our conversations leading up to Blog with Integrity, we discussed many approaches. In the end, we decided to keep it simple.
Blog with Integrity is not about marketing. It embraces a broader set of conduct than just disclosure. While we recommend that bloggers publish a disclosure statement and provide some examples on our Facebook page, what they include in their own is their business, not ours.
On a factual note, there’s no “electronic leash” between the pledge and the badge. Bloggers are welcome to do either, although we hope they do both.
Finally, Blog with Integrity has its roots in the parent blogging community, but it is relevant to all bloggers. We hope everyone will take a look and consider signing.
Susan … true, the WOMMA Code covers more territory, namely the other side of the equation: THE MARKETER/BUSINESS.
I really like the inclusion of this line in your Blogger Code: “I treat others respectfully, attacking ideas and not people.” Nice add.
Hi John, as one of Susan’s partners in this effort I have to say I’m squirming a little at your implication in your comment that we somehow “borrowed” your own code and then added to it to make it our own. That wouldn’t be integrity now, would it?
Our ideas came from months of discussion within our community, coupled with our collective backgrounds of decades in marketing, PR and advertising. If I may be honest, I haven’t ever spent time on your site until now. But I’m glad to see that many of our values are aligned. Most of them are common sense, as you’ll agree, so it does make sense that there is a teeny bit of overlap.
In any case we do appreciate your support and your effort to help to get the word out about a genuine effort to raise the standards in blogging - whether or not the blogger engages with marketers.
Liz … just as you are deep into the issue of ethics, disclosure, integrity, and credibility with blogging and word of mouth … so is WOMMA. There is indeed overlap because we are both outlining common sense guidelines. WOMMA’s code goes deeper because it also gives ethical guidelines for marketers to follow. WOMMA supports anything that helps further the credibility and effectiveness of word of mouth. We are definitely together in this Liz.
Glad to hear it John!