Bloggers Dilemma. Advertorial or Review?
When a company pays a blogger to ‘review’ a product, is it an advertorial or is it really a review? This question came to my mind after a topic in the Ping.sg shoutbox which let to xizor2000 asking me of the following over WLM,
“In your experience…are you able to give an example of what u consider a review and what u consider an advertorial?”
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My answer to him was,
“A review would be a complete unbiased view of a product and an advertorial would be a ‘paid to be made positive Advertisement’“
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I never really thought of reviews or advertorials as separate entities before his question as I generally felt that most blogger opinions can’t really be trusted as they are paid to blog on the product. Before all bloggers swarm onto me like hungry Singaporeans with a plate of Char Kway Teow, let us be honest lar. How many bloggers in the right frame of mind will say what he/she really thinks about the product if he/she is being PAID to do so.
I mean sure, there are ‘ethical’ bloggers who will say what they mean. But the truth is, the ethical one is running the risk of having no companies approaching him or her for jobs. Like how Wendy puts it,
“if I were a company, I would be feeling quite dumb to pay people to say (possibly) bad stuffs about me”
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So when companies pays a blogger to do a ‘review’, are they actually expecting an advertorial?
So when bloggers are paid to do a ‘review’, are we assuming that it is actually an advertorial?
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I think that is why a top blogger like kennysia puts an ‘ADV’ in his header which represents ‘Advertorial’ each time he is paid to blog about a product. Firstly, it doesn’t mislead his readers that he is blogging about a product out of his own free will. Secondly, when readers see that it is an advertorial, the clever ones should understand that since it’s an advertorial, the opinions of the blogger should be taken with a pinch of salt.
I think companies and bloggers should adapt a common understanding that when a blogger is asked to blog about a product, it should be stated clearly if it is an Advertorial OR a Review. And this information should be CLEARLY represented on the post to let readers know WHICH it is.
Companies should understand that an Advertorial on a blog is just like an advertisement you see on TV, in between the shows. It’s a total biased view of their product that is in the form of a media to spread awareness of the products existence.
On the other hand, if the company is that SURE of a product, they should tell the blogger to REVIEW it with his/her total unbiased opinions. The company itself or others should also take heart in the true opinions of the blogger and not be afraid of giving the blogger products for review in the future.
If I am a reader and I am presented with the fact of whether the post is of a review or an advertorial, I can read the blog with the correct attitude. I know if I am reading about a product’s existence or the blogger’s true opinions on the product.
And wouldn’t YOU trust a company and a blogger that shows such transparency? I would!
