New York Times Beauty Blog Article
Kayleen Schaefer caused quite a stir in the blogosphere this week with her article, Beauty Blogs Come of Age: Swag, Please! The piece is about the power of beauty blogs, freebies, and the negative effect that swag could have on the authenticity of product reviews. I get the concern, but I also think that those mentioned in the article–biggies like Beauty Addict Kristen Kelly and Shake Your Beauty’s Tia Williams–were unfairly depicted by Schaeffer as beauty freeloaders who write their blog simply for the perks.
I read a lot of beauty blogs on a daily basis, including the two I’ve just mentioned, and I’ve never been under the impression that anyone is being paid off to write raving reviews. I will also say that free samples get sent to me all the time at Smarter Beauty Blog, and I’ve never once felt pressure from a company to gush over gifted products. Usually, you just get a box filled with cool (and yes, sometimes expensive) stuff along with a nice note saying they hope you like it.
Can bloggers really be expected to pay for all the products they post about?
Schaeffer tells of free trips to Paris, champagne-drenched parties, and free designer bags being lavished upon beauty bloggers. Well, those kind of perks are out of my league completely, but I really don’t begrudge any blogger who accepts such gifts. Magazines receive millions of dollars for advertising the same products they review, and cosmetic and other beauty companies get big bang for relatively few bucks when they hand out free stuff to bloggers.
It is true that some bloggers don’t post negative reviews. Ms. Kelly even says, herself,“If I don’t like a product, I try to approach it sensitively since I don’t want to defame a company’s good name or hurt their business by slandering their product.” However, a policy like that is a far cry from promoting something that you hate. Plus, the thing about a blogging is this: if people sense that you’re a fake, they won’t read; the popularity of a blog is based on readers liking you and trusting what you have to say.
If a beauty blogger influences you to buy something, and their claims are untrue, then you probably wouldn’t listen to them again. Especially since you actually have to pay for your makeup.
