While quietly getting on with my work this morning, my desk vibrated gently in that way that usually signals the arrival of something or other on the mobile phone. A sideways glance confirmed it as the little light on the corner of the Blackberry began winking at me.
It probably says something about me that once I knew there was a message, I couldn’t leave it alone.
I was being invited by some girl to write a blog post in return for money - all I had to do was link through to a given website, and make sure the post was positive in nature. Money was being offered. Idle curiosity got the better of me, and I wrote back enquiring how much I would be paid for such a seemingly simple request.
It looked like it was worth doing.
During a later coffee break I spent all of ten minutes fashioning a post for the blog - craftily written to only reference the advertising as an aside. I wrote the marketing lady back - “what do you think of that?”… and so it began.
All of a sudden there were requirements to have the company logo graphic in the post, specifically formed URLs, exclusivity, and so on.I’m afraid I didn’t react well.
I’ll spare you my curt response, but it basically railed against the fact that somebody I was handing an opportunity to was now trying to dictate the operation of a platform they do not own, and that the promise of a simple transaction had now become complicated - evidenced by the back and forth email exchange that had exploded in my in-box. Their response predictably claimed they had outlined the conditions at the start.
Oh look - monkeys are flying out of my ass.
Within 30 seconds I had removed the links from the post in question, and heard nothing more. The entire episode was a timely reminder of why I don’t run advertising on my blog. Quite apart from betraying the readership, it’s the marketing morons that I just don’t get. Why do they have to be so two-faced? Why can they not be honest from the outset? How do they live with themselves?