The ChatterBox's Disclosure Policy: Check the Rating!

Image credit: HummingbirdHeart on Flickr

When I first started this review blog, I was really wet behind the ears. I admittedly went after any and everything that was thrown at me in an effort to build a following and stay on the radar of the PR folks. Hind sight being what it is, I have since come to my senses. That was not the way to go and luckily it really has not really hurt me. Now that I have been in the game for a few months, I know that I can be more strategic about my reviews to do my readers (and myself) justice. With all of these questions coming down on bloggers about ethics, honesty, and disclosure, I thought it best that I lay my cards on the table. Especially now with the growing popularity of The BlogRollers, it is time for me to have a good review disclosure policy.

Since I am the creative type, a boring disclosure paragraph just did not do it for me. I thought up a rating system...you know like TV and Movies have ratings? Well now my reviews have ratings:

JB = "Just Because": Just because the product or service in the post is just plain cool and I wanted to tell you about it. I either purchased the product myself, it was a gift/on loan from a friend/relative, or it was a freebie. No advertisements, no sponsorships (cash or product) were received at the timestamp of the post. If ads/sponsorships show up later, it's because they were eternally grateful.

RVW = "Review Only": I received a sample of the product or service, event tickets, etc. (by my personal request or through one of my review networks) to review and write/vlog my thoughts. What I say about the product or service are my own true thoughts and feelings and are under no obligation to write a positive review. That being said, I make it a point to only request reviews/ participate in campaigns that I have a genuine interest or curiosity about.

SP1 = "Sponsored Review 1": A company may have requested to place an ad on my site or sponsor me for an event. As a part of their advertising/sponsorship package, they may request that a review or series of articles be written about their products or services on my site. Again, like with RVW, I usually make sure that the product or service is in line with my own "value system" if you will, before I allow them to place an ad/sponsor me. In essence, I will have no problem writing about them because I dig them anyway.

SP2 = "Sponsored Review 2": At times companies will assemble bloggers to visit their establishments and show them all of the glorious features and benefits. While they most likely will not come right out and say "now go home and blog about it", we are bloggers...we will go home and blog about it. It is probably obvious to my readers that I was whisked away at the company's expense, however, to be clear and not cause any confusion, I will use this rating.

SP3 = "Sponsored Review 3": A review where I have received cash payment for my review as well as product/services or an experience. Again, these opportunities are presented to me and I do have the option of turning them down. I make a point of accepting opportunities that I am genuinely interested in.

Well, I hope this does it for the ethics folks as well as for you fellow bloggers and lurking PR folks who may have been wondering what my actual policies are.

If this was too fluffy for you and you need some hard-core disclosure verbiage, read the fine print:

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by Christie Crowder. For questions about this blog, please contact Christie Crowder (christiecgc@gmail.com). This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. The compensation received will never influence the content, topics, or posts made in this blog. The owner of this blog is sometimes compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner of this blog receives compensation for posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.