When is it an editorial review and when is an advertorial review?

Talk is cheap, or is it?

With the media up in arms this week about the ABSURDITY of Alliance charging journalists (journalists!) at this year’s Cannes Film Festival thousands of dollars if they wanted to interview Brad Pitt or Kristen Stewart; Pitt was priced at $3,232 (£2,000) while a one-on-one print interview with Stewart cost $1,293 (£820).

It made me think about the increasing cost of opinion….

Everyone knows the baby market is booming; mummy bloggers are a serious force to be reckoned with and a recommendation of an essential baby product to expectant or new parents is about as important for their peace of mind as medication to a patient in hospital. Until the digital revolution this was a process where parenting magazines and newspapers decided on a feature/type of product – take car seats – called in a selection from a number of PRs then tested each one to see which ones were the best, as it was with consumer items across the board. This changed about 3 years ago, when the likes of mumsnet, netmums and babyexpert sprung to life. These sites offered reviews not only from editorial teams but from experienced mums who had bought the products too. Total objectivity. Great!

Now these sites with their member numbers in literally the millions, and the union power of the Egyptian rioters are following the route of Alliance and cashing in – yet again blurring the already blurred lines dividing editorial and advertorial – reviewer panels are no longer provided by editorial teams or just mums who have used the product and want to recommend/comment on it.

An email from mumsnet this week read:

Cost of [a brand] accessing the Mumsnet panel for reviewing product is £4000

So it appears that brands can now simply pay for mums to write reviews…. Total subjectivity.