Here’s a question. The project has received some early media attention, which is great. Along with lots of comments and tweets and email messages, I’ve already received offers of free made-in-Canada stuff. Thus far, it’s been offers of some cleaning products, clothes and Canadian hosting services (never fear, I’m going to switch over from my American hosting before December, the ‘Internet’ month).
This was unexpected, and not a goal of the project. I’ve had a relatively-popular blog for (deary me, is it really that long?) nine years, and I’ve received a smattering of stuff (and regular tickets to local theatre for reviewing purposes) over the years. If I was going to seek out a bunch of free stuff, I’d have done it over on that site.
I’m not sure how to proceed. If I accepted free stuff, it’d be with no strings attached. I might write about, and I might not. But, on the other hand, I wouldn’t want to call the integrity of the project into question. So, I leave it up to you. Let me know what you think in the poll below, and I’ll do whatever you choose. I’ll close the poll in a week.
Did you originally want to start the project to promote Canadian/locally made products? And by accepting the freebies – will this stop you from researching other brands of the same products to see what else might be out there?
@Erica:
> Did you originally want to start the project to promote Canadian/locally made products?
Yes, that’s one of the reasons.
> And by accepting the freebies – will this stop you from researching other brands of the same products to see what else might be out there?
Nope, probably not, unless it’s something quite obscure that normally wouldn’t receive my attention like, uh, snow shoes.
As long as the businesses offering you freebies understand your terms, I think it’s perfectly acceptable and doesn’t damage the integrity of your project. And it has benefit of introducing you to new products that fit your criteria.
I’m speaking selfishly here. I’d love for you to try some of my things, but I can’t afford to ship for free! Canada Post makes shipping extraordinarily costly. Free product: yes; free shipping: no.
I feel conflicted on this issue, it is a tricky one.
Disclosure helps, of course. But I read some blogs that have a no-strings-attached approach (and a disclosure statement) and I still don’t trust their reviews. I guess it comes down to the tone of the review, and my gut feeling as a reader. Does it feel like they’re writing for me, or for their host? Are they considering price/value in the pros and cons, even though they didn’t pay?
This isn’t just a blogger thing for me. I also feel that way about some paid reviewers whose bill would be covered, say, by the newspaper. They don’t have a vested interest in keeping a restaurant happy…but they also don’t have their own cash vested.
So, for me, trust and tone matter more than the money. If you take freebies, I bet you can pull it off.
[Side note: there was a community newspaper in Nelson that took the positive review to the extreme. My understanding of their policies: they had to review all local arts (which is good I think) but could not do a negative review. If giving value to their audience/the community was their goal, I don't think that achieves it. The paper has now folded after decades.]
I agree that full disclosure to your audience and the understanding by the giver of your terms of acceptance are needed. I think your audience will also let you know if this project is being sidetracked or hijacked by the freebies. Try it out. If it doesn’t work, stop doing it. Good luck!
These are all good comments and I think people have brought up some valid points. You’ve got to have integrity in your reviews of products or the project doesn’t mean anything. Local/eco products and services need to be real good if they’re going to get traction, so promoting products that aren’t good doesn’t create any long term value for anyone, or create meaningful change. I’d think that should be one of your goals with the project, to help people and businesses make better decisions in how they buy to help create meaningful change in our economy, society, environment, etc.
Take the freebies mate, it’s an easy way to try new things that people might be interested in. Don’t feel like you need to be positive if you choose to review though, that doesn’t help anyone.
FYI – the Abeego product is a good one (reusable saran wrap), I’ve been using them for the last year and they work well although they could be more durable. I reviewed them for Granville Magazine here:
https://www.granvilleonline.ca/gr/shop/goods/top-5-local-holiday-gift-stocking-stuffers-vancouver
Full disclosure, yeah. Transparency is best.
Is part of your experiment trying to determine if it’s affordable to buy Canadian for one year? If yes, don’t accept freebies.
If no, go for it, but with full disclosure.
That’s the hard part, isn’t it? We’ve recently changed our dishwasher detergent and liquid soup over to a Vancouver made product (in a refillable/returnable bottle) and had to swallow a massive jump in price (per load) to do so – if we did that with everything (all at once) it would certainly kill our budget in a big way!
I’d suggest going ahead with the freebies – it doesn’t compromise the project, unless one of the intents is to see if you CAN afford to live purely Canadian. If so, throw however much it retails for in a discretionary account and tally it up at the end of the year along with the expenses you did pay for.
Personally, if there’s disclosure in place, I would think that a review of some sort – especially when it mentions other-branded products available – inclusive of price points and honest opinion is kosher.
Why not, right? If you trust yourself to remain critical of products and companies and you’re being this forthright, why shouldn’t we?
Sheila Keenan
That was my first reaction! All comments thus far have brought forth very strong arguments for accepting freebies; however, as stated by Sheila, the project becomes compromised from an economically-viable perspective once freebies are thrown into the mix… All depends on your goal(s)! Sure is difficult to turn away free swag!
I do find it interesting that you would leave this decision for “us” to make, given the nature of the project.
Thanks for the comments everybody. I’d definitely be down with full disclosure–that’s what I typically do on DB.com.
While I’m going to talk about economics from time to time, I don’t plan on measuring all project-related expenses.
Free stuff! go for it!
I don’t think the project becomes compromised from an economical-viability perspective – unless the free product would last the full year. We just need to be sure that the research goes on and that a product that is no better than others that meet the same criteria is favoured. It might even give you an opportunity to do some product comparison.
The best thing was to ask your readership, now we know that you are receiving freebies and that you’re going to remain objective so I say go with it. Who couldn’t use from free stuff, am I right?
Whatever you decide– if MEC gives you anything for free make sure you take it– from a keychain to a kayak– TAKE IT!
Interesting project (always been curious about this), and an interesting consideration here. I have to agree with the majority of comments, that accepting freebies, so long as there is complete transparency, is perfectly fine — if you can capitalize on a good idea, it would be silly not to, as long as you manage the potential impact on the integrity of the project. (Maybe periodic product comparisons, freebies vs. alternatives…?)
Ms. Keenan raises a very interesting point, though, which I hadn’t thought of but is pretty significant… I still say go for the freebies, but tracking what the expenses would have been as a “regular” citizen trying this seems as though it should be a major aspect of the overall experiment. (Even if you were to track the “recommended retail price.”) I wouldn’t discount the importance or impact of the economic factor.
I’m with the Go For It crowd.
It seems to me one of the reasons we (readers) come here is to learn what is possible re: buying Canadian. Whether you got it for free or purchased it, we’re still getting exposure to products.
And the snow-shoes — go for that *especially*!
While I haven’t thoroughly read through all 18 comments, I’m going on a limb here and suggesting you don’t take free stuff.
I have become disenchanted with blogs I used to follow as soon as they started accepting freebies and their blogs have become more about profit and gain and less about sharing their passion and connecting with others.
I’m more interested in how you’re going to do this on a limited budget, like the rest of us. It’s a test and that’s what interests me. I’m looking for practical tips on how I can become a smarter consumer of Canadian made goods and use your experience to help motivate me, like a “Hey! If he can do it, I can do it”.
Or maybe I’ve misunderstood the objective of your challenge.
The data seems to be saying to go for it. Your regular readers are already more than familiar with your integrity, and trust that you will be transparent and fair about it all. The product sponsors will learn the same.
It sounds as if you should keep any freebie stuff from actually saving you any money to preserve the budget data, so document any freebies apart from the rest of your budgeting. But please, do accept the freebies.
just saw you on global with sophie. what a great idea!! i have been on the bandwagon for years to buy canadian everything. i cant wait for the book. the hardest thing i found was clothing, shoes and purses are hard to find without taking out a second mortage. the easy part was finding canadain healthy food. it seems that us canadians are far ahead of many countries for healthy eating. we also have great canadian wine, gotta love our country. cheers, leslie
and yes, take the freebe stuff and if it worth talking about it, then plug it.
Take it! I agree with someone above that disclosure would be nice, but really, why not? As a Canadian, I would love to know about more products that I could use in my everyday life that are sourced in Canada (one of the reasons I follow your blog), but I don’t see why you can’t benefit from some perks. You take time to write this blog, get yours.
This is a perfect example where people who are already familiar with your reputation wouldn’t (I don’t think) have any problem with you taking the freebies. We know perfectly well you’d be ethical and not give biased reviews in exchange.
As long as a) you’re clear about it, b) don’t use only freebies in your reviews, and c) clearly state to those giving stuff that you will review negatively if warranted, then I say do it.
This experiment will be expensive enough for you anyway. A little offsetting of the cost, plus possible exposure to products you might not have discovered yourself, seems like a win/win. The reason I flag not reviewing only freebies is that would be perceived as the better-heeled getting exposure, while the little guys might not.
As for the folks who don’t already trust you – they’ll have to use their own social signals to decide for themselves.
Paul
I am on the take the free stuff as long as you make note on how easy/hard to find the product would have been without the producer seeking you out.
Accepting free product should also have them disclose where their product is manufactured and how Canadian it really is.
I’m on the fence. I don’t think that the argument against taking free stuff is about your ethics, I think it’s more about making it seem realistic for the average person (at least that’s where I’m coming from on the ‘no’ side). On the yes side though, perhaps accepting free stuff will lead to a greater variety of products for you to consider and isn’t that part of why people are reading this blog? To find out about more Canadian products? If you accept freebies, it would be nice to know about cost anyway for those of us interested in incorporating them into our lives, and many times, limited budgets.
Darren
I’d go for it. The poll would appear to agree. Please ensure you accept with
no strings attached.
bobby.
I think you should! Obviously prepare a standard ‘no strings attached’ response to freebie offers. Be open with full disclosure, make some additional effort to research alternatives in the market (ok, ok, unless the things are snow shoes, Moose Droppings, or something so niche) Also, mention costs that a normal consumer would have to swallow. If you find something that you love or hate we want to know why.
Your stated goal is to discover what Canadian products are out there so you are therefor exposing us (the reader and lets face it, consumer) to these products. It’s hard for much Canadian made to get the wide ranging exposure that American made gets so if a company produces something good/useful and can get some extra exposure through you I’d say it was a good thing.
I think it would be worth the additional effort for all involved.
Yes you should, with full disclosure here and with the understanding that if you think the product stinks, you will say so or if you don’t care enough to blog about it, you won’t. If the freebie-givers agree, I say go for it. There may be all kinds of Canadian products that are Most Excellent which you may not find on your own. Or you could ask for duplicates and give the extras away to your local food bank or shelter.