Mummy bloggers don't want to work for free!

Life's a beach ...

Seems there’s a bit of an uprising amongst some mum (and mom) bloggers who are fed up of being asked to work for free! But who would ask them to do such a thing?  Well, apparently, there are a few PRs out there who would!

Just read this post by British mummy blogger ‘A Modern Mother‘, which refers to another post by American ‘GeekMommy‘.  Fascinating stuff, expressed powerfully yet remarkably politely, I thought.  And I’m so behind any mum who will stand up and say that we’re not “just” mums, treat us with some respect and value what we do!

Having said that, I feel strangely removed from it all, not yet having a big enough audience to warrant much more than a few free Dettol “goodies”!  You can imagine the hilarity in the office when I opened up an exciting-looking package to find a pair of Cath Kidston rubber gloves, some dusters, some wipes and a bottle of “kills all known germs” spray!  Of course, as a mum (if not a domestic goddess) they have actually come in very handy, so thanks Dettol.  To be fair, I have also been given a copy of the Mr Site software, which I used to create my site www.mummomag.co.uk.  I managed to get that done within a couple of hours … and I barely even read the instructions!  So I’ll probably be using Mr Site again.  I was also given a Jabra Jawbone bluetooth headset as a prize for a free prize draw, which went down well.  But in general, I’m not finding people queueing at my door with giveaways.  Or at least not yet!

Despite the fact that it’s not happening right now, I have asked myself how I’d handle it.  I mean, freebies are fab, as long as they really are free, no strings attached.  I don’t want to write about Dettol, not even in return for rubber gloves!  And I definitely don’t want to spend time that I haven’t got co-ordinating competitions … or at least not unless the prizes are so amazing that Mummo mums will all be giving me their right arm for them (see list below)!  Perhaps I’m ungrateful, perhaps I’m just a control freak, but I really really want to pick and choose.  I’ll talk about something if I think it’s great, but I’d rather not if it’s not, or if it’s just not interesting enough.  I guess what I’d like, in an ideal world, would be for PRs to send me samples or give me free trials and then let me decide whether or not to write about their products / services.  No expectations, no pressure.  That way, it’s genuine.  And because I don’t like upsetting people, I’d probably choose not to mention something rather than write something bad about it. So PRs could assume that, for the cost of the freebie, they might or might not get a review but, if they did, it would more than likely be a positive one.

Whilst we’re on the subject, I notice that mummy bloggers seem to be targeted primarily for things to do with ‘mothering’.  Yet we must surely be good targets for all kinds of other things:

• upmarket chocolates (sod that, any chocolates!) … to comfort us after bad days and reward us after good ones (add to that ice cream, biscuits, anything wicked and delicious)
• coffee … to keep us going through afore-mentioned good and bad days
• fine wine … to help us forget the bad days
• expensive laptops, iPhones and other technical paraphernalia … to make it easier for us to carry on blogging
• slimming aids … to get rid of mummy muffin top
• wrinkle cream (reasons all too obvious!)
• full makeovers (ditto)
• gorgeous stylish sexy clothes … to show that we can actually be gorgeous, stylish and sexy (post-makeover, at least)
• cars, especially sporty little numbers that don’t have room for car seats … to escape in
• exotic holidays with our other halves … to get our mojo back
• restful retreats by ourselves … to save our sanity!

Mums, please feel free to add to the list with any products or services that you’d be happy to test.  And PRs, please take note.  Just because we are mothers doesn’t mean that we don’t still have lives of our own; interests other than our kids; successful careers / businesses … and even personalities!

Oh, and we write particularly well when sitting on tropical beaches.  Or when slightly sozzled.  Or both.

Tags: competitions, freebies, mummy bloggers, product reviews, PRs