Don't Hate Mommy Bloggers for Their Swag

Lauren Barack

The news of 1,500 on junkets to Chicago attending swag parties at the BlogHer '09 confab may not look great, but the truth is some mommy bloggers feel justified with their goods.

"I worked hard for my swag, okay?" wrote Lindsay Ferrier, mom and Suburban Turmoil blogger in a post parodying this year's swag frenzy. "I freaking deserved it."*

And why not? It's not like Madison Avenue just discovered moms. Haven't they spent decades foisting Hoovers, dusting wipes, Febreze and diapers at this demo? And what did the moms get out of that? Not much. So, don't hate them now that they realized they have a valuable voice and found a way to get paid for it. Maybe it's about time.

But the practice is catching up with moms in the form of an image problem -- even the feds are looking into pay-for-play posts. But does it really matter if a mom mentioning how great Babies 'R' Us is really means it, or if she's just shilling for some free breast pads?

Because let's be honest -- the swag economy has driven editorial departments of women, parenting and lifestyle magazines for years. Those goods are pitched, sent and packaged with note cards of thanks -- and hopes that they make it out of the great goodie closet and into those glossy pages. And what of product placement in TV and film? All undisclosed.

Just swap a mom's house for some editorial office or Hollywood lot and we have the same thing. Well, almost the same. Only a precious few professional bloggers actually make a living at it; the rest do it because they love it and have something to say.

The good mommy bloggers sell a lifestyle -- their own, or at least a stylized fantasy of their own. They say, "You, too, can craft this amazing dress or bake these gorgeous cupcakes or buy this fantastic cream and watch your tired skin regain some its former life before you gestated an eight-pound baby that took more than a placenta out of you when it was born." It's exactly what any good publication worth its pages does -- it sells a point of view, and marketers want in.

Should mommy bloggers disclose that the new camera they're shooting with is a freebie? Or the lipstick set from Stila was a gift (without purchase)? Are those products now "sponsors"? Advertisers? The best bloggers have a transparent dialogue, and those relationships should probably be part of the conversation. But so what if they aren't?

I know a bit about this because for the past few years I, too, have written a mommy blog, Mothersontheverge.com. Early on, The Huffington Post discovered it and linked to it, and soon offers for coupons, soaps and small, lovely little packages were being promised over e-mail. But my co-founder and I decided early on not to accept freebies; frankly it was more trouble than it was worth.

Does that mean I begrudge the mommies who did figure out how to get advertisers on their knees? Not. At. All.

I think instead we should grow up a little and remember caveat emptor. Just like I know that magazine spread on nail polish that will change my summer look is a marketer's coup -- so, too, do I know that a post on the new most wonderful organic cotton baby blanket might be a planted item.

But you know what? They're both still fun reads.

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Lauren Barack writes on subjects from Twitter to identity theft, Bollywood to child care. She received the Loeb Award for online journalism in 2009. Her work has appeared in Newsweek, Wired, Parenting magazine, MSN Money, the St. Petersburg Times and The Independent (London) among other publications. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, 6-year-old daughter and a school of fish.