I have been trying to stop myself from writing about this blogger blackmail issue just so I don’t add more fuel to the already fueled issue. The harshtag #bloggerblackmail has been trending on Twitter, and everyone and their nan has something to say about it. Except the odd tweets, I havn’t said a word about it, but looks like it is out of hand already as the story is in today’s papers, so I might as well voice my opinion.
Just incase you havn’t heard about the Blogger Blackmail issue, it is between a bakery owner – Reshmi Bennet, owner of Anges De Sucre, an artisan patisserie, in London and a food blogger – Mehreen from wrapyourlipsaroundthis.com. The summary of the story is, Mehreen reached out to Reshmi, to review the restaurant’s food in return for free samples. You can read both versions of the story here – Bakery’s and Blogger’s.
Now, look the other way now if you have an issue with Bitter Truths.
The bakery owner and the blogger are BOTH wrong and I will tell you why.
The bakery owner is wrong for:
- Calling out the blogger, many bloggers will be wary of working with her after this saga.
If I were a food blogger, I would never want to work with any restaurant that openly calls out bloggers for whatever reason. It is so unprofessional. There are more amicable ways of resolving issues like this OFFLINE. You could have sent an email expressing your disgust, blacklisted her and inform your restaurant/PR friends not to work with her, but naming and shaming her online was a bad move. Especially when the blogger in question had already deleted the offensive Instagram pictures. The blog post was totally unnecessary after that.
Also, ‘the slanging off’ of the blogger’s blog name, and her not being a ‘popular’ blogger is just so low. If she was so bad why did you accept her offer to review your restaurant Reshmi? You should have said thanks but no thanks and run off to play with your ‘famous blogger friends’.
One thing, I have learnt in life is never mock or treat ANYONE badly today because you might be needing them tomorrow. That applies to both parties in this instance.
2. Not communicating exactly what SAMPLES she was willing to give the blogger in return for the review.
This sort of information needs to be in writing CLEARLY so there is no communication gap or room for assumptions. Obviously the blogger assumed she would get quite more than she was offered on the day and she was unhappy with the limited samples she was given. She felt the samples were too few for a product review post with do follow links. Whether we agree with her wanting £100 worth of macaron and marshmallow samples is a different argument. If you ask me, I still do not understand the whole food blogging thing but then again, I am not a food person so a £100 or a £1000 worth of macarons and marshmallows will be a complete waste to me, but the cake below looks yummy.
The blogger is wrong for:
- Not stating exactly what she was willingly to receive in return for a review. She should know better since she has done so many reviews already as she stated in her blog post. You cannot afford to go all the way to a restaurant for a review and not discuss what you will be getting in return for the review. That is so unprofessional.
2. Posting the Instagram pictures obviously infuriated the bakery owner. Although you deleted the pictures, you need to remember anything you post online remains somewhere online even though you delete it afterwards. Keep your emotions in check next time, we are not in the playground.
The phrase I use everytime I work with brands is; it has to be mutually beneficial for both of us, the brand and my blog. It can’t be one-sided or elese it won’t work. Hopefully both parties have learnt from this and will conduct themselves better in future collaborations.
What are your thoughts? Do share.