On Vendorslut Eve, here are a couple of quick notes on free “gifts” and their intended influence:
Richard Riccelli points out this New York Times article:
Starting Jan. 1, the pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a voluntary moratorium on the kind of branded goodies — Viagra pens, Zoloft soap dispensers, Lipitor mugs — that were meant to foster good will and, some would say, encourage doctors to prescribe more of the drugs.
No longer will Merck furnish doctors with purplish adhesive bandages advertising Gardasil, a vaccine against the human papillomavirus. Banished, too, are black T-shirts from Allergan adorned with rhinestones that spell out B-O-T-O-X. So are pens advertising the Sepracor sleep drug Lunesta, in whose barrel floats the brand’s mascot, a somnolent moth.
Some skeptics deride the voluntary ban as a superficial measure that does nothing to curb the far larger amounts drug companies spend each year on various other efforts to influence physicians. But proponents welcome it as a step toward ending the barrage of drug brands and logos that surround, and may subliminally influence, doctors and patients.
It’s not just a matter of subliminal influence. When every pen and pad you use comes from a vendor, the vendors are underwriting your office supplies budget. The “in-kind” gift translates directly to an “in-cash” benefit.
While most of the information provided on this mortgage blog does not include product pitches or personal agendas, some of the authors may generate income by selling services to loan officers or real estate agents.
Personally approved mortgage vendors participate on this blog as a way to expand their online reach, develop relationships with our readers, and prove that their products are worth taking a look at.
In the instance where it is not obvious, I will make every attempt to be fully transparent with our readers about any affiliate agreements where the Mortgage Sales Blog receives financial compensation by promoting a product or service on this blog.
As of Jan 4th, 2009, the Mortgage Sales Blog (Mark Madsen) has not promoted any product or service where an affiliate agreement was in place.
The MortgageSalesBlog.com does not necessarily endorse any of the products or mortgage vendors mentioned on this site. However, some of our contributors may have affiliate business arrangements, co-marketing agreements, and personal interests that will most certainly create a bias in the way information is shared or interpreted.
Even though we do not do paid product reviews, we are open to accepting free trials (not bribes) of products or services that may result in a favorable mention on this blog. As expressed above, there will be disclosure, but our goal is not to trick our readers into buying something we don’t believe in.
I’d rather have a vendor pay me to teach them how to blog about their own stuff.
Now that our cards are on the table, please use your own judgment and research before making a final decision to spend your valuable time and money following the advice of any of our contributors.
That’s not as hard a line as I might draw, but at least everything is fully disclosed, in detail, in advance. The comments on that post are worth reading, too.
I refuse most of the appeals I get from the mainstream media. Why? Because all they’re looking for is waxed-fruit, a pre-defined set piece in the tableaux they had constructed before they called. The same sort of thing goes for vendors and their earnest appeals for feedback — lubricated with free drinks — from real estate webloggers. They don’t want your feedback, they want your readers. Amazingly enough, no matter what they might say to you, pretty young girls in slinky cocktail dresses don’t really have a thing for clunky, chunky, balding guys in Sears & Roebuck suits.
Here’s the deal, sad but true: If you didn’t look like man-bites-dog to the reporter, the reporter would not have called. If the girl hadn’t already weighed your wallet, she’d be nuzzled up to a different fat guy. And if you didn’t have a weblog to be exploited, the vendors would treat you just like they did before you had a weblog to be exploited: You would just be another cow to be milked, instead of, potentially, a highly-prized volunteer dairy farmer.
They’re selling product, and, if they’re bad at it, they get fired. They are courting you to get you to sell their product for them — to get you to sell out your readers in exchange for free drinks and free “gifts” and pretended friendship.
To the reporter you’re a cipher and to the hooker you’re a john. But to the vendor you’re a stooge — or, even worse, a shill. You can try to deny this disgrace, but as the shrink says at the end of the Times article, “The need to deny influence is damaging to the soul.”
Technorati Tags: blogging, Inman Connect, real estate, real estate marketing
Brian Brady says:
Mark Madsen and I spoke about this on Friday. I like his disclosure about the free trials. Most vendors offer this to all originators in hopes of demonstrating their value.
I think its perfectly reasonable for an originator to use the free trial, that are offered to all. The problem comes when the product is “comped” for the promotional benefits.
January 5, 2009 — 10:19 am
J Boyer Chatham NJ says:
Hmmm, I guess some of those people are the real sales people. I hate to be sold, just like most people do, I don’t mind being helped, but not sold.
I still don’t get some of the vendors trying to get endorsements from bloggers though.
January 5, 2009 — 10:27 pm
Kevin OBrien says:
Greg,
Full disclosure is definitely the key. I don’t think underwriting part of an office budget is going to get doctors to prescribe X drug more than others, I have to believe it is the steak dinners and other offers from pharm. companies that sway doctors.
Besides the amount of the offer it is definitely true, that receiving anything is some way sways your opinion of that group. Comes down to where does people’s integrity lie?
January 6, 2009 — 7:28 am
Bob says:
So can anyone use Zillow’s offices to promote their seminars?
January 6, 2009 — 9:14 pm
Mark Madsen says:
Greg –
I’m honored that you read my transparency disclosure and took the time to write about it. If you hadn’t of started this article series on vendor bribes, I might not have paid attention to the significance of the small things until it was too late.
You’re also right about vendors only giving love to the people with an audience. Cool, I’ll take it as a compliment and give the products that benefit my business a favorable mention on my blogs… in the “Paid Review” section of course. 🙂
I know a few vendors who live and breathe in their niche. They truly believe that their stuff will make the industry better. But at the end a 14 hour day of servicing their clients and perfecting their trade, they don’t have time to manage a full social media marketing campaign as well.
They can outsource that to bloggers who know the landscape. I believe it is up to the bloggers to manage their own reputation with their readers. No trust, or great reviews on bad products = low future conversions = no more free stuff for the blogger. So, I think the problem would eventually work itself out.
Bottom line, people need to do their own research before investing money in something.
In regards to the medical field, I can see where it might be a subliminal challenge for a doctor to write a prescription for one brand using the free pen from another. However, I can’t say that we’ve never questioned our doctor’s integrity when he gives my wife free drug samples to test after a visit.
We trust him regardless because we are confident that he is an expert in his field. There isn’t a drug out there that can cure my wife, so we’ll support his consented exploitation in exchange for free handouts that help lower our monthly medical bills. The pharmaceutical business will be corrupt until the cure is more profitable than the treatment.
Brian –
Great talk on Friday. Sounds like BloodHoundBlog has some exciting plans for agents and originators this year. I’d love to promote your Unchained across my networks in exchange for a free ticket. Just kidding. This blog has been a major influence on my career and I’ll continue to tell people about the daily education I receive. This is one of the top 5 blogs that I tell every new mortgage blogger to read.
January 7, 2009 — 12:07 am
John Rowles says:
“Vendorslut Eve” – you kill me.
“On the first day of Vendorslut BHG gave to me, a mouse pad colored green…”
I am on a train somewhere between Stamford CT and NYC, on my way to meetings with people outside of Inman b/c I am too cheap to pay for a pass.
There are a couple of SEO conferences I’d like to attend to see what the CW is, but the only way I’m going is if a friend who works for a vendor can scam a pass that is supposed to be used to bribe a potential client or reward an existing one…I like to think of this as the ying to the yang of vendor bribes.
January 7, 2009 — 3:22 pm
Ki says:
I have been too a few doctors where they seemed to really push a certain drug but they didn’t seem all that knowledgable about the drug or its side effects. It was kind of a “alot of people tell me its a great drug”. Its really a problem doctors are learning about drugs from the salespeople. I talked to one drug pusher and they said their basic job is to educate doctors about new drugs which seems pretty screwed up.
I think its a problem when its not disclosed in blogs as well. It makes it more difficult to get honest opinions on new services. But at least its not messing with people’s health.
January 7, 2009 — 4:55 pm
Louis Cammarosano says:
On a separate note,regarding pens. I stopped the practice of buying pens for our office three yeas ago- not to save money, but to see whether any one would notice. I would project that in the US there are probably 15-20 pens for each man woman and child.
Why? because vendors buy pens and give them out.
I am sure that each home and each office has a draw in them which there are dozens of perfectly useable pens.
The world does not need more pens.
Very few pens that we come across ever get used to the end of their ink supply,unless you are a mont blanc toting writer.
The ink in all those pens will never be used, especially with all the writing we now do on the computer or portable devices.
Besides pens can’t be good for the environment.
BTW no one noticed that we had no newly bought pens in the offfice.
People either dug through their drawers to find pens, brought them from home (some which had been taken probably from the office)or stopped using them altogether.
Also an never ending new supply of vendor pens continue to flow in.
January 12, 2009 — 8:25 pm
Greg Swann says:
I won’t wear a tee shirt without a pocket, so I have no use for vendor tee shirts. The only pens I’ll use are Fuji F-402s, the Lexus of ball point pens. Someday I’ll put an F-402 in your pocket, Louis, and then you’ll know how much I admire your moxie.
January 12, 2009 — 10:18 pm