Occasionally, PR people have taken to contacting me when they have things they would like reviewed.
In some instances, they’ve invited me to free dinners, or asked me to cover things like Conviction Kitchen, or even the launch of a new chef cookbook.
Recently I even had the wonderful people representing Pom Wonderful send me an envelope of coupons in order to sample their new line of juices.
Just the other day a representative for a company called Pop Chips asked if she could send me a few samples bags to try. The irony here, which I made her well aware of at the time is that I don’t typically enjoy salty snacks all that much. However, she was fairly confident that her product would be the one to change my mind, so she sent them anyway.
All of this is a roundabout way of saying that I will occasionally be giving my 2 cents on products; but only if I like them. Things that I don’t care for are never going to see the light of day here, which is why you’ve never seen me covering the opening of the latest chain restaurant like so many other Toronto bloggers (also because I would rather throw up than eat at a chain restaurant, but that goes without saying).
I know there are a lot of people who think that the PR business is this big, dirty machine, and in some ways, I suppose it does come off as a little sleazy. Let me reconcile that by saying that I have never been the kind of person who is swayed by anyone else’s opinion. It’s great if someone has an opinion (and everybody does) but it’s not going to make up my mind for me about anything, in the same way that other people might look to restaurant, movie or product reviews. That being said, my opinions should never be the deciding factor in making your own decisions, either, because just because I like something doesn’t mean that you will. If anything, I hope that if I find something that’s worth sharing, it will do nothing more than to highlight its existence, which will allow you to draw your own conclusions.
To that end, I’ll be creating a new category for such posts called YMMV, otherwise known as Your Mileage May Vary, where I will share things with you that I’ve been sent that I find really cool, or conversely, things that are so horrendously bad that it would be a disservice not to warn you about them.
So, in closing, I urge you to keep an open mind and a critical eye. That’s all you really need in order to decide whether you like something or not.
Until next time…
Tags: Conviction, Pom Wonderful, Pop Chips, PR, ramblings, YMMV
