Life in Maison Gezellig

This post pretty much ensures I’ll never get free stuff from PR people again.

About a month ago, I got an email from a PR person at POM Wonderful, the pomegranate juice company, asking if I was interested in a promotional pack of their juice. I thought it kind of odd, as they’ve been around for at least a couple years now, but, y’know, free stuff. I emailed them back my usual ass-covering response — basically saying, “sure, so long as you understand I don’t have to write about it or if I do, I don’t have to say anything nice about it.” I didn’t hear back; I just got a box filled with 16-ounce bottles of juice with a bunch of press releases about the company and the results of studies the potential health benefits of pomegranate juice.



The health information was a little overly-hyped, but a few of the studies were actually quite interesting. (I was looking forward to talking about the one regarding erectile function improvement because I’m a 12-year-old like that.) Still, nothing there really seemed especially newsworthy. Nothing was new or improved about this juice. Nothing had changed recently about the way people thought about pomegranate juice.

I was still thinking about what to write about this juice, when I saw another food blogger mention she also got a box of POM. And then another blogger said the same. And then another.

Any pressing need to write about POM completely evaporated. As the days went by, the bottles of juice receded further and further into the back of the fridge and when they did catch my eye, I’d think, oh, I should write about that, I guess… But between there being no actual news to report and the evidently huge distribution of their product to food bloggers, the answer to that thought became but why bother?

Still, I suppose I still feel obligated in some way to write about it. So…

POM Wonderful: some not-very-new juice that tastes pretty much like cranberry. Scientists say drinking it a lot gives you 50% more boners?

And let this be a lesson to other food PR people — everyone likes to get free stuff, but if you expect bloggers to write about your product, send something new or improved or, at the very least, don’t send it to every single food blogger you can find. Otherwise, all you get is a blog post about your rubbish PR.

7 Comments

  • sarah

    I don’t get it. You told them that they could send you free stuff, but you weren’t going to write about it. They sent you the free stuff anyway. Ok, cool.

    But then you found out that they sent free stuff to other bloggers too, and it made you not want to write about it even more?

    So, basically you thought you were special because you were getting free juice and when you found out that you weren’t that special you got mad and wrote a mean post about their PR company? Am I missing something here?

  • Kristen

    My standard agreement with PR people is to be sure they understand I retain editorial control over this blog — just because they buy me dinner doesn’t mean I put out. There was nothing new or noteworthy about their product, so why should I bother to take the time to write about it if they’ve blanketed the food blogging world with it?

    And if you think this post was “mean,” you must be new around here.

  • sarah

    HAHA I’m not hating. I just don’t understand what you’re so salty about. What is the “lesson” you’re teaching to PR people. You told them that you weren’t gonna necessarily write about their product and they sent it to you anyway. So don’t write about it. I’m still confused.

  • Kristen

    Come on! Do you know how long I’ve waited to make a joke about boners on this blog? FOREVER.

    Besides, if I don’t write a bitchy self-important post at least once in a while, they rescind my blog license and I don’t get invited to the annual bloggers cookout. >:-(

  • sarah

    LOL ok. I really like your blog, I was just confused if I was missing the point or not. but yeah BONERS HAHAHA