I’ve been accepting PR product review requests for almost two years and I appreciate EVERY opportunity I was given. The PR representatives and companies featured on ahappyhippymom.com have been nothing but wonderful and I enjoyed working with them immensely. However, after this week’s HFCS fiasco and the true ugliness portrayed by the blogosphere, I’ve decided not to review sponsored products anymore. I will not tolerate being accused of having my opinion swayed by free products and gift certificates. This is completely unacceptable and my integrity is worth more than any monetary or materialistic item I could ever receive.
When I started my website the intent was to be able share my experiences with others and bring about a peace loving atmosphere. I have always tried to represent myself in a professional manner and appreciate the difference of opinions amongst bloggers. Even though I could not fully identify with everything being said, I tried to show the utmost respect for people and keep a positive attitude. I was aspiring to receive the same, but now I find myself miserable and second guessing every little thing I write. It’s frustrating and nerve-racking!
If you are a Public Relations Representative reading this and I owe you a review, don’t worry because I will be fulfilling all my obligations. After that, all product reviews featured here will be of items I have purchased myself. I am still accepting giveaway submissions without reviews and want to give my readers the best possible shot at learning about new products along with winning prizes. Guest posts are also possible.
Thank you for your support!
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I’m sorry to hear that! You really shouldn’t have to second-guess yourself. I came here for the giveaways to begin with, but I’ll stick around just to read. Thanks for all you do!
Three cheers to you for integrity and common sense! I’m not aware of the “HFCS fiasco” as I’ve been busy this week but I understand frustration and confusion. My wise old grandmother was often heard to say ” if it doesn’t feel good to do something then stop doing it”! I appreciate all you do and wish you all the best.
I’m so sorry you’ve had such a frustrating, negative experience, but I look forward to continuing to read!
Sorry to read this. I respect your site more than others because you seem to be sincere about your reviews. The internet seems to be driving our society to take extreme positions and vent without courtesy or respect for the opinions of others. Sad day.
Don’t change your blog because of the nastiness of one person. If your readers don’t know you any better than that then who cares what they think. You only have to read a few posts here to see that you are honest in your reviews!
It’s YOUR blog, don’t forget that!
Don’t let ONE person ruin it for you. Only YOU know yourself. I am sure no one thinks that you are dishonest, all your reviews I have read have been very honest. you cannot please everyone, that is what I have learned from blogging. I review items because I LOVE to do it and spread the word, good or bad, to others. Not all my reviews are glowing, but they shouldn’t be. Hugs to you and good luck on what you decide hun!!! I am here for you!!
Sorry about this. It sucks people are negative and assume your reviews are being bought. We do product reviews on our blog ALL of the time and if we don’t like something about the product we are sure to note it in the review. If we outright HATE the product we will contact the company and return the item with no review. Hope you decide to change your mind and do what is best for you not all of the HATERS out there.
I know your frustration and perfectly understand. People who make nasty comments feel protected in the whole vast expanse of the blogosphere and feel perfectly justified to be rude and abusive. Please try and not to stay upset by the jerks who did that to you.
Anything you consume is debatable as healthy/unhealthy from one day to the next. First eggs were BAD, then good, then bad, then good…. Same for a lot of other ingredients. Science and research are always in a state of flux and new facts are being brought out every day.
You’re always going to get the people that jump on the bandwagon of “this product or content is bad” and will preach to everyone else that it is bad to the point of bashing in their virtual heads in an attempt to get others to see their way.
Your opinion is your opinion. Whether you’re getting paid for it, receiving, a product, or not. It’s a repeat of the people trying to get programs they don’t like off the television stations. If they don’t like it, they can always turn the channel.
I applaud your work and efforts and even though I rarely comment, I read you all the time. 🙂
I would definitely have to agree that you shouldn’t let the opinions of a few people dictate what you do with your blog. If they do not like your posts or opinions they are not forced to read them. Do not let them win. You know you are giving your honest opinions as so do many of your followers including myself.Keep doing what you want to do and stay true to yourself no matter what anyone else says.
As long as you stay true to yourself, you gotta do what you gotta do but don’t let someone else bully you into changing your blog if you don’t want to!
High Fructose Corn Syrup is used by the body the same way any sugar form is, even alcohol is somewhat converted in the body into sugar.
The brain needs sugar/carbs, it’s one of it’s fuels.
These people that think their children are more hyper after indigesting HFCS need to have their children allergy tested for corn period. They may indeed be more
hyper to it than other sugars, but for a different reason than just the sugar form, for the fact that their child may have some degree of sensitivity to Corn in all its’ forms.
There are opinions on both sides, and that’s what I wished they’d stayed opinions and not personal attacks.
You didn’t deserve to be personally challenged on what you choose to review after your review of the facts you had.
Hopefully sometime in the future after things have calmed down a bit about this latest episode of ‘I’m a more ethical blogger than you are on this reality show,’
than maybe you’ll decide to do them again. If not, that is your choice, but I’d hate to let you lose out on something you and your readers enjoy just because of maybe less than 12 people’s rants and raves. There are probably over 1,000 mommy type review blogs and there are only a dozen or so that ever seem to get into the personal attack mode. Hopefully they’ll mature (not age mature, but mature in tolerating others the right to express their own opinions) to the point we won’t have to read these types of things anymore.
Why do I say these things, well I have corn allergies.
Have I given up corn products totally. No I haven’t, my sensitivities are not so severe yet that I will. I just know that if I eat too much corn than I will have certain symptoms occur. I can get a little wired and hyper myself. I can get a bad stomach ache. I can end up going to the bathroom alot. So basically I avoid what doesn’t work for me. Yet, every once in a while I allow myself corn or corn products.
Not all allergies are so severe they make you stop breathing, some people have varying degrees. Some children even after time grow out of some allergies. Not all of course. It’s an individual thing of course since not all body chemistries are exactly 100% alike at all moments of each and every day.
Thank you for all your support and kind words! I appreciate your comments and it sure gives me something to think about. I really do love reviewing products and hate having to feel like I need to give up something I enjoyed so much.