When We Talk About Green Products
May 22, 2008 by Peggy
A recent post over at Melanie’s blog bean sprouts put into words several things that I’ve been thinking regarding buying green. The post is called Save the Planet – Stop Shopping.
Responding to a reader email, Melanie writes:
“It bugs me too that so much green advice seems to boil down to “spend a lot of money, buy all this ‘green’ stuff”. ‘Green’ is not a lifestyle choice. It’s not a sort of fashion that is only available to the rich. The greenest people on earth are the poorest. They don’t cause as much pollution, carbon emissions etc as we do because they can’t afford to. It’s we in the affluent countries who are causing the problems. And the solution isn’t to buy a lot of green junk, but to buy less junk.”
Read her full post.
I agree we all need to buy less stuff, “green” or not. So, that’s why I get concerned that some readers may get the wrong message by our recent increase in product reviews and product suggestions, or even contests that promote green products.
One reason Jennifer and I decided to post on green products more frequently is because that’s what many of you said you wanted in our recent poll. We don’t do it because we think you should buy more stuff. Read Jennifer’s recent post on this topic: If you’re so against having stuff…
The products we talk about are hopefully those that many of you might consider over other options that aren’t so eco-friendly. For example, if you’re buying toys anyway, look at the green options we’re showing you. Few green products are so great that you should start buying them if you aren’t already buying a similar non-green option. That would be like buying a hybrid car instead of walking to work.
I’d also like to say that we don’t pick products to promote for our own interests. We don’t get paid by companies for product reviews, suggestions or contests. The most we get is sometimes a free product to sample for a review. Free or not, it never affects our honest review of an item. We’re paid by b5media, and they are paid by the ads in the sidebar. It’s pretty simple.
What do you think of our recent mix of product reviews/suggestions/contests?
Images via stock.xchng.
Sometimes I wonder if readers think that those of us who do product reviews are paid by the companies who send us products. I review products quite a bit for BellaOnline, but I’ve never been paid. In fact the editor position is not a paid one at all.
Sometimes we are asked by PR agents to review a product with glowing results when we do not like a product. I’ve never done that and I don’t know any bloggers who have. I am sure there are, but not in the circle that I know.
I can honestly say that anything I read from the bloggers here (b5) or in my circle, I can trust to be true. Thank you for this post, I hope it does open some eyes to the fact that most of us aren’t getting paid for lies.
I’m glad you found my post thought-provoking. Thanks for linking to it. It is a puzzler – sometimes I review green products too. Like you, I’ve never been paid, although I once received three free samples of recycled poop scoopers to review. Since I don’t have a dog, I offered these as competition prizes. I also wonder whether I should have ads on my blog, or if that is hypocritical. There aren’t many ads and I don’t get much revenue from them so it wouldn’t hurt to just drop them. I don’t know, I’ll keep thinking about it. That’s the important thing – to keep on thinking and questioning your own behaviour and values. It’s not necessary to be perfect, just to keep trying to improve.
Hey Julie!
I haven’t had a PR person ask me for a positive review yet, but I have had what I think are PR people in disguise defending products in comments for negative posts ! : ) I’m glad you liked the post. Thanks.
Melanie,
We are currently giving away recycled poop scoopers! How funny. I don’t have a dog either. As for ads, not a question on this site, but I have been wondering whether to get my own domain and have ads for a personal green site I write. Still haven’t decided on that one. Thanks for coming by and sharing.
Sorry I haven’t chimed in until now…but I wanted to say that since I am relatively new to this green stuff I am finding product reviews helpful. It’s not so much that I need you to tell me if it’s good or not, but I just don’t know what’s out there! I realize, and I hope others do too, that the saying ‘to each, his own’ should apply. If you say you don’t like, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try it if I think it will work. I get your intentions. You’re not trying to brainwash into becoming your groupies or anything but you just want to throw your pennies into the fountain. Enough cliches. I say keep up the good work!
DramaMama, you can chime in anytime. That’s one of the lovely things about blogs! : )
I’m glad you’re finding the product reviews helpful.