I have been struggling with all the momma drama on Twitter and among the mom bloggers for a couple of days now. So I am just going to write it all out and I will either hit Publish when I am through, or I will hit Save Draft--where these thoughts will languish as an unpublished draft never to be seen or heard from again.
When I first read about the Chrysler PR debacle and the ensuing saga between the PR/social media agency, the “ousted”, the “wronged”, and the mom bloggers (and dad bloggers and tech bloggers and comedy writers and…) weighing in, I was shocked for many reasons.
In case you missed this particular sordid story, here is a round up of the whole excruciating and embarrassing mess from Adam over at Avitable.com. Please note: I don’t know him from Adam (yep, pun intended) but since that is where I stumbled upon the whole sorry saga, including the overview, the screen captures and the comments I thought I should include it in my rambling thoughts.
So here goes:
1. Jeez, does everybody out there on the interwebs know each other? I must have happened into a pretty tight circle. Everyone seemed to know everyone involved and have a first hand opinion. I don’t know anyone involved personally but have a really good idea about each of the players as a caricature. I’ve worked in PR; I currently work “in advertising.” I’m a mom. I blog (right now for fun…some day for profit?). I’ve been around the block, people. I get it. The sum of my opinion about it was that the whole thing was unfortunate on many levels.
2. When I read about these types of fiascoes I wonder how the hell people got to where they are. Is that called the Peter Priniciple where we all get promoted to our level of incompetence? Some people reach that in their first entry level job–others at the CEO level. Either way, I looked around and wondered who the hell was steering the boat. If you work in PR and you don’t know how to write a basic email, well, sorry but I can’t help you. And if you work in social media and don’t understand the power of the masses and the need for transparency–not to mention an issues management plan, you are on your own and God bless.
3. Are the brand managers and PR agencies asleep at the wheel? I cannot for the life of me figure out what makes some of these product ambassador mom bloggers appealing to brands. Doesn’t seem to be their skills with the written word. Doesn’t seem to be originality. (“Ousted” blogger from the Chrysler fiasco was disqualified for what made her special and earned her her following in the first place–her humor.) It doesn’t seem to be genuine interest in, and passion for, the brand and product. Seems to be people who want free stuff. Um, who doesn’t want free stuff? Everyone who doesn’t want to get something for free, raise your hand. Hello, PR people? You might want to think of a different way to screen brand advocates to avoid some of these embarrassing situations.
4. I read blogs from so many unique and interesting voices. People I look up to. People I admire and aspire to be like. I am a thwarted writer, spending my days on the business side of the office when I always envisioned a job that included conjugating verbs, penning headlines and captions, editing, writing and re-writing. That’s why I blog. That’s what makes me happy. And that is what was so devastating to me when I read about Part 2 of the saga over on ShePosts.
5. The fact that people plagiarize, fictionalize memoirs (I’m looking at you James Frey. You really pissed me off–not as bad as you pissed off Oprah, but still, you let me down), and otherwise “cheat” makes me bang my head against the wall, or my desk, or the steering wheel, whatever is closest. If you aren’t a writer, don’t write. You can vlog. I was about to suggest Twitter but remember recent stories about people stealing tweets. Really? How hard is it to come up with 140 characters of your own? Ok, you can do product reviews and give endorsements. But please, don’t pass off other people’s stories as your own. Some of us are out here busting our asses trying to learn this whole art of writing thing. We practice. We take it seriously. At night, after long hours in front of a computer doing Excel spreadsheets and balancing budgets, we are typing away on our laptops forgoing Revenge and Parenthood for this writing thing. This means something to us, dammit!
People will be referencing karma and saying “what goes around comes around.” People will be nodding to themselves and muttering about just desserts. I just think it is sad. For everyone. And it makes me mad because it gives ammunition to the naysayers who make fun of mom bloggers as superficial and insignificant.
But if you stop by the blogs and read the posts on politics, fashion & design, technology, work life balance, and parenting, you see so many intelligent women. So many unique voices. So much talent and insight and compassion and solidarity. As my mom used to say (well, I’m sure someone’s mom used to say it): don’t let one rotten egg spoil the whole carton; don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater; and don’t stop believin’ (Ok, that one is Journey).
