Dear Juniper…..

Image from www.clipartheaven.com

This isn’t something I’ll be doing often but I’ve got to get some stuff off my chest and as Madonna sang “Express Yourself”. While it’s been mostly enjoyable, this whole blogging thing, it isn’t entirely a bed of roses either. I do like to get reviews out asap especially if I’ve received products for review because there’s this expectation from brands and I’d like to think that I deliver promptly.

Likewise, there’s also certain expectations on my part. I don’t mean expectations that I’ll get invited to most launches because I’ve long come to the realisation that that isn’t going to happen. I am thankful for the invites that come my way and appreciate the brands that have extended the invitations.

So what expectation, I hear you say. Well, there are emails that I receive where people say they’re going to talk to me about a new product or that they’re going to send me a facial voucher so that I can review it. Weeks pass, months pass and when I remind them about their email, I don’t get a reply. So let me see, they think I will forget all about it if they don’t reply. I wonder if it’s only me who is treated this dismissively because I am a small time blogger. That’s probably so but hey, don’t small-timers also deserve some iota of respect and some courtesy? I’d rather they hadn’t offered than offer and then no follow-up, silencio total. Comprende?

Then there are those who tell you in their emails that you’ll be kept in the loop when it comes to new products and I only get to know about said products through other media. Somehow their PR has decided to exclude me from their mailing list as well as their guest list for the launches. I give up….

That’s all up to them, I hear you say. After all, it’s not like they signed some binding contract. Here’s my pov. If you don’t have any intention of letting me have new products to review or sending me your facial voucher, why did you send me an email to that effect in the first place? I didn’t force or persuade you to do that so when you do, there is an expectation on my part that words will translate into action. It’s a waste of my time to email you my address only to have you do nothing about it and in case anyone thinks I am making all this up, I am a hoarder and keep everyone’s emails.

All this just gives me a very bad impression of the brand and leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Not that I can do anything about it other than rant (a bit) about it here nor does it make me lose sleep but with some brands, I’d just have expected better. Just as you can expect me to review products with honesty, I also expect people to keep their word.

And don’t even get me started on people who keep sending me press releases and publicity material to post but when it comes to their events, guess who is always excluded but that’s another story altogether for another day perhaps. Maybe they think I am short of posts to put up and therefore will put up anything sent to me. If they can be selective about who they want to invite, I guess I can also be selective about what posts to put up.

After this, I’ll probably get dropped from more people’s lists but these are just issues I have been wanting to air for some time.