Julie Pippert: Using My Words

A good pitch: the PR agency for Kuhn Rikon KinderKitchen (cooking tools for kids) contacted me after I reviewed a local kids' cooking class. They'd like to send some samples for a review. "Would you mind donating them for a fundraiser?" I asked. They agreed and sent the above amazing basket for a school fundraiser. It was one of the most popular and hotly bid upon items. They got credit in the flyer for the event, and displayed their great products in-person to hundreds of parents. Of course I wrote a blog post about it, too. The winner of the basket was ecstatic, and more word of mouth for the product. I know personally of quite a few sales, just from this one effort. That's some bueno PR and I applaud Katrina of Field & Associates PR who set it up. She represented her client well and beneficially . I read a disturbing post Monday from a partner at a PR firm, " The Mommy Elephant in the room. " This post was pushback from a PR firm partner angered...

I'm really really glad I missed BlogHer this year. Every account makes it sound like a Self-Righteous Fest rather the the community building, sharing, learning, and fun I expect from that event. Then, that spilled over into the rest of the online community, and now moms who blog have garnered a reputation for being greedy, graspy harpies who cage fight for minor pieces of swag, like deranged parents beating one another up for the last Cabbage Patch doll. Way to further the rep. Even if people had fun -- and good for you -- clearly there was a major undercurrent I had been calling Culture Clash (which provided private amusement because it dredged up funny old 80s bands to mind) but have now begun calling the Whore Wars. You can subtitle it: That Same Old Mean Girl Judge and Jury Fest We've Had Since 5th Grade. It's because yesterday someone played the whore card in reference to the mombloggers + PR + Review = Sometimes Profiting/Being Compensated While Blogging. Don't be...