Blogs For Sale

First came the news that the John Thune campaign paid thousands of dollars to South Dakota bloggers to smear Tom Daschle, in an effort to influence local news coverage. (It worked.) Now Online Journalism Review reports that ordinary bloggers are being paid to place product advertisements directly inside their blogs:

“A company called Marqui paid a select group of bloggers to mention it once per week. One payee, Jack Bogdanski, does it like so: "It's time for our weekly Marqui post. Marqui is the software company that's paying me and some others to mention them and link to their product demo once a week on our blogs. For that, they pay us good money. And we can say whatever we want about them." Some pundits call into question the ethics of the arrangement while the bloggers bristle at the suggestion of paid influence as they pocket the $800 a month.”

Personally, I am outraged. I think bloggers who’d take payment for subliminal product advertisements need medication…. like PROLAXA™. With PROLAXA™ all those nasty ethical conflicts melt away, along with much of your short-term memory. I should know, because I use PROLAXA™ every day.

(Not intended for use by children or adults. Prolonged use may result in headaches, dizziness, nausea, drowsiness, incontinence, suicide, or spontaneous combustion. If any of these symptoms appear, please consult your physician.)

But the worst abuse of blogger payments is in the political arena. The Viciously Offensive Tactic of Eviscerating a candidate for pay is the work of Hateful, Ignorant Lilly-Livered Antisocial Republican Yahoos. What’s even worse is when bloggers hide subliminal messages disguised as Web hyperlinks. I really hate that.

Sure, blogging is hard work--all those minutes spent slaving over a hot keyboard, typing and linking. I can understand the desire to cash in. But if you’re going to be for sale, be upfront about it. Put on your leather thong and your fishnet stockings and stand on a street corner like any other whore. I know it works for me (900-WITLIST; rates negotiable, discretion assured).