I read several sources today in my attempt to investigate the uproar over the Microsoft People Ready banner ad campaign. Gawker's coverage can be found here, but it's basically bloggers being PO'd that some of the more well-known writers participated in a Microsoft marketing campaign.
To be honest, I don't really have a strong opinion on the subject...I suppose I should, because after all, you are reading my blog. The thing is, people do them for different reasons. The blogger community can romanticize it all they want, but the fact is the more successful bloggers have turned their writing into a business. They generate money with it. You generally don't hear very many complaints about other ways in which they do that, be it as an affiliate or from Google Ads. So why does this strike a chord?
Is it because it's Microsoft? Maybe it's just that icky film that people can't seem to wash off their blog's pallor if they feel like the big M had anything to do with their sponsorship or existence. I'm not sure. Maybe it's the anti-establishment feel...that bloggers are the uncensored and unsponsored journalistic equivalents to the muckrakers way back when. That may all be true, but blogs have moved beyond user generated content into the realms of business generated content, like it or not. I cannot count the number of job listings I see to blog for some company or another. (They usually pay terribly, but that's another entry.)
What if the ad campaign had been for Apple? For the iPhone? Something tells me the reaction would have been very different.
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