I’d love input on this, because I am in a true dilemma.

A few days ago a new cosmetic range was launched to the press. But not beauty bloggers. I’m deducing that a magazine has asked for exclusivity on the range especially as I know that press were asked to sign a form agreeing to abide by an embargo until nearer launch date and that generally only happens when an exclusivity agreement has been made. On the whole, I hate embargos – I don’t like the manipulative factor from brands that say ‘we’d like you to plug our brand, but on our terms’…that’s just not what blogging is about. I like to think that my blog isn’t prey to playing along on such terms – I’ve got no vested advertising interest and no money coming in from the blog so I feel I can be freer about what I’m saying and doing in a way that print media simply can’t. But, if magazines are getting edgy about what beauty blogs are doing, I feel despairing. I thought we’d avoided the whole fashion week knock on where fashion writers and fashion bloggers were slugging it out and haven’t seen any indication of that between beauty editors and bloggers. I’d say it is a whole different audience in any case. So, sitting on my laptop is a picture of the said range sourced from contacts – if I publish it, I run the risk of literally wrecking the PR’s entire relationship with their client and the magazine – and it is the client’s choice, not the PR’s, as to how they’d like to run a campaign. I really don’t want to do it. In fact, I feel literally sick. The knock on for the PR involved could be so catastrophic it could cost them the client. That’s a big responsibility. And yet, what about the responsibility to pioneering a new beauty media, the hours and hours of research into finding new products and exciting industry news and bringing it to an audience of loyal blog readers to whom it would be genuinely fascinating? This is a truly horrible situation because what ever I do, I’m letting someone down…not least myself for not being ‘hard’ enough to publish it anyway.

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