Whitlock’s dilemma was that she was receiving requests from “mommy bloggers,” for funds to attend a conference for “mommy bloggers,” and in return they would give products manufactured by the company she worked for reviews. The new wave of and social media is rising for new business marketing since blogging began. Expanding interaction, of sharing opinions and someone’s personal life style. These types of blogger and even YouTube’s are able to reach massive audiences on daily basics. The dilemma revolves around the ethics concerning whether a product is sponsoring a post and disclosing that information with the indented audience. In the case of April Whitlock, Director of Brand Management for Carolina Pad, a major part of her Internet strategy was the creative use of blogs and bloggers, especially mommy bloggers to help create increased awareness about the brand. Considering the new Carolina Pad’s target market, teen girls, were heavy users of Internet social media, the promotional strategy seemed …show more content…
Bloggers are not a new type of promotional tool for her company. This company has already found success in marketing with very little cost to the company. Usually bloggers do not request funds from companies that have products reviewed by bloggers, and Whitlock has no authorization to be able to approve their requests. Also there was a question about whether the bloggers, if funded to attend the conference, would give favorable reviews of the products made by Caroline Pad. In return the mommy bloggers explained the benefit to the company in exchange for providing funding but did not state that the bloggers would disclose the payments. Although she believed bloggers writings about the company’s products were effective and that competitors were engaged in the same practice there was hesitation as to whether or not this was an example of fair and ethical business practices she had built a career