A couple of months ago, lots of local (and not local) Twitterers started talking about Taste Casting, and I got approached to become a member. After reading the materials, I declined. Why? I have some real problems with the way Taste Casting tries to control the voices of their tasters.
I value my network. Though I do occasionally do the PR-sponsored dinner, I state it openly, and make it clear to the PR person or restaurant pitching me that my acceptance does not mean that they will get a positive review. I often request anonymity (blogger dinners, like the one Morton‘s had a while ago, are a little different– and I was still critical) — if someone knows you’re writing about them, they’ll put out their best product and be on their best behavior, right? That’s not quite fair. My readers expect me to tell them the good, bad and the ugly– and I do, in a way that (I think, and others have told me) isn’t mean or inappropriate. That’s why there are certain restaurants I can’t (and won’t) review anymore– Bootsy’s, for example– because the staff knows me, and the experience I have there could be different than what you, as a regular reader, have. If I have a business relationship with a restaurant (I am a copywriter, you know), I can’t review them– obviously, that’s unfair, too. I try to only post “news” that my readers will appreciate or care about, and not just every press release that floods my inbox (do you really care about promotions in New York? I didn’t think so!). I try to use good judgement when working with PR folks, and I think you guys (and the PR folks) respect that.
Sites like Urbanspoon and Yelp might also have issues– what you’d present are essentially paid reviews. That’s pretty much against what both of those sites stand for.
It feels like begging. I have seen food bloggers say, “Do you want to promote your restaurant? Email me!” Wow. This seems like pay-for-play to me. That’s not honest, and gives bloggers a really bad name. “Will Tweet for Food” is their tagline– sounds similar, doesn’t it?
You can’t say anything negative. This is my main issue with Taste Casting. From their FAQs:
My goal for this idea is to HELP small business owners not to HURT them. “Social Media and the participants have the power to do both.”
Please remember – Everyone’s tastes, likes, and dislikes are different. If you taste something and you don’t like it, tell the establishment representative. HELP them with your honest opinion. Then try something else.
Because we’re invited guests to the establishment and we are being served the selections – in some cases we may be a focus group for new menu items. It would be unkind to Twitter a “negative” and “harmful” post to our social networks.
Enforcing what TasteCastings twitter about is not something that can be controlled. I strongly encourage anyone who joins the team to be kind and constructive in your communications. As a member of a Twitter Taster Team you will be strongly encouraged to Tweet using the Golden Rule…” If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.”
“Everyone’s tastes, likes and dislikes are different”– true. But what if the meat is over or underdone? The restaurant dirty? The service– even as invited guests– bad? If the restaurant is like this for invited guests, what is the experience like for a regular customer? What if the flavors don’t work together, or I can’t find a single thing I like at the restaurant– that’s right, you’re not supposed to write about it. I find that disingenuous and damaging– both to the restaurant, who could be seen as “paying off” reviewers and to anyone who blogs or tweets that they’re going to a Tastecast– then says nothing about the event. You can be negative without being mean– being able to do that is something I pride myself on– but prohibiting any negativity?
I lose my credibility If people know I’m going to a Taste Cast, and they know the rules– can they trust what I say?
Sometimes, it’s not clear that a blog post is based on a Taste Cast. I’ve seen several where the disclaimer is at the bottom– in tiny print! Obviously, the Taste Caster group can’t police this, but I (and others) truly believe that blogging, tweeting, etc. is about transparancy– and tiny print isn’t transparent. There is much talk of bloggers “replacing” media, like newspapers. I disagree– I think it’s a complementary enterprise (I do have an agreement with the Enquirer, as you may know, but independent of that, I think media outlets have their place, and so do bloggers). I doubt it will pass, but even the FTC has noticed how fuzzy blogger/company relationships can be, and are advocating for full disclosure of things like sponsored blog posts.
A lot of my friends are doing Taste Castings, and I know they have the best intentions (so friends, don’t think I’m calling you out!), but as someone who has worked hard to gain trust of both the restaurant community AND with my readers, I just can’t participate in this venture.
What do you think– do you think less of reviews that are based on the reviewer getting a free meal? Does disclosure make a difference? Do you trust a restaurant that gives bloggers an incentive to try their food?
ETA: Though the creator insists that it’s not a review site (see comments), why does the site have “Reviews” as the first item in the header bar?
ETA 7/2; 7 PM: Looks like Dan saw the light and is making some changes to the site’s policies. I’m still not going to be a taste caster, but glad he finally realized that his current practices were unethical. We’ll see how things go in the future, but man, I’m glad I finally posted about this! This goes to show you– marketers need to remember ethics before anything else.
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