The Wireless has asked local writers and bloggers to explore the idea of “free” as it relates to a part of their lives. In the first of the series, Beth Brash, editor of the food blog Eat & Greet, finds the truth of an old cliché.
When the first email came through from a PR company offering me some free Wild Thyme Honey, I squealed with delight and declared to my whole office “EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A FOOD BLOG. YOU GET FREE STUFF”.
It was pretty early on for Eat & Greet, but people seemed to like it and I loved doing it. It was win-win. But the fact other people thought my opinion had some sort of gravitas baffled me. It was free!
Beth Brash, editor of Eat & Greet Photo: Supplied
So I accepted that free honey with gusto, and the Food Bag and the bagel crisps and the free dinners. Though, as the Spice Girls once said “nothing comes for free”. (They also said "I really wanna zigazig ah", whatever that means.)
After a while I realised that by accepting the free food you’re expected to blog about it, or at least tweet about it, and by doing so align yourself to that brand. With print advertising falling and increasingly savvy consumers, bloggers are the new billboards. A personalised voice that people trust.
At first I smothered that free honey all over my toast. I instagrammed it artistically dripping off my spoon. Mentioned them in a tweet so that they could RT it to their fans who already liked them so they could know that other people also liked them.
But slowly I got free fatigue. Free comes with obligations.
Free may seem exciting at first, but it doesn’t matter if it is free meal or a free service like Facebook, you are always giving something in return, whether that's free publicity or your personal information. In the age when personal recommendations count for so much, these days, I am weary of “free”.
I guess they were right after all when they said “there is no such thing as a free lunch”.
Share your “free” story with us by emailing submissions@thewireless.co.nz.
This content was brought to you with funding assistance from New Zealand On Air.
