Free Products Sent to Local Bloggers

A free meal for a post

A new menu, a salon's spring treatments, a shop's first season: a common way to spread the word is to invite local bloggers and Instagram users to try things free and post about them.

It often works, because their readers trust them. That trust is also the difficulty. Readers assume the post is an independent opinion, from someone who paid like anyone else.

When the meal was free and the post does not say so, the reader is missing a fact that would change how they read it.

This is general information about the Competition Act, not legal advice.

Why the free part matters

The Competition Act prohibits promotional claims that mislead in a material way, and it is the general impression that counts, not only the literal words.

A glowing post about a meal the restaurant supplied, with no mention of that, gives the impression of an ordinary customer's unprompted opinion. Endorsements and testimonials are expected to be genuine.

Readers weigh a recommendation differently when they know the writer was a guest. That difference is exactly why the free part has to be visible.

The business that arranged the post is part of that picture, particularly if it suggested what to say.

What a reader cannot see

• The meal or product was free, or heavily discounted.
• A post was expected in return.
• The business suggested the wording or the hashtags.
• The writer is invited back every season.
• Criticism was left out, on request or to stay on the list.

The third turns a gift into an advertisement. Once the business supplies the words, the post is no longer the writer's opinion in any useful sense, whatever the caption says.

Ask for an honest post

Say plainly in the invitation that the visit is free and that there is no obligation to post. If they do write about it, they should say what they actually think.

That includes the parts that did not work. A post with one honest reservation reads as more credible than unbroken praise, and regular readers can tell the difference.

It also protects the business. An invitation that asks for honesty is hard to describe as buying praise.

A disclosure readers will notice

Ask that each post say clearly the item was provided free. "The restaurant invited me to try the new menu at no charge" is enough.

Placement matters. On a blog, near the top, before the reader has formed a view. In a photo caption, in the first line, rather than buried among the hashtags at the end.

For a video, say it at the start, out loud or on screen, not only in the description underneath.

A vague tag on its own, or a thank-you to the restaurant, does not tell the reader the meal was free. Plain words do.

No script, no conditions

Do not send suggested captions, key messages or phrases to include. Facts are fine: the dates, the dishes, the price for paying customers.

Do not make the gift depend on a positive post, a number of photographs or a rating. And do not ask for changes after a post goes up, unless something in it is factually wrong.

A writer who could have said anything is worth more than one repeating what they were handed.

A worked example

A night market vendor sells hand-pulled noodles from a stall at a summer night market, open on weekend evenings from May to October.

For last year's opening weekend, it invited a dozen local food bloggers and Instagram users to eat free, and sent each a note with the hashtag to use and a suggested line: the best noodles at the market.

The posts went up within days. Several used the suggested line word for word, and few mentioned the free meal. One reader asked in a comment whether the posts were paid.

The vendor then shared the best of them on its own Facebook page, as though they were customer reviews.

For this year's opening, the invitation says the meal is free, posting is optional, and any post should mention the free visit. There is no suggested line, and shared posts carry a note that the writer was a guest.

When you share their post

Sharing a blogger's post, or quoting it on your website, makes it part of your own advertising. The same expectations then apply to you directly.

Quote accurately and in context, without trimming a sentence so it praises more than it did. Keep the note that the visit was free.

And ask before using their photographs. The photographer owns them, and a post is not permission to print them on your menu boards.

Reviews on listings are different

A blog post is one thing; a review on Google, Yelp or TripAdvisor is another. Those sites generally do not allow reviews written in exchange for anything free.

Never ask invited guests to leave a review on a listing. A cluster of five-star reviews from people who ate free is exactly what review sites try to filter out, and what readers learn to distrust.

Keep a short record

Note who was invited, what each person received, and the exact wording of the invitation, along with links to the posts that followed.

If anyone later asks whether a post was paid for, the business can answer in a sentence. And next season's invitation starts from wording already checked.

The counter-case

A business sending one sample to one writer it already knows may find this a lot of process, and many bloggers already disclose free visits as a matter of habit.

None of it applies to coverage nobody arranged. A blogger who paid for dinner and wrote about it owes nobody a disclosure.

Whenever the business supplies the meal, though, the same three things apply: ask for honesty, ask for a clear disclosure, and leave the words to the writer.

Before the next invitation

1. State in writing that the visit is free.
2. Make posting optional and honesty expected.
3. Ask for a disclosure line near the top.
4. Send facts, never suggested wording.
5. Never ask guests for reviews on listings.
6. Keep the disclosure when you share a post.
7. Ask before using their photographs.

Step four is the only step that cannot be fixed later. A missing disclosure can be added to a live post, but scripted praise was the business's advertising from the start, whatever it says at the bottom.

Being open with readers about what shaped a piece follows the same logic as corrections noted at the foot of the article.

Frequently asked questions

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