Blogging Etiquette

So it was Mothers' Day yesterday! Sadly, it is yet another year that I am away from the superwoman of my life! What I did was buy her a pair of lovely earrings from Pandora with the help of my girlfriend, Shups. It's from their Mothers' Day collection, very pretty! Anyway, I also booked a buffet dinner for Mum & Dad at "Melt the World Cafe" at Mandarin Oriental Hotel. 

I was sorely disappointed when they said the food was so terrible. She was really looking forward to the roast suckling pig but she said it was only a thin sliver and the skin was not crisp but rubbery instead. Not only was I not around to spend this special day with her, I also subjected her to bad food! She didn't complain, she appreciated my sentiments but still, I felt really bad about it. I chose this place because I read the review of one of Singapore's top food blogger (I shan't name names). I thought he was quite trustworthy, until I realized that he almost never says anything bad about anything, everything is "excellent" and "the best". That is just NOT possible, dude.

This brings me to the point of this entry, while I know a few bloggers are really honest with their reviews, I also know that there are many who are not. As long as you pile heaps of freebies on them or give them a free meal, they'd be more than happy to write a glowing review about said product/restaurant. Now this is not about the food blogger I mentioned about above (I know he loves free meals and various other perks, but I don't know if he is one of those cheap, dishonest bastards), but it just got me thinking about the whole social media advertising thing that made such a splash in the news (between Singapore's top blogger Xiaxue and Gushcloud) recently. While I don't approve 100% of Xiaxue's way of doing/saying things, I do believe she has a point when it comes to this matter. A good one at that. Some people just have no morals and deserve to be shamed.

Increasingly, I have come across blogs where the authors are just blogging solely about products and well, giving 5 stars to everything. Honestly, I don't think anyone can simply feel that EVERYTHING is that good. Some are just clearly doing it for the money and for the perks. It's just downright disgusting. And you know what, these people aren't your everyday "poor" people, they are celebrities in their own rights and can afford stuff. They're just greedy for more.

Sad to say, I succumbed to one of those lies. Said blogger claims that every restaurants serves "the best" this and and that, but we all know he is sponsored to dine at those restaurants. Maybe he genuinely likes ALL of them....? I wouldn't know, but to that I say, HAVE SOME STANDARDS! You are a "food blogger" for Pete's sake!