NPR had an article on the Monday evening news show about mommy bloggers.  The controversy that precipitated the article has to do with blog-ola or the free swag and other perks many marketers are giving to bloggers in hopes of getting favorable publicity on their blogs.  The following paragraph summarizes the article:

The growing rift in the blogosphere over what some are calling “blog-ola” was among the issues discussed at the fifth annual Blog-Her  conference in Chicago.  According to NPR, mommy blogs are shifting toward product reviews.  Many bloggers find that they get even more readers by specializing in a specific niche.  Mothers control up to 80 percent of household spending, so it was only a matter of time before mommy bloggers, and now Twitterers, were reviewing and promoting products and services.  Companies from Wal-Mart to Kmart work with mommy bloggers, and in some cases the lines are being blurred.  Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission is considering new guidelines to help clarify what constitutes advertising in the blogosphere.  The article ends with a reference to the website Blog With Integrity which is asking bloggers to sign and post an ethical pledge.

I know some moms that blog and they probably don’t appreciate the term mommy blogger.  None of their blogs have any overt advertisements on them and I have never detected and subliminal marketing.  Although I do some how feel compelled to visit Plum Market, but mainly because I have never been there.  Like I said they are moms that blog, but their children are no longer young enough to be marketing targets.  If my math is correct there is only one teenager left among the lot.  Plus many of their children have blogs of their own.  I find this so called controversy to be a tempest in a teapot.  If in this day and age a reader cannot discern the difference between an honest opinion and an infomercial then let the buyer beware.