During the last few days there's been an interesting discussion among the readers on a Norwegian blog. What happend was the following:

The owner of the blog was paid to write a review of a MLM product promoted by a Norwegian website. This product is sold by an american company, but is promoted in Norway by a business. Several of the readers noted the similarity of the MLM with a pyramid scheme, and although MLM marketing is allowed in Norway, pyramid schemes are not. The main problem with the review would in my opinion be the fact that the blogger received payment to write and publish the review on his blog. He claimed that he has been neutral, but after some critism by several readers confessed that he hadn't done good enough work in his investigations.

Because of the payment the blogger received, the review shall be viewed as an advertisement, stated by the proper authorities (The Consumer Agency), the review should be marked as an advert. It is also regarded as something the media should not do by the guidelines for editors. (You should not receive compensation for articles and journalistic content.)


So what I would like to ask is the following:

1. If you run/own a commercial website/blog, would write and publish a review or article about a product against payment from the seller?

2. If you choose to receive payment. How will your readers perceive it? Will they believe it to be objective?

3. What if this was done by a magazine/website like MacWorld.com?




I run several blogs and websites myself, and I wouldn't do this as it would in my opinion damage my integrity. So I am also interested in how other people see this topic?