Blogging moms wooed by food firms
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On most days, Andrea Deckard can be found in her home office, digging through stacks of coupons and grocery receipts for money-saving tips and recipes that she can share with readers of her Mommy Snacks blog.
That is, when the stay-at-home mom isn’t being wined and dined by giant food companies.
Earlier this year, Frito-Lay flew her to Los Angeles to meet celebrities such as model Brooke Burke and the Spice Girls’ Mel B, while pitching her on its latest snack ad campaign.
More recently, Nestle paid to put her and 16 other so-called ‘mommy bloggers’ -- and one daddy blogger -- up at the posh Langham Huntington hotel in Pasadena, treated them to a private show at the Magic Castle in Hollywood and sent packages of frozen Omaha Steaks to their families to tide them over while the women were away learning all about the company’s latest product lines.
In return, Deckard and her virtual sisterhood filed Twitter posts raving about Nestle’s canned pumpkin, Wonka candy and Juicy Juice drinks.
‘People have accused us of being corporate shills,’ said Deckard, a Monroe, Ohio, mother of three whose junkets also have included a free trip to Frito-Lay’s Texas headquarters. Deckard, noting that she is up front with her readers about such trips, said they were educational for her and her fans, and ‘just fun.’
Photo: Andrea Deckard, a stay-at-home mom in Monroe, Ohio, points to a post on her Mommy Snacks blog. Both Frito-Lay and Nestle have brought her to Los Angeles this year to be entertained and to learn about their products. Credit: Samantha Grier / Dayton Daily News