Excuse me while I snicker

Earlier this year, when the NY Times went straight for the Pulitzer by revealing that beauty bloggers sometimes get free samples, there were people who questioned our ability to review products in an objective manner (despite all the evidence to the contrary, in this blog and many others).

A big part of why that article felt so insulting was the underlying accusation that bloggers have no ethics, unlike print media that has strict rules, and therefore is more objective. When I say it was insulting, I mean insulting to readers' intelligence, because (just like many of my commenters noted), one look at the traditional media is enough to confirm its obligation and dependence on advertisers.

That's why I couldn't help myself from feeling a smidge of schadenfreude when reading Natasha Singer's much braver article over the weekend. This quote says it all:

“Boy, they really sold out — Hearst — didn’t they?” said Allan Mottus, a beauty industry analyst who publishes the Informationist, a trade publication. Mr. Mottus added: “You have to take your hat off to Lauder. It is an enormous coup.”