Fun With Sponsors
Last year when Dogs on Drugs was nominated for a Bloggie (I believe the category was Most Likely To Be Authored By Someone With A Bunch Of Bodies In His Crawl Space), I started receiving offers to write “sponsored posts”, which is industry speak for “become a giant tool for thirty bucks”. Seriously. I don’t mind when people review products or whatever, but I was specifically being asked to do so without letting my readers know what was going on. And they’d give me thirty bucks for my time. Needless to say, I wasn’t down with the idea and said so although kind of indirectly. (The result was the infamous “Corn Pops are not made of packing peanuts and speed” post, which still makes me laugh when I read it.)
So I was wondering if this year’s nomination (which is till open for voting, ahem) would result in a similar offer. It did.
From: Nathan (redacted)
Subject: Greg – Site Partnership Inquiry
Date: March 6th, 2013 4:44 PM
To: Greg (greg@dogsondrugs.com)Hello Greg,
I’m Nathan (name redacted) with (company name redacted), and I would like to ask if you accept advertising on DogsonDrugs.com. If you would be interested in writing a sponsored post, reviewing a product, or including a text link inside one of your existing posts, please let me know. (Company name redacted) sells all types of promotional materials from business cards to car magnets, and all of them are fully customizable. If you’d like to know more about the company, feel free to visit (link redacted).
Thank you,
Nathan (redacted)
Marketing Associate
Well, Nathan certainly was polite, so I let him off the hook rather easily.
From: Greg
Subject: Re: Can I catch herpes from a sheep?
Date: March 6th, 2013 9:19 PM
To: Nathan (redacted)Hi Nathan,
It’s probably best if I don’t get involved in sponsored postings again. The last time ended in disaster. I was told to work in the sponsor “organically”, but that’s virtually impossible given what I normally write about. So I just wound up a 4,000 word post about felching with the sentence “Anyway, go buy a bunch of fucking Johnson & Johnson baby wipes.” Needless to say, Johnson & Johnson was NOT pleased, but how else was I going to write that in “organically”?
So some lawyer asshole came after me, and he didn’t back off until I burned a death threat in his front lawn with a gallon of gasoline. You can’t mess around with these legal types, that’s been my experience. You go full-bore crazy from the start, and if you do it right the very idea that you might break all of his ribs with a ball peen hammer is usually enough to get him to See The Light.
As for product reviews, I’ve had similar negative experiences, even when my review was quite enthusiastic: “I just got done smoking a bunch of Swiffer pads, and they got me REALLY HIGH!” I just can’t figure some people.
I am, however, very interested in some of your company’s products, specifically the rear window graphics you put on cars. Yours look very professional, if your web site is to be believed. Do you do the job in a shop, or will you do one “on-site”? The reason I ask is because my mother-in-law is getting a new car, and I’d like you to go to her house and put a rear window graphic on her car that reads, “I am a crazy fucking cunt”. How much would that cost?
Greg
Kennel Master,
Dogs on Drugs
http://dogsondrugs.com
Dear DogsonDrugs.com:
The last part of the last paragraph was way too subtle. Please make your feelings clear.
(I’m snorting loudly over here; I can empathise.)
Oh, trust me, I would LOVE to get into all kinds of details…
I’m taking this as a thinly veiled threat not to bother you anymore about writing a book. well the joke is on you Brotha-I don’t even have a lawn. And I am good with a ball Peen hammer. Bring. it. on!
CAGE MATCH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Right after you write that book. god dammit.
I will come over there, plant a lawn, then burn threats in it. I am that crazy.
Chester Cheetah responds- yez. we know. Now write you silly bitch. Write like the wind.
If Nathan gets back to you on that last part, let me know – I need a house call too. Maybe we can get a two for one deal?
Agreed.
I wish people would send me annoying emails about my blog.
Hold on a second, I’ll send you one.
That was lovely.
Am I commenting on your site. CAN YOU HEAR ME???
I can, but you’re in Spanish!
So if you were to (are) write(ing) a book, what type of book would it be?
I would buy it to death!
I actually got a publishing contract a few years ago for one of my first novels. Thank you sweet Jesus I didn’t sign it because I re-read my manuscript a few years later and it was ATROCIOUS!!!!
Well, I could go the funny essay route, or the funny fiction route. Or I could go serious. Or, because no one would be expecting it, I could write an arts & crafts book on how to make home made cock rings.
Hey, you got offered a contract? That’s awesome! Why didn’t you accept it?
Because it was my very first novel and the fact that they accepted it when everyone else rejected it made me hesitant…..
I went back and re-read my story with fresh eyes and decided that if I ever made it big in the world, this was NOT something I wanted to have floating around out there. So I tossed the contract AND the manuscript and started over with another story. I’ve completed 2 more and they’ve gotten so much better. This next one should be a doozy! (But I have to wait until both kids can wipe their own butts because right now I can’t even spell, much less write).
And I keep making the mistake of just deleting these offers. I need to start responding.
Oh yeah, they are very welcome in my home. Gives me a chance to get the weird out on an unsuspecting person.
That sticker would work in so many situations… My Husband’s Ex-wife? Check. Her Mother? Check. Baptist Preacher’s Wife? Check.
I wonder if one could make a business off of this idea.
1. Sell an “I am a crazy cunt” decal.
2. Sell stealth installation
3. Remove decal for victim, give them a business card and $20 for their trouble.
I’ve got to think that being sued for “vandalizing” property would be inevitable, but if it didn’t happen too much, you might be able to cover the cost and still profit. But repeated violations might get you shut down.
(leaves to get legal advice)
You only get caught if you pay taxes
Even if I pay them in pesos?
It makes my day when you get these offers
Voted.
Mine too.