Clicking and Screaming

Berocca has started a little blogger outreach programme, neatly capitalising on a recent(ish) report in the the NY Times that blogging is stressful.

They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece — not garments, but blog posts. This is the digital-era sweatshop. You may know it by a different name: home.

… bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.”

New York Times, In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop

Berocca is inviting registrations for a Blogger Relief Pack, basically a pack of Berocca and assorted executive stress toys.

Only the first 50 qualifying bloggers will receive a pack and by entering you have to agree to T&Cs, which include permission to being contacted again in future and also authorising Bayer to:

…use, promote or reproduce your blog in the promotion and that you will not assert any intellectual property rights including without limitation copyright or moral rights in relation to such usage.

There’s also no guarantee, that if you do get a pack, and write a glowing review of Berocca’s blog stress busting capabilities, of a link back. Which all seems a little against the spirit of the blogosphere and the joy of linky love.

I don’t know if Berocca is approaching bloggers on an individual basis with this promotion, but after  looking at the site and reviewing the T&Cs it all just seems a little impersonal and more like a marketing competition than a genuine attempt at blogger engagement.

I also question why Berocca has linked to the Guardian post about blogger stress as it is less than complimentary about the NY Times article.

Um, yes, it’s really tough: sooo much worse than making cheap rugs or sneakers, subsistence farming, or my previous job in the Uranium mines. I don’t know if I could get through a day without the constant supplies of coffee and Bach cantatas.

The Guardian, Does blogging kill more people than video gaming?

Via Stephen Davis at PR Blogger