I’d love if Mark would post his thoughts on native advertising and why BoingBoing has decided to go with that model, as it does present ethical issues that (unless I’ve missed something) BB has been uncharacteristically non-transparent about.
I’m sure it states somewhere that BB is supported by affiliates links, but, at the same time, it seems to me that the entire point of this type of advertising is that it does get mistaken for editorial content. And perhaps BB contributors are really excited about USB battery packs and would have posted about them even if there wasn’t the incentive of an affiliates link, but if paying your bills depends (at least in part) upon driving traffic to Amazon, it’s difficult to believe that that doesn’t have an effect upon what you choose to become enthusiastic about.
That having been said, BB has, over the years, given me tons of awesome, free content, and if this is what they need to do to earn a living doing that, then so be it. I have nothing but gratitude to offer for all the cool stuff that the BB crew have introduced me to. However, I’m interested to know how they arrived at this model, because it seems to me that native advertising and veiled PR are becoming a bit too pervasive on the Internet, and that leads me to question — Do we all need to become salesmen? If we want to spend a significant portion of our time sharing our interests with the world, do we all need to find a way to relate that to products sold by Amazon? What would it take to dial things back a bit, to the time when the Internet aspired to be an “information superhighway,” rather than the massive advertising and surveillance platform that it has become?
I imagine that, as the founder of one of the most popular sites on the net, Mark has some interesting thoughts to offer on this, but perhaps he’s just taking a bite out of the same shit sandwich as every other content creator on the web, and there’s not much to say, apart from the fact that it tastes bad.
If all you have is decent boiling water (or slightly cooler, for green), make tea. If all you have is warmish water, you won’t get tea, so instant coffee will have to do, or just eat a No-Doz pill if those still exist. Cafe Bustelo makes an instant espresso that isn’t very good, but it’s a way to strengthen coffee that’s too weak.
I’d be a lot happier if the ads were clearly marked as advertisements, rather than masquerading as articles. If nothing else, they make who ever posts them looks like a dork.
Ermmm… Yes, Folgers is some vile stuff, but the proliferation of Starbucks everywhere is what made Folgers taste good again. But, I see that is your point. Any storebrand generic instant is better than Via. What made Starbucks popular was the mass marketing of flavored coffee, and with all that flavoring it doesn’t really matter how nasty the coffee is.
I have absolutely nothing against Starbucks as a company, but their plain coffee sucks. I work at a hotel, and the restaurant chain (about a dozen locations in the midwest) that rents space from us recently contracted with Starbucks to provide (black) coffee. Customer complaints immediately went through the roof and it has to be made at half-strength to make it acceptable. Even the restaurant manager brings coffee from home.
C’mon Mark, this is bullshit. Everyone knows that if you are in need of a caffeine fix you just to whip out your nutmilk bag and get your cold brew on. It’s cheap, easy and no-mess don’t cha know?
As CEO of the first Link-Dollar Optimization (LDO) creative marketing collective agency, with a BFA from an Ivy, I propose this as a standard icon to appear with all native advertising posts.
I worked at a dog show one weekend with a guy who worked for Starbucks and brought a ton of free samples of these packs. I filled my pockets. When I saw the price in the store I decided I could do without.
I don’t think this is native advertising… though sometimes BoingBoing makes it hard to tell. BoingBoing is more commentary than a news source, and often serves as a kind of psuedo-window-shopping experience in the time-honored tradition of magazines like Wired that have become essentially store-mannequins for various tools and gadgets. I don’t mind it, and I don’t assume that every post that has a brand name attached to it means money exchanged hands.
I keep a jar of Folger’s crystals at my girlfriend’s place because I can’t stand to use her stupid expensive single-serve machine. Especially with how much coffee I tend to drink. It’s crap, I’m just trying to finish it at this stage. Via is truly better, but it’s still too expensive for my taste. Also, coffee at my university is way too expensive, but hot water is free. I tend to spend a whole day there, and instant coffee is a good alternative. Another alternative is the good old fashioned hack where you throw grounds into a filter and tie it up, then you can just toss it into hot water and let it brew.
The only problem with that is that you don’t quite get the same flavor profile as you do from brewing it in a percolator, or hipster-mode chemex. I thinks it’s because only the outside of the coffee-ball really gets good solvent access, and the temperatures are too low to really move water through it. I’m working on an invention in my spare time that is essentially a portable french-press that will even heat your water. It’s still just a paper project though.
They killed it in my neighborhood. We had Coffee Connection in the Boston/Cambridge area which was way better, and was bought out by these char-actors.
There is a difference between referral-linking something you truly like and want to share vs pimping for the highest bidder for random products and services. It costs real money to serve up a popular site and I don’t expect the editors of BB to personally fund this site as an act of charity to the rest of us readers.
I have had it, it is okay but too pricey for me. Since I love coffee but can only deal with so much caffeine I have a jar of instant decaf at work as everyone there seems to like the stupid pods and $1 a pod is a lot if I am drinking 5+ cups a day. I find the Nescafe brands great for instant regular coffee. @MitchellGlaser I will have to try the Trader Joes packets for something to keep in a bag for travel coffee or if the people who supply the coffee station quit supplying the drip maker, or I guess I could just have 2 jars of instant in the desk.
Industry standard practice is to label sponsored articles as such. Was this article sponsored? Not sure, but BB usually rails on Starbucks so then pushing an SB product does seem a bit out of character.
Well, the way affiliate programs work they’re effectively salesmen on commission (except they get commissions on everything you buy on Amazon, and not just the product they’re linking to). And the way BB uses them, the site is supported by traditional advertising while the affiliate revenue goes to the individual author.
And it seems that Mark has lots and lots of products he really likes and really wants to share with us. In fact, most of the things he wants to share with us lately have been products.
I am a confirmed aeropress user, but when I am feeling lazy or flying/driving/cycling I do use starbucks packets, they are not bad and better than any other instant I know of. In my headset or flight bag I carry an immersion boiler and a few of these and when I can find them some UHT cream tubes and sugar especially for night flying.
Sometimes I just don’t have the time or space to make amazing coffee and then reasonable and reliable is good enough when combined with convenience.
While the product placement seems a bit out of what I like to see on anti-corp BB these folks gotta get paid.
There are several camping French press options that might fit the bill for you, or at least provide a jumping-off point in your experimentation. Search for brands like GSI and MSR. They’re bulky but relatively indestructible for carrying in a bag. I have the GSI one myself.
It’s weird, I took it for granted that these didn’t exist for some reason. Still, most don’t boil their own water, and those that do aren’t electric. There’s still room for me to do something new.
