Are Goodies Bad?

I can’t decide if I like the fact that various companies read what I write or not. On the one hand, it’s kind of nice to know they care, but on the other, I kind of like to think that I can talk to people without them hanging over my shoulder.

How do I know they’re there over my shoulder?

They send me stuff.  Sometimes it’s a nasty or "educational" e-mail after I’ve published something about their product that they don’t like, and sometimes it’s a gift bag (or an offer of a gift bag) if I mention that I like something.

I never respond, with one notable exception.  Once I wrote a little something on bees for a newspaper and a small honey operation went out of their way to drop off some honey for me at the front desk.  I thought that was really nice so I wrote them a quick thank-you. 

I wrote something nice about Milorganite recently and they sent me a ballcap, some pens, and samples — along with some literature.  That was nice, but I feel like it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to write back.  I do like Milorganite, but if I start to think of them as my "friends" I don’t know how impartial I’ll be able to be if I find something out that changes my opinion.  I will use the free sample though.

On the boo-hiss side I had the lawyer from company in town call a newspaper where I published a story recently to tell them I got my facts wrong and that they needed to publish a retraction.  The company was wrong though — so no retraction was published, but it was still odd to have a lawyer get involved like that.  Will I think twice about talking about that company’s product in the future?  Not consciously.  But subconsciously?  Who knows (shoot — subconsciously it might make me talk about them more — I don’t know).