4 Comments
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Jake Belanger's avatar

Love this Joseph, imagine what the fragrance world would look like if we looked at it honestly.

MichySmells's avatar

Yes to all of this!! The era of false hype to please the PR overlords is exhausting.

heartknowts's avatar

Your storytelling pulled me in but your thoughtfulness on the subject kept me here! Thanks for talking about such an important subject and breaking down the pros and cons. In a perfect and honest world, PR is a perfect system for the fragrance community, but I agree that these kinds of “transactions” have the potential to create kind of a weird relationship with creators and consumers.

InaP's avatar

I still am in denial some days how this is even a thing today, to not be honest in your reviews. When we were writing perfume blogs in early 2000s, this was not even on our radar. We simply shared what we thought, good or bad. PR was barely a thing. We had to sheepishly contact the brand to ask for samples in exchange for a review, all along feeling like an imposter. Like they were doing us some big favor. 🤭 Oh, how times have changed.