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From its inception in 2005, the goal of FreePromoTips has been to be a positive communication tool.
It was born from my vision to help others as I was helped when I entered the industry many years ago. The vision is spelled out on the About page of FreePromoTips.com
A recent post to the FreePromoTips Facebook Wall
announced a new web site, which has stirred up some controversy. The goal of the site is to "expose the crappy suppliers" as well as to "give mad props to the ethical ones."
Some may be upset at giving this website exposure.
But the point of talking about a website with a goal of (apparently anonymously) calling out suppliers as good or bad seems to be a symptom of a greater problem to which there are not always easy answers. Isn't the real issue far beyond the launch of this type of website?
I personally think this is an example of a breakdown of the cornerstones of good business: trust and communication which contribute to the building of relationships. But what do YOU think?
We cover the website in question in some depth in the article below along with many thoughts we received about this new website. You are invited to add your thoughts as well.
As a respected resource for our industry, we are sensitive to do the right thing in sharing material that may be considered controversial. To that end, we feel it's beneficial to allow for an open and honest discussion of a variety of relevant, industry topics.
When these situations come up, we seek input from our advisory board of respected industry leaders and have backed off covering some things we ultimately determine are inappropriate.
We occasionally take some heat for doing what we believe is the right thing. For instance, we chose not to publicly identify a supplier in a story regarding the modification of a client's imprint in an effort to be compliant to CPSIA standards. And we decided to use an image a few people found offensive to address product safety concerns.
But in some cases, the choice is to step aside and let our community speak. We encourage dialogue on a variety of topics and occasionally topics can be contentious, which would seem to be the case with this story.
Make it a great day!
Jeff Solomon, MAS
FreePromoTips.com
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