That's How It Happened

When you sign up as a stealth marketer at ReviewMe you get the opportunity to review products for cash. To entice you to join, ReviewMe are blowing $25k of seed capital by paying for reviews of their own site. You could stop reading this post right now, and I'd have earned $30 anyway. Even without that kind of big money:

"...it's an honor to subtly plug something I actually believe in for once. I'm so in love with this one-of-a-kind soda website, I want to shout its product name from the rooftops of a lower-to-middle-class neighborhood! Preferably one with an elementary school nearby, where consumers are still young enough that their brand loyalty is not yet fully established. I know it sounds crazy, maybe even a little scary, but honestly, True Blue ReviewMe is just that good."

Read more from The Onion's take on stealth marketing. I actually have no ethical concerns about accepting paid blog assignments. The "rules" insist that you disclose each review as sponsored, so it's not strictly stealthy, and there's no coercion to produce a positive review. It's giving me some insight into what it must be like to be a pro-blogger, grubbing about for any old story, and desperate for a freebie or even a press-pass.