The following is brought to you by a forty percent decrease in the Simmons Family income.
"I just avert my eyes when he starts singin' about tacos, ya know what I mean?"
From the inception of Kicking the Seat, I knew what I didn't want my film-review site to be: an ad-heavy wasteland of pop-ups and banners that readers would have to wade through in order to find my thoughts on movies. So many of the sites I frequent as a fan are loaded with peripheral nonsense that I'm either easily distracted or I can't trust the opinions of those who write them because they reek of sponsorship bias. My on-line identity as a critic, I decided, was going to be forged in clear-headed independence.
A few months ago, my wife lost her job. This sent our family into a panicked scramble to pay off debts, kick savings into high-gear, and adhere to a budget we would've considered unthinkably restrictive just last year. We're doing fine. I'm not complaining. But, as the saying goes, every penny counts.
This explains the Samsung ad that appeared on the homepage last week. I was approached by a company called Unruly Media, which provides commercial content to Web sites. They hooked me up with a non-invasive, rotating banner-ad player. If you click on it to watch the current commercial, I get a few cents. Lots of sites offer these, and they're perfectly ignorable--or accessible, depending on your level of interest.
I'm writing this confession because of the piece I posted earlier today. Unruly also invited me to write an editorial advertisement, or "advertorial", about the commercial. Their guidelines were straightforward, and none of them required me to actually endorse the product. They wanted only an honest opinion of the ad, and to ensure that the sponsor was fairly and properly represented. This I could do.
This morning, I submitted a column for review. Unruly approved it, and up it went. I'm getting a fair bit more for writing it, and every cent will go to maintaining the site and paying for my weekly trips to the movies. In case you didn't know, I'm not a paid critic. Occassionally, I'll get into free screenings through luck or contests--or the luck of winning contests. Most weekends, though, you'll find me waiting in line, cash in hand, craning my neck at showtimes on a digital marquee. And, yes, it's quite an expensive way to live.
So, if you visit the site and see one of these "Sponsored Video" posts, I invite you to read it or ignore it--whichever suits you. Unlike the player clicks, I don't get paid per view, so it's no skin off my nose if you decide to read something else. If you give these pieces a chance, though, I promise you'll find the same honest, cutting voice that delivers movie reviews week in and week out (minus the swearing).
One thing you won't see is a smiling shill on a soapbox. If I don't believe in something, I won't write about it. Okay, maybe I will write about it, but I'll write about why I don't believe in it. And as long as the Unruly folks are okay with that, you'll be privy to every bought-and-paid-for word.
As always, thanks for reading. And in this case, thanks for understanding.
Note: To clarify, there's a difference between KtS's relationship with Partnershub and Unruly. I don't get paid to run contests for Partnershub; they just supply the giveaway prizes in exchange for promoting a particular film. Not that you were thinking about this at all, but I'm in the unburdening business tonight.