Recently many many food and parenting bloggers were contacted asking if they wanted to review and run a giveaway for some handmade chocolates from chocolatier Genevie. Many said yes and accordingly reviews and giveaways have popped up all over the internet.
We were told some background…
Chocolate making started off initially as a hobby
…
little Luke likes to taste the chocolate!
…
So i’m not sure where my chocolate venture will end up but so long as people keep requesting chocolate – i’ll keep making it!
My chocolates arrived and I thought that they were so so, OK, but nothing that special, possibly them being posted in the exceedingly hot weather we had just had, had not helped. I was slightly surprised at just how good some of the reviews were on other blogs.
I then had an e-mail from another blogger questioning if Genevie was actually making these chocolates as some of her responses to questions did not add up. The lack of detailed information regarding the products and inability for Genevie to provide a picture of herself making the chocolates, along with the fact that when pressed she said she used “callabaut” chocolate (sic) were things the other blogger found disconcerting.
I did a little investigation.
- The site is very very new, and is registered to a Liz Marks on the 16th June. Both are explainable, although some of the initial e-mails for bloggers sent from the admin@chocolatebygenevie.co.uk was send from a Liz Marks in the from field which is strange.
- Genevie’s site has professional product shots, but the image of her is an iStock photo, why not use a real photo?
- The chocolates were too perfect to be made on a small scale at home. I sent some photos out to people who know more about chocolate than I do and they too were skeptical they were made by hand on a small scale and not in a specialist facility.
- The well known speciality chocolate blogs were not approached to review.
- Lack of contact detail on the site beyond an e-mail address
- No best before date or list of ingredients listed on the box. I was under the impression that allergens such as milk and nuts need to be listed by law.
Note the slight sinking on the underside of some of the chocolates, although this could damage due to the very hot weather.
It does not actually say on the site that Genevie is making the chocolates herself, but have a read of this cached page from the 17th August. If not specified, it is certainly implied in the statement “Welcome to my chocolate gift shop where I hope you’ll find the perfect gift made with love by chocolatier Genevie”
The site has now been updated and indeed it says that the chocolates are handmade in Belgium and are presumably repackaged in the UK.
I suppose the moral of the story is blogger beware, and read and question carefully when offered any samples, and do not put doubts and reservations aside in return for free products.
UPDATE
A response from Genevie is here.
And some responses from other bloggers.
The Boy and Me
Mummy Barrow
Unique Mummy Blog
I am shocked, I have done a review on these chocolates! :o
I think that unless you know a huge amount about the product that you are reviewing then you really are not to know.
I would be very sceptical too. To me they don’t look handmade, maybe ‘hand finished’ but certainly not handmade.
Well yes. I suspect there might be some more story to come out here.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch as they say + don’t accept sweets from strangers. These are lessons for life. I have had no approaches from companies so far and being very fussy, as I am, I have done all the approaching so far. 2 were very successful and one fell flat on it’s face. I’m glad I didn’t win these chocs now as I wouldn’t eat anything without a sell by date which is illegal or a list of ingredients – say someone had a nut allergy!
Well yes, that too. I assumed they were sample boxes for review. I am surprised that the lack of both best before or sell by and ingredients list did not raise a flag with more people.
Certainly explains why she didn’t approach any of the key chocolate blogs, nor those who know their chocolate well.
Very sad to learn about a business very strongly suggesting they made the chocolates themselves, and then admit that they are simply repackaging instead, probably mass-made inexpensive ones too, I’d guess, though perhaps I’m being uncharitable? I am not inclined to be charitable in the circumstances, though.
I do get frustrated by how many bloggers accept freebies and write what is essentially a puff piece, in gratitude. If you can’t be honest, regardless of whether you paid or not, your reviews simply have no value to readers, or worse still, actively mislead them.
My latest post is about some chocolates I was sent free, some of which we liked and some we didn’t. I felt no compunction about giving my honest feedback, and would not be willing to accept any items for review if I ever got the impression the brand or PR expected anything less.
Well said Kavey.
As I often say I have a 3 stage filter in place for reviews.
1 – I only get asked to review things that the brand or PR thinks that I will like.
2 – I only accept items that I think that I will like
3 – If something is dreadful I give feedback rather than blog about it.
However not everyone has the time or knowledge to question everythng that they are told and everyone has to take a certain amount on trust. It is only because I have time on my hands that I did the reverse image search to find the iStock photo and then did some more digging and asking questions.
Also everyone’s taste and knowledge is different.
This post is really helpful! I was sent these for review as well (although the amount I’ve consumed Kavey, means I know it *very* well;-) ) and was less than impressed. I noticed a lack of description card, list of ingredients or a use-by date as well.
I’ve not blogged it yet because I have no inclination to do so whatsoever. I’ve not had a follow-up e-mail and my initial reaction was to leave it. But seeing your post I feel compelled to blog and point out my thoughts, warts and all.
Thanks for this!
Sorry, didn’t mean to be insulting to those who were sent some. It was just interesting that the business in question seemed to exclude the key chocolate specialist bloggers, who perhaps may have seen through the product claims more quickly.
Thanks for blogging your honest review and for the link.
I am increasingly skeptical of over whealmingly positive reviews on blogs.
Wow I’m genuinely shocked; I did a review of these chocolates. I have to say I enjoyed the selection I was sent & so I wrote a positive review.
I hope that “Genevie” will be given a chance to explain herself.
Well, well… I hope the company in question gets in touch to clarify their position. But it does sound like a marketing ploy. Shame they appear to have duped bloggers into falsely advertising their wares for them.
These look so yummy… is frugal food friday still going?
Well done you. I had a very small tray of these to review and had sent “Geniveve” an email asking for some more information before I posted about them. I too was not overly impressed with them and asked if it was an oversight that the description card and ingredients had not been included. I could not have given these to Maxi, as he has an intolerance to certain things.
I too was given the made by Geniveve, boxed by her mum and tasted by her little boy. I will be interested to see the feedback I am given adn any you receive
Interesting. I blogged about these. I just looked back at the email she sent and she refers to herself as Genevie. It said the chocolates were handmade but looking now, it never said they were made by her so maybe I got sent a later version of the same email. I too mentioned that there was nothing to indicate what the chocolates were in my post. It was a part of a post where I was reviewing another product so I didn’t give it a glowing plug, I was honest and looked at both sides.
I only review what I want to review. Even if a review is overwhelmingly positive, I think if there is anything about it that I didn’t like or think can be improved and mention that in my post. I’ve not had many really bad reviews – I had a few ones when doing Toyologist but they were fine with not giving great reviews but generally, if I think it’s going badly, I’ll tell them so they can decide if they are happy for me to blog or not. I wrote a negative review once for something I really wanted to like and I got a huge response and I even ended up in the local paper!
Thanks for believing my concerns and investigating this and blogging it. I think it highlights that as bloggers we are isolated and am not surprised it happened, but am really glad in the end we got some clarity because we can and do communicate and read each others work
Sorry to see that we have caused worry and distress – we’re really sorry about this and want to improve. I’ve posted some details on my blog that will hopefully help clarify things: http://www.chocolatebygenevie.co.uk/blog/apologies-from-the-team/
I realize it might be too late but if you have any question please get in touch and i’ll try to be as honest and as open as i can.
G
Thank you for your response Genevie, I have linked to it in the article above.
Helen
Thank you for investigating this and for blogging about it. I also did a review and offered a giveaway. I did think it was strange that there was no tasting card but when pressed I was sent a link to the online tasting page.
I have now updated my page with the information you have found as well as a link to Genevie’s Chocolates response. I will be contacting everyone who has entered the giveaway and asking them if they would still like to be involved after reading my updated review.
Thank you
Kate
You are a godsend Helen. Do you know, I was approached too but said no to them. Something didn’t quite appeal to me, not sure if it was the chocs or her story or what. Anyway, I am most grateful to you for publicising this story. It does leave a bad taste in your mouth and makes one question a product’s authenticity.
What is good and can be learned from this is that bloggers can both give and gain advice from a negative experience.
Thank you,
Laura x
Thanks for this Helen, although I only did a giveaway and didn’t ask for any to review.
The chocolates took a couple of weeks to arrive with the winner which bothered me (I felt responsible as I’d held the giveaway). The winner did receive them in the end though.
*Like you – I only review things that the PR thinks I will like.
*Also, I only accept items that I think I will like.
*I have also given feedback and NOT posted a review on things I think are awful rather than blog about it.
Again, thanks for this post x
Thanks for the comment Jan, I think making people aware of the three way review filter is impotant especially when there are sometimes comments aimed at some bloggers for writing good reviews in return for product.
I won a box if these from a blog comp. They look good but with the lack if tasting notes it was hard to distinguish flavours.
I wouldn’t buy them. They are too expensive and lack quality.
Hotel Chocolate and Thorntons are so much better.
It’s a shame that a start up company made such poor judgement. I hope they learn from this and get back on the right path.
Hi Su,
I agree on all counts. I am a huge fan of Hotel Chocolat, great quality chocs and made in the UK too. Thorntons are also great, I love some of their range.
Very interesting post and also the comments. It just goes to show that you don’t always know what you are getting when you say yes to review a product.
I hope they are going to update the website with a better description of ingredients, ie nuts, fruit, alcohol. For £37 I would want to know what I am ordering, the chocolates all look the same, it’s just the packaging which is different.
I’m still wondering why a 1 year old is given all these rich chocolates to taste….
Well done Helen on your investigation – I was saddened a little after reading it as when I did the review + giveaway I thought it was a ‘genuine’ home business… I am glad at least ‘Genevie’ has come back with a response. I’ve never tried making chocolate at home but was surprised how neat they were in hindsight. Also the lack of information was a bit of a Russian roulette as whether I would get a dreaded fruit cream filling!
A lesson learned. By someone who consumes an awful lot of chocolate, though admittedly not the general milky varieties, I am in camp darker the better as you can tell from my Hotel chocolat reviews.
Good post Helen. I suspect if we all collectively did this much sleuthing every time we were sent a product for review from a small, independent company we’d all find lots of holes and missing links – and even more in some of the big companies! Well done to all the bloggers who questioned the authenticity of these chocolates, I think you were right to.
I think it underlines the fact that we have a responsibility, when we blog, do find out as much as we can and to be as honest about a product as we can. I am pleased that Genevieve has managed to post a reply herself, but I can understand why many are still sceptical. Good luck to her, I suppose it demonstrates that anyone can start a business anywhere selling products, but if they are to succeed they must be transparent about the product they are selling and how it has been created, or in this case, manufactured.
I don’t know why anyone would go to the trouble of ordering a less than spectacular box of chocolates online, unless they had a particularly distinct or unique feature in any case. People would be better off going to their local farmer’s market or craft fair to seek out real artisan, handmade or local ingredient produce, or perhaps go the extra mile to support a local (to them) work-from-home parent or family business (if that is what drew them in in the case of Geneveieve and her son in Scotland) – I think that would carry greater weight and a more significant point of interest from a review stand point. Lots to be taken away from the whole episode, I think.
A sad & sorry mess and lessons to be learnt all round I think. PRs and manufacturers need learn to be 100% honest with bloggers and not assume that we are a) stupid, b) desperate for freebies and c) not talking to each other constantly & sharing info. And bloggers need to be a little circumspect about what they accept for review or giveaway, and need to decide how forthright they are willing to be in their reviews. On the one hand, reviews that are always glowing end up sounding insincere; and on the other hand, I loathe people who post intentionally nit-picky reviews just to prove how “objectiv”e they can be. It’s a fine line.
I accept probably about 10% of what is offered to me as freebies and because, like you, I tend to accept only things that I am predisposed to liking and would ordinarily use in my kitchen, my reviews do tend to be positive. If I am offered oven chips to review (and believe me, I have been!) I am not going to accept because I would never ordinarily blog about a frozen dinner, so why would I do it in exchange for a freebie?? If I find a product truly awful, I also offer candid feedback rather than a scathing post. And last but not least, although it is tempting to work only with big clients with big budgets, I have on occasion taken a punt on reviewing a small family company and been totally impressed – which is why the while Genevie “family business” schpiel really pissed me off. Cynical.