App: Buzzfeed
Ad: 44 Things Under £4
Targeted?: No
First off, let me apologise for my absence - I've been travelling for work so the hours I usually reserve for blogging have been taken up with fancy meals claimed on expenses and a trip to the cinema to see Jojo Rabbit (both funny and heartbreaking) in a theatre that had sofas instead of standard seats.
Also before I get into today's app/ad I need to return to day one and the Penguin Reading Challenge. I finished reading Persuasion last night, which is the book that was recommended in the first challenge email, and I absolutely loved it! As I said in my previous entry, this was my first time reading Austen and I feel like I've wasted too much time not having picked up any of her novels before (Pride and Prejudice has been on my shelf for the best part of a decade, still unread). I've had another email from Penguin that wasn't reading-challenge specific - remember the January 1st email had ten suggested books to choose from - but there was a recommendation for Jean Rhys' Good Morning Midnight in case I needed it. I've never even heard of this book before but the synopsis was intriguing so I'm on the look-out for it to add to my 'to-read' pile. The rest of the Penguin email featured new books and quizzes and other fun bits and pieces which I enjoyed reading through. Since I don't expect another reading challenge email until February, I'm now reading Claudine At School by Colette to keep me going for the rest of January.
On to Buzzfeed. I mentioned them the other day when I was looking at the 'Buzzfeed Quiz' Twitter page, and their quizzes are the main reason why I have the app on my phone - they're a fun way to kill a few minutes on my commute or while I'm waiting for my tea to be ready. However, I do also read the news and articles on there and while they don't have adverts as such, they do have sponsored articles. The top story on the app right now is about what's happening in Iran, which is obviously not an advertisement, but the next thing I see is a sponsored post, called "44 Things Under £4 That Might Just Turn Your Frown Upside Down". It was actually published a week ago but is up at the top of the page because it's advertorial content - there's a disclaimer at the top of the page saying that Buzzfeed may receive some compensation from sales made by following the links in the article. I admire this transparency, as I know a lot of sponsored articles and posts online will result in revenue for the writer but I don't always see this being declared outright; Buzzfeed's sponsored posts are good in that respect.
I like that they're offering me products that are under £4 as well because that's definitely within my budget for this experiment. The suggestions are mostly cute little trinkets with animals or positive slogans - there's jewellery, stationery, socks and the sorts of things you might put in a Christmas stocking. One of the items on the list is a set of Stabilo pastel highlighters which I actually already own so while this isn't a targeted ad, it ended up being relevant to me anyway. There's lots of things on this list that I like but no one thing that I feel like I must have, so I'm going to purchase item number 1 on the list which is a set of pens.
They're patterned which made me think that they'll all be black or blue ink pens but there's also a little notebook showing different coloured lettering so it's possible that they are coloured fineliners. Clicking the link takes me to Amazon where they're listed as "Korean Cartoon Kawaii Stationery Gel Pen Cute" and the price has gone up in the past week from £2.70 (the Buzzfeed listed price) to £3.09 plus 50p delivery.
The delivery date is 3 weeks away so I guess they're probably coming from Asia and there's not much in the way of description of the product, aside from "Ink color: 10 color" but the reviews and questions state that each pen is a different colour. Speaking of reviews, they're mixed. Some people give them five stars saying that they're cute and that they work well and came in a sturdy box, while others say that they received them in plastic wrapping with pens missing or leaking. I'm willing to take the gamble and see what they send me, especially since I got an Amazon giftcard for Christmas so technically this purchase isn't going to cost me anything.
The estimated delivery states these pens should be with me by Valentines Day so check back next month and hopefully I'll be able to try them out!
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