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Bloggers often review products and services without being contacted by the affiliated company. They pick up something in the grocery store, and try it in the stir-fry that they cook that night or find a sale and buy a pair of jeans. They come home, they blog about what they did that day, if they were satisfied with their purchase, what the perceived value was, if they would buy it again. For a reader, this is akin to their friend buying something and telling them about it, the pros and cons, an honest and frank discussion. There is no money in reviews like these for bloggers, as they freely choose to devote a post to a certain product. However, for the product, this can lead to more awareness, more hype and the consumer goes into the purchase knowing what to expect. Every product has some negative attributes (price, quality, availability) and consumers can weigh this into their purchase decision before they set foot in the store, and ultimately will be happier with their purchase. Happier customers, free advertising, is there a downside to unsolicited blog advertising? A negative review can have the same effects of an unhappy customer. Consumers are more likely to verbalize and pass on negative experiences and the same goes for online reviews. Online these experiences are amplified as thousands of people read them, and take these words to be truth. After all, they are from a source the reader trusts to tell them the positive as well as the negative.  In my own experience, I have read very few negative online reviews as most times if bloggers are taking the time out of their day and their readers day to read something, it is a positive experience they want to pass on to others.