Dear Eric from Banana Republic’s Social Media agency,
This is NOT a Banana Republic blog. As of now I wear Banana Republic’s clothing. However if you’d like me to stop please do continue to spam my comments section with your contextual-but-not-really words of unwisdom. If you want to become a blog partner, cool! You can contact me directly. But this is not OK.
First of all, it’s creepy to think that some dude named “Eric” is reading my blog and giving me unsolicited fashion advice. Secondly, why is said dude linking me to Banana Republic’s skirt section?? Who does that??
Even better when I try to find out information about “Eric” there is of course no profile so no way to contact “him” directly to say KNOCK IT THE HELL OFF. So unless I get to spam your website in return please stop. You are making me angry.
You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.
Hugs and anti-kisses,
roxy
That's so uncool and creepy!!
That's really weird. You tell 'em, Roxy!
Totally not being rude here, but wondering: why don't you like that? I have a blog and I guess I don't understand why that would make you very mad?
weird. I never knew about things like this. Why would he do that?
what a pain!
Anon – what is your blog?
ugh roxy. they need to refocus their efforts on restoring the quality of their offerings. I miss the old banana republic…
That's so bizarre. It is also strange that BR hasn't really gotten into the blog game from what I can tell. With AT Loft doing so much to reach out to bloggers, I would think BR would want to compete in a more viable way than comment spam.
Totally uncool. I used to wear banana republic I haven't in a year and a half, the quality has gone down and their sizes are off.
Roxy, I applaud you for catching that.Why do some people blog as Anonymous? If they are harmless, why hide their identity.Really like the Anti-Kisses gesture.
Ack! Creepy! Good for you, Roxy 🙂
Very uncool of BR.
I can see how BR could rationalize this as using media to reach potential customers, but really, it's lame and annoying to pretend to be a regular Anthro lover–posting on an Anthro blog–who just happens to think you should check out BR's offerings. It's insincere and phony, and I totally get why it gets on your nerves. If BR wants people to visit their site, they can freely advertise elsewhere, or simply make clothes that get people excited at prices they can afford.
Roxy any news on the possible sale tomorrow?
I'm so glad you address these issues. It's totally annoying to be taken advantage of as a blogger.
wow… what a creeper. Good for you for calling him out. I hope he gets the hint.
Go Roxy! thanks for all the dedicated and helpful reviews, really helps those of us who can't try things on as much.
Stephanie – the thread from Monday is still ongoing. It still seems like a some stores only kinda deal to me, but I guess we'll see overnight! Kim should be stopping by her store tonight…
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Was it affiliate spam or something perhaps? It seems so strange for Banana to bother to write things like that directly. Anyway, I discovered that some guys read my blog because they write….interesting…comments/emails to me occasionally. My google referals are also sometimes kind of sketch. Definitely weirded me out for a while. But I guess it just made me cognizant that writing a public blog on the internet, your audience really is *everyone*!
goldenmeans – that is a great point, I have a few male friends I know read so I should probably stay away from the sweeping generalizations. Hopefully you know what I'm trying to say though.'Anon' – It's not about money or anything like that…it's more a credibility thing. I have no issue if a community member wants to link to a product, or their own store, or whatever. They are a trusted member here without an ulterior motive. I DO have an issue when someone who is a paid agent for another brand comes here and tries to pass themselves off as a community member and drive traffic to their own site/store. Especially when the link is contextually hidden in a comment with a tracking URL so they can see how effective it is. In those cases I say NO TRAFFIC FOR YOU!
Hi Roxy, could you explain what contextually hidden links and tracking thingies are? I'm following this thread with interest but I'm afraid some of the technical details are lost on me.
Cool thanks Roxy!
Ugh, that is terrible! I wonder if he will try to link in a comment on this post….
Anon – it's not very nice of someone to post on a blog with links to a store or to something they are selling without the blog owner's permission. It's not very considerate either.And, it is downright creepy that some guy named "Eric", who is unfamiliar to Roxy, is suddenly posting on here! – Heidi –
That is crazy and creepy!! That post is hilarious!!!
Wow. If that is in fact a poorly disguised ad, which I think it is because of the tracking, then it is in very poor taste and also rude. Blog owners have worked hard to garner their fanbases, and if advertisers want to use a blog as a billboard, they should contact the blog owner and work something out, not sneak in through the back door like that in the comments. As a reader I have no problem when a blogger decides to run an advertised giveaway, or write a review of a sample they received, because they are forced to disclose it, and we know it's an ad. However this just leaves a bad taste behind. It's so weird! I'm sure BR doesn't want to trash their workwear and preppy image for one of skeezy internet commentators. This is coming from someone who likes BR and is actually wearing one of their skirts right now – what the frack, BR? 😛
Roxy,"Eric" is probably employed by Banana Republic to make their site rank better on Google. He does this by scouring the web for fashion-related web sites, and then leaving comments that link back to his web site. Believe it or not, this actually helps BR rank better on Google. "Eric" may not even be a real person. He might be a automated robot scouring the web for blogs like yours. This kind of blog spam is pretty unethical and Banana Republic should be ashamed of doing this. I am trying to find out how you can get rid of this. Stay tuned…
Roxy – I've got the sale list update on my blog now. I was told it will be online and at all stores, so that's good news!
you tell 'em! bloody passive aggressive cyber-bullies latching onto your blog like that. I totally get why it made you mad and will be channeling your energy on our girls' night out this friday – god help any guy who tries to intrude on us!
I had to read this thing twice to figure out what was wrong. The word skirt is linked to (I am assuming) the BR site. That is not cool- fake advice and fake compliments from someone who doesn't actually read your blog and only wants people to clink on the damn link for traffic… I would be mad too!
We get the same thing on our blog. It's so annoying. I never approve those comments. I hate how it's sort of related but at the same time so transparent. How dumb does he/they think we are? Not cool.
Roxy, sorry to hear what is happening. It is a bit creepy that Eric is posing as a normal blogger, when s/he might actually be a BR employee on employee time. But kudos to you for addressing it! 🙂
I know this is an old post, but I just found it having Googled "Banana Republic" and "comment spam". They've been doing it to me too for the past week: they're no longer using the name "Eric" but the comments are exactly the same kind of thing, with the keyword links. Absolutely disgusting that they would have to stoop so low: I'm sure they could afford to pay for an advert rather than just trying to use our blogs for their own purposes. I hope you don't mind if I follow your lead and name and shame 🙂 (And I definitely won't be featuring any of their products, either!)(p.s. This is actually the second Google search that brought me to your site this month – I think it's a sign I need to subscribe 🙂 )
Amber – please do publicly shame them! They are occasionally still doing it to me too…it's so lame. And to your other point, I'd be thrilled if you joined the community as a subscriber!