The-F-Word.org

I have come to the conclusion that it takes no skill whatsoever to label yourself a public relations firm and begin collecting money in exchange for shoddy service and poorly-written articles.

I encounter PR folks regularly as a journalist. I get press releases about subjects that have absolutely nothing to do with what I cover or even the areas in which my paper circulates. Many of the press releases that are pertinent require massive rewriting and not just to fit with ours or AP style. I’m talking a lack of basic grammar, spelling errors, and a general lack of intelligible sentence structures. Keep in mind: Companies pay for people to write and submit such appalling pieces.

As The-F-Word becomes more popular, I’ve began getting press releases from numerous companies to shill their mostly diet-related products. The Lipton and Snapple folk were real professional about it, even after I explained to them that I don’t endorse commercial products here. In fact, Lipton’s PR company, Ogilvy, actually has a code of ethics they follow when doing blogger outreach wherein they pledge to actually check out the blog and it’s about and contact pages before sending offers.

Other PR companies… well, not so professional.

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And a very belated Merry Christmas to readers of The-F-Word!

The husband and I took a delicious several days off work and the world generally, hence the gap in usually routine posting madness. I hope everyone had a wonderful and stress-free holiday.

Christmas, for me, is a time to literally shower those I love with gifts, but I also got a few choice things I’ve been wanting for a while but never wanted to spend the money on, namely books. So, expect to see some upcoming reviews for such books as The Gospel of Food (in process of devouring now, Twinkie Deconstructed, Action Chicks, Appetite for Profit, The Fat Girl’s Guide to Life, and Hunger: An Unnatural History.

I have some (relatively) exciting plans for this site, including adding a library of recommended reads with reviews when possible and creating an archive of vintage food and weight-loss advertisements. I also still have our Stories of Our Bodies archive to add. Sadly, the ideas I have for this site are tempered only by a lack of time.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year’s celebration.

After a few frustrating nights spent hunched over my laptop finally comes the redesign I’ve been planning for months. I’ve known that I wanted to use the girl in the header graphic for months in the new site design, but just wasn’t sure how I wanted to structure the rest of the site nor did I have the time to do either. The graphic in the blog header actually comes from a 1954 Pillsbury ad:

What with the whole childhood epidemic fear-mongering, you don’t see these kinds of ads anymore. May we all enjoy delicious chocolate cake without reserve and caution.

I have great plans in the works for this site over the upcoming holiday break. One of the reasons I love combing through old cookbooks, women’s magazines and newspapers from the early to mid-part of the twentieth century is because I absolutely adore retro design. So, I plan on offering up an archive of retro grocery, beauty and other ads that I’ve been collecting for a while. I’m also going to commit to doing one interview a month with a person of interest, whether it be an author, someone with a related experience, or a medical professional.

So, sit back and enjoy. And please tell me if you find any technical problem with the new site design.