Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

This is a very, very bad idea. If you let advertising creep into the talk section, you risk alienating your very small base of loyal and casual posters and lose this section altogether. It's bad enough that you have ads posing as blog posts. Please keep this crap out of the talk section.

@squeeze - I was just thinking the same thing. I was like...hmmm Should I post a response to this or am I playing into the hands of some very clever advertisers? Once I saw your post, I was relieved to see that I was not the only one who recognized their insidious plot! DAMN YOU SUN CHIPS! Damn you and your pursuit of an interactive forum with food/earth conscious people!

Eh, as long as they're tagged as being sponsored by the advertisers, I don't see it as a big deal, and the question itself isn't about the product. It would be different if they asked for unique recipes using Sun Chips.

I mean, let's face it, the book giveaways are sponsored by the publishers in the sense that they hand out five books and get a lot of attention on this site for those five books and probably one to the SE office to review. If it wasn't for the advertisers, sites like this wouldn't exist.

As far as environmental, I worked in the recycling business before it was green, so I try to stay conscious of what I'm throwing into the trash vs. recycling and composting. I wouldn't say that I do anything different; it's all been a process, partly dependent on what recycling options are available locally.

oh i thought this was an ad.

go green!

@Alaina Browne - I'm not going to get into a big discussion about this. I'm sure you guys have already made up your minds, and I really don't have much more to say about it. I understand that you are not a charity and bills need to be paid. I just don't think this sort of sneaky ad placement inspires confidence or helps build community.

Maybe we could, instead, discuss how this campaign has a faint odour of greenwashing?

i turn on the air conditioner and open all the windows!
then i hop in my hummer and drive to the megamart six towns away because their sun chips are so much better than the local ones.

Oh, heck, I've got a local kitchen store sponsoring my newspaper cooking column. Some people might say that it's selling out, but I love the store, they get no control of content (so I'm not writing about stuff they sell) and because there's an ad attached to the column, it makes it nearly impossible for the column to be bumped for other content. Which makes me very happy.

This doesn't seem to be a whole heck of a lot different. And it's less obtrusive than the ads that pop out or start playing music when you mouse over. You can ignore these, just the way you ignore other topics you aren't interested in.

If the question was, "Why do you love Sun Chips?" it would be pretty stupid. I guess it depends on what the questions are.

Or maybe Sun Chips could simply sponsor a random question. And then send that poster a couple bags of chips. Because, you know, I can be bribed. And, um. I like Sun Chips. Yeah, that's it. And recycling and saving the planet. While I'm eating Sun Chips.

Oh I think this is fine. It's not sneaky at all, it's not *about* Sun Chips, clearly we all see that it's advertising.

Little things I (try) to do: reusable grocery bags, recycling, buying environmentally conscious foods (whether it's local and/or organic produce, meat and dairy from responsibly raised animals, fair trade coffee, etc.), buying second-hand small kitchen appliances, using cloth napkins. None of these things are very significant, but I feel better about it.

And now I will go buy some Sun Chips

On Earth Day, my job posted a lot of items that we could do to help in our own way. I was happy to report that I do a lot of them anyway, but I'm always looking to do more. Though I don't like advertising, I will say that if I pick up any hints based on this thread, then it's not so bad. Here is what I do:
- bring reusable containers and silverware that can be washed and used again
- take a train/subway to work
- bring reusable bags to grocery shop
- buy products with less packaging and recycle paper, plastic and glass
- use green cleaning supplies

Well hey, any and all that are so mortally offended by this horrible Sun Chips post, which is CLEARLY marked as "From Our Sponsor:" (meaning, gee, you dont have to read it) wouldn't have any issue donating cold, hard cash to Serious Eats so that they can forego the big, bad sponsor....RIGHT???

I mean, Im sure the SE Team can wrangle up a paypal account and you can put forth your hard earned dollars toward the page we get so much joy from....RIGHT???

Gimme a break...your telling me you people cant honestly find something ELSE to bitch about than this? Lexapro. Prozac. Wellbutrin. Rumor has it they all work wonders.

As long as the question is clearly marked as from an advertiser, I have no problem with it. Advertising is what pays for most media (TV, Mags, Newspapers, etc.) If this were a pay for site, I'd feel differently.

Regarding the earth - I have a stash of Baggu bags for my various marketing trips. I used to use paper plates for chopping, etc., since I'm lazy and don't have a dishwasher. I no longer do. I also stopped using those throwaway Glad/Ziplock plastic containers and have a set of Pyrex and Lock & Lock (Thanks Adam!) which serve me well. I also use paper towels made from recycled paper. They're not as good as good old Bounty, but they get the job done. If I had a washing machine, I'd probably just go with cloth, but I don't, though honestly, I wonder whether using the hot cycle with detergent and bleach and then the dryer would actually be leaving a bigger footprint.

Are you F'ing kidding me?! I'm still waiting for the Ice age all the "Experts" were sure was coming back in the 70's! Now what the hell am I supposed to do with all this cord wood?!

I try to reduce "greenhouse gases" by eating as many evil bovine as I can get my hands on!

WISH ME LUCK!