Astroturfing PR Firm Invites Bloggers to Meet Fashion Flaks. I'll Pass

Pierce Mattie PR, a PR firm that reps fasion and beauty clients, was accused of spamming and astroturfing beauty blogs to plug its clients. This led to quite a hue and cry among some bloggers.

First the president of the company issued 1100+ word responses to bloggers who nailed them on their deceptive practices. Having apparently learned nothing from the criticism of their tactics, they're now inviting bloggers to a roundtable where publicists can meet fashion and beauty bloggers. "Your voice heard in person!" screams the email.

The only thing any blogger wants to hear from beauty bloggers is that they won't spam or astroturf. Hey, if you really wanted to talk to bloggers, you'd do it in a Skype conference call and not ask us to schlep out to meet a bunch of flaks.

I got an invite too but as I live in Sydney Australia its unlikely that I'll be able to go - I wonder if they knew that before they sent the invite?