Bribery by Bacon?

Oberto Bacon Jerky goes well with Deschutes Brewing
Red Chair Pale Ale, or any other beer.

Somehow my e-mail address has made its way onto various marketing lists.  About five times a day, various e-mails land in my inbox with the intent of getting me to write about some product, usually one that's beer or running related.  I delete well over 90% of them, but one day, I get an e-mail from someone named Anna at a public relations firm that started with a typical opening:

"We are excited to let you know that we’ve just launched a delicious new product that will surely make you and the Rambling of a Beer Runner readers’ taste buds tingle with joy!"

Unlike most marketing e-mails, Anna said nothing further about what she was marketing and just asked for my addres, so she could ship me this mystery product. 

"OK, I'll bite," I responded, intrigued with what she was hiding.  "What are you talking about here?"

Anna coyly responded with,  "All I can share at this time is that it will bring snacking to a whole new level and involve bacon!"

Given that some very wonderful and truly awful things have been done with bacon, I told Anna I wasn't so sure my taste buds would be tingling with joy, but if she wanted to ship me whatever she was talking about, that was fine with me.

I totally forgot about this until a few weeks later, when the mailman delivers this box and inside are couple packages of Oberto Bacon Jerky, a new product Oberto launched this March.  Now bacon jerky really isn't something related to beer or running, so why I am a writing about it here?

It's because this stuff is seriously awesome.  It's tender strips of smokey salty pork goodness that are totally addicting.  So Anna, you win.  You got me to write about it.  Of course, it helped the Bacon Jerky was excellent.

While I don't want to turn into a corporate shill, if some person or organization gives me something I like, I want to return the favor and tell others.  Perhaps this is part of the wonderful cooperative nature psychologists say are hardwired into our brains to advance the species. Or maybe all this means is bribery is a fact of life and big corporations can get cheap advertising just by handing out free stuff to eager bloggers.  You decide.

Just know if you want to bribe me, use bacon.