Toyota has seen more than its fair share of negative press over the past year and a half, but is the Japanese automaker willing to pay "mommy bloggers" to spread positive news? Mom site Dear Crissy reports that it received an email offering a $10 Amazon gift card in exchange for a post that highlights the fact that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found no software issues that led to the company's unintended acceleration woes.

The email, which reportedly came from a company called Mommy Networks, cited Toyota's damaged reputation, adding "we're helping to spread the positive news." The email asked for a blog post about NHTSA's release with links to a few articles, some love on social networking sites and "thumbs up" votes for YouTube videos.

For its part, Toyota denies having anything to do with the offer, adding that the company "adheres to the highest standards when working with media, journalists and blogger and we find any sort of payment for editorials or blogs unethical and illegal according to FCC guidelines."

Dear Crissy has since published an update indicating that the site has been contacted by both Mommy Networks and Toyota, both of which claim no affiliation with each other. Mommy Networks has since gone on to post a mea culpa on its website to both Crissy and Toyota.



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