Contrived Word Of Mouth Marketing
Up In Arms With The Paid Writers On Blogs Some bloggers are getting paid for product reviews, but they are not being up front about it. For those unaware, some companies are paying individuals and bloggers to say good things about their products and even about the companies themselves. Here is a good article on The Ethical Boundaries of Online Marketing , by Douglas Gantenbein. For marketers, the Internet has ushered in amazing new ways to talk about products and brands and to put highly targeted marketing messages in front of consumers. It's a new medium, creating new possibilities for marketing. But it's also created an arena in which it's easy to take advantage of the Web's reach and anonymity. That can make it tempting to push ethical boundaries in the name of marketing. "It's kind of like the Wild West," California-based Internet marketing consultant Jim Warholic says. "There are very few rules in the books to stop unethical people from doing any...
