Help me with a project on stealth marketing via MBs

Merkwurdigliebe Ph.D

I'm taking an advertising course at the University of Georgia right now and I'm working on a project dealing with deceptive advertising, specifically alternative advertising (like guerilla, buzz, or stealth marketing).

One of the more interesting trends is that of the marketer that hires entry level marketers/advertisers to pose on message boards as actual posters, build up a post count of several hundred or so posts as well as a reputation for being a normal person, and when the time comes, use their clout to endorse a product. This is the online equivalent of hiring a model, giving him or her a fancy new phone and telling them to go to night clubs, flirt, and rave about cell phones.

This is against advertising ethical codes in general and theoretically SUPER against FTC regulations about deceptive advertising. Withholding the true identity of an advertiser or hiding the fact that something is in fact an advertisement is against most established codes. This doesn't stop people however, who can prove it and if they did the fines are almost negligible.

So here's where I'd like the fine ladies and gentlemen of the Penny Arcade boards to help me out.

What are your thoughts on this practice? Are you ok with it or do you find it aggravating/immoral? How so?

What experiences have you had on this message board or others with these "sleeper" advertisers? I know Penny Arcade boards are heavily moderated so as to prevent this kind of thing but how about elsewhere? Were they easy to detect? How were they found out and what did the message board community do to them when they discovered the posters true identity?

Are you aware of any internet movements/ watchdog groups that aim to ferret these people out? What forums seem to be targeted the most?

How about "flogs" or fake blogs like the alliwantforxmasisapsp fiasco for Sony? Do you see this as the same thing as the message board sleeper agents?

Any thoughts or stories on this topic would be invaluble for my project.

Thanks for your time.

crake

Flogs are so easy to detect, it's pathetic. They're too closely monitored by the wrong people in the company. Thus, the output is always tainted.

Sleeper agents though... mm those are so clever. At first they were just as easy to pick out as the flogs. Now they've had some practice at it. I was in advertising long ago, but was getting out just as those marketing techniques started to come out.

Despite the awe, and the fact that I want to give them a high five, it doesn't change the fact that it's wrong wrong wrong. The audience rebelled at it all at first, which is why the marketers are so clever about it now. It's the audience that ultimately makes the rules though (imo).

Flogs will follow the same path, no doubt.

Szechuanosaurus

What's the difference between a sleeper agent poised to endorse a product and 'respectable' magazines and online review sites who 'sell' favourable reviews and endorsements for things like computer games and electronic hardware?

For that matter, how do they compare ethically to celebrity endorsements?

crake

The theory is that those publications and online resources are impartial (ie, cnet or gizmodo) or at minimum, up front about the fact that they are advertising. Then it gets back into the flogs again, which are trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

Merkwurdigliebe Ph.D

crake hit the nail on the head, essentially it's a question of transparency. Research on advertising consumption always works on the assumption that the subject knows that they are looking at an advertisement. If the subject is fooled into believing they are looking at something other than paid advertising they are at a disadvantage for maing later buying decisions.

For example, celebrities and unknowns that are paid endorsers of products must be labeled as such according to FTC rules against deception in advertising. So I ask you, what's the difference between putting a skinny actor in a Jenny Craig commercial and not telling the public she's a paid actor and posting a cleverly hidden advertising message on a message board under the guise of some ordinary Joe Poster?

Strictly speaking, when Maxim tells their audience that this gadget is the bee's knees, they aren't being paid to say it so much as insuring future advertising revenue from that gadget's producer.

MichaelLC

Man, all this reading is sure making me thirsty.

Anyone hear of Iron City beer? I hear it is a very good light beer, with a cold, fresh taste, and is low in carbs for our active lifecycles!!

I saw an ad the other day that you could get Iron City blingtones at www.ironcitybeer.com too!! How capitol is that?!

Speaking of ads,
Yeah, it's the deceptiveness of deceptive ads that piss me off.

They complain that our Gen is desenstitized to ads, so they have to be all sneeky & shit. Of course it's not because ads suck. I've stopped & rewind my DVR to watch interesting ads, so that's BS we don't notice them.

crake

They have to be as clever as possible with the client budget available (and work under the misinformed restrictions put on bythe client as well). Today's audience doesn't in fact pay much attention to advertisements. They will pay attention to the clever stuff though (hence you rewinding to watch an ad). There are exceptions to every rule, of course.

Merkwurdigliebe Ph.D

The following is straight from the mouths of the FTC:

"When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product which might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience) such connection must be fully disclosed."

BahamutZERO

I'm sure these very forums must have some plants, or sleeper agents, or what have you. It's creepy to consider, but there's really no way to tell if someone is. It leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth just thinking about it.






That's why I use Scope™ brand mouthwash! I can personally attest to the fact that it gets rid of 99% of bad tastes left by sinister internet conspiracies!