Cherryflava

Viral marketing is illegal

Posted on 13. Dec, 2006 by Jonathan Cherry in Advertising

In South Africa we call it ‘misrepresentation’ – and there are a number of laws protecting you from fraudsters who try con you into believing their stories and parting with your cash.
There are probably similar laws in other first-world nations, that have legal systems as advanced as ours.

In what seems to a fairly groundbreaking blow for the growing trend of misrepresentation viral / word-of-mouth marketing – Sony PSP [along with countless other brands] will be under   investigated by the US Federal Trade Commission for tricking consumers with their viral campaigns.

What the FTC sought to do yesterday in its staff opinion was to note
that such marketing could be deceptive if consumers were more likely to
trust the product’s endorser "based on their assumed independence from
the marketer."

This would obviously have to include undisclosed loaded posting on blogs and podcasts, which surprisingly could affect a number of prominent sites and YouTube contributers.

We’re amazed that its taken so long for somebody to highlight this to the relevant authorities. Most trickster marketers are found out and in most cases the campaign fails and the general public hurl eggs at the relevant logo, but now deceiving brands will have to think twice before luring us into their dark den of lies and deceit.

FTC moves to unmask word-of-mouth marketing – Washington Post
FTC cracks down on viral marketing – Wired