I just read in one of the latest issues of PR Week that ‘flogging’ (fake blogging) is likely to be made illegal when the EU’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directives passes into UK law in December 2007. In 2006, Edelman was exposed for creating a fake blog for its client, Wal-Mart, where a couple were paid to post positive stories about Wal-Mart stores.Edelman got away with an apology, however, under the new EU directive, PRPs who falsely represent themselves as customers to blog for their clients risk facing civil court proceedings.
I truly welcome this new move, as ‘floggers’ increasingly undermine the credibility of blogs. Blogging is about being personal – it is a personal way for individuals, the consumers, to communicate with each other. People trust blogs, but when a company like Wal-Mart intrudes into this “personal sphere”, pretending to be a customer, it takes advantage of this trust and exploits it in order to manipulate the consumers. This is in my view, highly unethical and not to mention extremely unprofessional.
‘Floggers’ not only pose a threat to the credibility of bloggers in general, but it also threatens consumers’ trust in PR professionals. Blogging provides an opportunity for PRPs to “join the conversation” - to get insight into public opinion, but if PRPs pretend to be consumers in order to manipulate their opinions, they will further damage the reputation of the PR profession. There is already a widespread public distrust of the PR industry and ‘flogging’ is certainly not going to change that, which is why it is absolute necessary to treat ‘flogging’ as a crime. I certainly do not want to work in a profession where having a “false identity” is part of the job description.
