Fake Blogs Now A Criminal Offence
Sony, Wal-Mart, McDonalds and others could soon find themselves subject to criminal prosecution under new legislation to be enacted in the UK. The “Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008” comes in to force May 28th and will cause some corporations to rethink their marketing techniques. Judith Lewis explains more.
In the world of online marketing, many tactics have been employed including the creation of fake blogs or ‘flogs’. A ‘flog’ is a fake blog created by a PR firm for the purpose of falsely representing themselves as a consumer, usually for the purposes of creating a buzz around a specific product or brand.
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Sony hit the headlines through their “All I Want for Christmas” flog which claimed to be by a boy who wanted a PS3 for Christmas. Wal-Mart had one of the more famous flogs about a couple in an RV parking at various Wal-Mart stores across America and praising staff, service and selection. McDonalds hit some headlines with the 4Railways flog about someone obsessed with getting all four railway cards in McDonalds monopoly game. Flogs like these in the UK would be subject to criminal prosecution had they happened after May 28th.
The section in question states that commercial practices which are unfair include “Falsely claiming or creating the impression that the trader is not acting for purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession, or falsely representing oneself as a consumer.”
Business misrepresenting themselves as consumers happens frequently in today’s consumer-comment driven society. With people choosing everything from toothpaste to home purchases based on consumer feedback, controlling the message has become more important than ever.
Whether it is “Joan08” pretending to be a patron at a restaurant or “Jim and Laura” pretending to be Wal-Mart customers, deliberately misleading consumers is going to be punishable under law.
Judith Lewis is a Social Media Marketer working for Centaur Communications Limited. She can be seen speaking on “The Dark Side of Social Media” on April 24 at the London Hesperia Hotel as part of madpresents’ Social Networking & Media For Business http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/Events/SocialMedia/Default.html conference
