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Josh Hallett recently asked a good question -- why was Target getting a relative slap on the wrist when another big retailer (Wal-Mart) is still being used as a textbook case for social media ethics lapse? If you read the comments, what you get is, "What Target did wasn't wrong. It was a faux pas." ...Faux pas? That's poppycock!
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"Relativity applies to physics, not ethics" - Albert Einstein
"It's even worse than it appears." - The Grateful Dead (and Dave Winer)
A few days ago, fellow MarketingProfs DailyFix blogger Josh Hallett wrote about Target's recent social media ethics lapse. Definitely go read Josh's post for the whole story, but here's the quick summary:
- Target hired a WOM agency Drillteam to build an evangelist community (Rounders)
- The Rounders were instructed to keep their official status with Target a secret
- Target gets exposed, and the collective response from the blogosphere is a giant yawn
Josh asked a good question -- why was Target getting a relative slap on the wrist when another big retailer (Wal-Mart) is still being used as a textbook case for social media ethics lapse. Josh rightfully called this a double-standard.
Some of the comments that followed bore his theory out. Essentially, Target is getting off without much criticism because Wal-Mart is big, bad, and has a proven history of corporate wrongdoing. By comparison, Target is pink, fuzzy, and funky. If you read the comments, what you get is, "What Target did wasn't wrong. It was a faux pas."
Faux pas? That's poppycock!
Like the parents who can't imagine their angelic and saintly children could ever misbehave, this attitude is blindly misinformed, foolhardy, and utterly wrong. What's worse is that it's dangerous.
What Target and Drillteam was wrong. Period. The blogosphere should be up in arms over the Rounders situation. What Target and Drillteam did was ask their evangelists to be shills. They asked them to participate in stealth marketing. Now, who in their right mind is going to trust anything from Target as genuine? By telling their advocates to lie, they're perpetuated fraud.
Let me quote the WOMMA Ethics Code, which preaches the Honesty ROI. Read it at womma.org/ethics
Honesty of Relationship: We practice openness about the relationship between consumers, advocates, and marketers. We encourage word of mouth advocates to disclose their relationship with marketers in their communications with other advocates.
Honesty of Identity: Clear disclosure of identity is vital to establishing trust and credibility. We do not blur identification in a manner that might confuse or mislead consumers as to the true identity of the individual with whom they are communicating, or instruct or imply that others should do so.
Honesty of Opinion: We never tell consumers what to say.
It really doesn't get any clearer than that.
My messages to marketers:
Brands that engage in the practice of asking their evangelists to be shills are sleazy. You will get caught and outed. Guaranteed.
Don't fall for any agency that tells you otherwise, and for goodness sake, stop doing business with them! You're just an enabler if you do.
Read the WOMMA Ethics Toolkit. The old excuse "We didn't know any better" just doesn't wash.
Stop believing the old adage that disclosure is wrong. News flash: people actually trust messages more if there is appropriate disclosure. Read the research.
My message to agencies:
Promote this as a tactic to your clients at your peril. People already mistrust marketing as it is, so don't soil honest advocacy with you slimy shill tactics. You will get caught. Guaranteed.
Eventually you will go out of business because you will get blacklisted as a sleazy stealth marketer.
My message to people who think this is just a 'faux pas':
Like the Grateful Dead and Dave Winer preach, "It's worse than it appears." This is insidious and reprehensible. Look at the facts: a company and its hired agency just asked honest advocates to commit fraud. Would you call that a mere 'faux pas?'
My message to other bloggers:
Get angry about this! Instead of going after the easy target (bad pun, I know), go after the real evildoers: the companies and agencies that engage in sleazy stealth marketing.
Learn more:
WOMMA Ethics Code
WOMMA Ethics Toolkit
Josh Hallet's post on the topic
Andy Sernovitz's blog post on the topic
Dicslosures:
I used to work as the #2 at WOMMA, where I helped author the Blogger Ethics Guidelines
I work for Andy Sernovitz, but my words and opinions are my own
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Comments
Michael, thanks for drawing attention to Target's opaque and unauthentic behavior. It generates discussion about the changes that big companies in particular need to make to take part in the age of conversation. From what I have observed, Target is much more comfortable with direct/catalog marketing and generating sales, than relinquishing any control to its fans.
Posted by: C.B. Whittemore | 11.30.07
No kidding. My worry is that the DrillMe's of the world are going to poison social media for everyone else. Give me a break.
More here:
http://humanvoice.wordpress.com/2007/11/28/target-drillteam-media-busted/
Tom O'B
Posted by: Tom O'Brien | 11.30.07
hey, thanks for covering this! jackie crosby from the star tribune actually interviewed me the other day and it ran in today's paper.
check my blog for any updates! rosiesiman.blogspot.com
http://rosiesiman.blogspot.com/2007/11/target-coverage.html
Posted by: rosie siman | 12.01.07
Michael,
While Target's attempt to develop a WOM strategy was wrong. What I am more concerned about is that Drill team media is listed as a WOMMA member. I am one of the earliest members of WOMMA and played a role in the creation of the ethics document WOMMA provides members. Have they not been listening at meetings and conferences??? Have they not handed out the ethics documents that every member receives from WOMMA. Perhaps I will say what others may not want to. We don't need groups like Drill Team Media working on such clients like Target if they can't or won't take the time to ask if what they propose is ethical. Target... learn to expect more from your word of mouth stategists!!!
Posted by: William Mosher | 12.05.07