EU says no to viral marketing |
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It is the nature of every company to do everything in its power to promote its product. It's only logical, when you really think about it. With that said, can we ask you one thing? What do you think about viral marketing?Before we proceed, we guess it is only proper to provide a definition of this practice for the purposes of discussion. As applied to the gaming industry: Viral marketing is a kind of advertising wherein a major company promotes its own product by coming up with a seemingly independent media like a blog and/o other amateur websites.
There. At the surface, it seems like a normal and harmless practice - the companies are just trying to create a word-of-mouth snowball effect to maximize profit. However, we have to take into consideration that these people are journalists as well. This practice is bordering on being unethical because how can one be objective if he's being paid by his news source?
This is the exact same reasoning given by the European Union as it announced plans to block and ban viral marketers or what it refers to as sock-puppets. The law, which states that it is illegal for companies to self-promote through websites which give the illusion of independence, will take effect on December 31, 2007.
The said law also covers people with vested interests reviewing their own products on various sites such as Amazon. Those who will violate the new directive will be named and shamed by Trading Standards or taken to court.
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Comments
I hope sony is dumb enough to try that viral marketing trick again after the law is passed. That could be their worst PR mistake ever.
Do you sony fanboys remember when sony got caught for viral marketing? Of course not.
Your definition of viral marketing doesn't match what you then discuss. Viral Marketing isn't independant sources - it is more along the lines of the snowball effect you mention. There's nothing wrong (or illegal) with this effect. The problem is when you start triggering the snowball effect by purposefully misrepresented means.
I'm from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, and I thought your readers might be interested in reading our take on this subject. This law was passed in 2005 and doesn't actually ban viral marketing, but rather the practice of lying to consumers. Read our response if you're interested at http://www.womma.org/news/008993.php.
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