I heard some companies would play a trick like this: they build a blog and customers would share their opinions on the products there, and some employees would pretend that they were customers and said all the good things about the company and their products. Do you know anything like this that has really happened? (Especially the bug companies) What do you think about this? Can this behavior be considered unethical or do you think it’s just a marketing strategy or even a briliant one? What are the pros and cons of a company doing this? hopefully you’ll be willing to share your opinions with me, thanks in advance!
April 29, 2010 at 11:16 am
Yes it is done…and I believe employees who have tried the service can have a say…but those that do it just to “build up” the company–that is lying, plain and simple, and lying is always unethical.
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April 29, 2010 at 11:26 am
It is unethical to do this. Companies that do so are guilty of fraudelent advertising if that is the case.
I have never seen any instance of this, though.
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April 29, 2010 at 11:49 am
I believe an employee would make comments on their company blog just to comment. have you read some of the comments here? unreal!
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April 29, 2010 at 11:57 am
I’ve never heard of this happening, but would be far from surprised if it was a common practice.
More and more ethical concerns are being swept under the carpet in order to maximize profit margins and continue the worshipping of the almighty dollar.
Unfortunately, we are becoming a society where money is the only thing that matters, and in the acquisition of money, all is fair.
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April 29, 2010 at 11:59 am
If you can imagine it being done!!
It’s been done!
The pros are they look great.
The cons are the real consumer who is dissatisfied will feel more cheated and potentially sue.
The other con is some disgruntled employee rats them out to the media.
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April 29, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Yes, some companies do it but not all. It is a very unethical practice. Some of it are so obvious since sometimes one person puts 3 entries and the linguistics and grammer look similar. In fact, such companies end up losing potential customers. I have personally pointed out to a company and told them of that too. Did not receive a reply from them though.
It is a marketing strategy but ppl (potential customers) are not fools. When they see such references, they do request for known references whom they can discuss and refer back to. If these were false, the company stands to lose a lot including its reputation. Any good company will have its proper references, whom can you meet personally and talk with.
On pros and cons, to put it simple, for every customer the company gains using this scheme, the company stands to lose 20 of them. Eventually, the word spreads around and the company will be blacklisted. Even if they change business or go genuine, no one will beleive them. They lose trust and goodwill and everything else eventually.
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