October 18, 2006 at 17:07The introduction of PR: scandal in the American blogosphere
The authors of the Wal-Marting Across America blog , spouses Laura and Jim, set out on a journey across America from Las Vegas to Georgia. At the same time, they stayed for the night exclusively in the parking lots of the Wal-Mart supermarket chain, where parking is free even for sleeping trailers. The virtual journey began on September 27, 2006. It was on that day that the first blog entry was published. Now that a real scandal has erupted in the blogosphere , all previous posts have been erased from the site.
Almost every day Laura published new photos and impressions of her journey, which was thoroughly saturated with optimism. Every employee of the Wal-Mart supermarket they met on their way, from an ordinary clerk to a handsome manager, was absolutely pleased with his work and infinitely grateful to his beloved employer.
This is an important detail, because in fact, as many Americans know, Wal-Mart employees receive a low salary (about $ 10 per hour, almost like at McDonald's) and are not very good with their employer. Such an implausible description of supermarket employees immediately aroused suspicion among the readers of the blog - but is it an advertisement? Too similar to publicity on the part of Wal-Mart. Perhaps Laura and Jim are virtual personalities, and all blog entries are published at Wal-Mart's headquarters.
A few days later, the facts surfaced . It turned out that Laura and Jim are real Americans 58 and 42 years old. True, they are not spouses, but live together. Jim is a professional photographer, and Laura is a freelance writer.
Laura says the idea of traveling in America with free parking at Wal-Mart supermarkets came to them in the winter. Six months later, they turned with this idea to the organization Working Families for Wal-Mart , who were happy to financially support travelers.
The fact is that Working Families for Wal-Mart is a special organization created in December 2005 by Edelman, a company that deals with PR-Wal-Mart. Its goal is "white PR" and the fight against the negative image of Wal-Mart. The PR people fully covered all the travel expenses of Laura and Jim, and also changed their route to make it more interesting. The fact of sponsorship was hiding from the readers of the blog. Only now, after the scandal, the logo of patrons appeared on the site.
How can this situation be assessed? In fact, Laura and Jim traveled by order. We can say that they were deceiving their readers, appearing not to be who they really are. On the other hand, any blog can have a sponsor and an advertiser - this is nothing reprehensible.
Probably, for a moral assessment of the act of Laura and Jim, you need to know whether they wrote the truth on their blog or not. Did they sincerely express their thoughts or try to please the sponsor? In general, these are the same problems that have long been known in professional journalism. Now these problems have reached blogs.
This story is very revealing. It clearly demonstrates that advanced PR specialists began to use the blogosphere for their own purposes. It is possible that very soon such PR methods will be considered in the order of things.
Almost every day Laura published new photos and impressions of her journey, which was thoroughly saturated with optimism. Every employee of the Wal-Mart supermarket they met on their way, from an ordinary clerk to a handsome manager, was absolutely pleased with his work and infinitely grateful to his beloved employer.
This is an important detail, because in fact, as many Americans know, Wal-Mart employees receive a low salary (about $ 10 per hour, almost like at McDonald's) and are not very good with their employer. Such an implausible description of supermarket employees immediately aroused suspicion among the readers of the blog - but is it an advertisement? Too similar to publicity on the part of Wal-Mart. Perhaps Laura and Jim are virtual personalities, and all blog entries are published at Wal-Mart's headquarters.
A few days later, the facts surfaced . It turned out that Laura and Jim are real Americans 58 and 42 years old. True, they are not spouses, but live together. Jim is a professional photographer, and Laura is a freelance writer.
Laura says the idea of traveling in America with free parking at Wal-Mart supermarkets came to them in the winter. Six months later, they turned with this idea to the organization Working Families for Wal-Mart , who were happy to financially support travelers.
The fact is that Working Families for Wal-Mart is a special organization created in December 2005 by Edelman, a company that deals with PR-Wal-Mart. Its goal is "white PR" and the fight against the negative image of Wal-Mart. The PR people fully covered all the travel expenses of Laura and Jim, and also changed their route to make it more interesting. The fact of sponsorship was hiding from the readers of the blog. Only now, after the scandal, the logo of patrons appeared on the site.
How can this situation be assessed? In fact, Laura and Jim traveled by order. We can say that they were deceiving their readers, appearing not to be who they really are. On the other hand, any blog can have a sponsor and an advertiser - this is nothing reprehensible.
Probably, for a moral assessment of the act of Laura and Jim, you need to know whether they wrote the truth on their blog or not. Did they sincerely express their thoughts or try to please the sponsor? In general, these are the same problems that have long been known in professional journalism. Now these problems have reached blogs.
This story is very revealing. It clearly demonstrates that advanced PR specialists began to use the blogosphere for their own purposes. It is possible that very soon such PR methods will be considered in the order of things.