Online Comments
11 July 2008
This time last year a PR company was blocked from Wikipedia because it had been providing pay for edit services to its clients, something that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said was a “serious serious no-no”. Now that kind of behaviour – if done without acknowledging an interest in the posting you are making – would break the law as well as netiquette which will put a real dampner on buzz marketing.
Since May this year, new laws designed to protect consumers mean that it’s now illegal to: ‘falsely claim or create the impression that a trader is not acting for purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession or falsely represent oneself as a consumer.’ Which, in plain English, means that it’s now illegal to post positive comments about a brand on blogs etc without making it clear that the post has been created by or on behalf of the brand. Likewise, it would be illegal for a PR to write a positive review about a hotel client on a travel website without disclosing why they are doing so. Companies will also be prohibited from using buzz marketing specialists to communicate with potential customers, e.g. on social networking sites, without revealing that they are acting on behalf of the brand.
The law is “strict liability” which means it doesn’t matter if the company didn’t intend to break it or were only negligent: as always ignorance is no defence. Given that the maximum penalties for a breach of these rules include a two-year prison sentence (seriously!) it’s probably best to get this one right. The important thing is to make sure that all postings are accompanied by a sufficient disclaimer, like the conflict-of-interest disclosures that (proper) journalists slip into their articles.
By Rod Christie-Miller, Partner at Schillings.
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First published on Gorkana as part of Schillings' regular contribution to their site.
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