Thanks to a tweet this morning from Steve Rubel, I found out about an impending law in the U.K. that will make it a criminal offense for brands to “seed positive messages online without making the origin of the message clear,” according an article in AdAge. There have been a plethora of advertising, and PR folk, that have jumped on the bandwagon of using the social media phenomenon to create false personas and represent themselves as fellow consumers that just ‘love’ a brand or product. Brand owners can face fines or even prison sentences under this new law if they misreprent themselves as consumers.
At a time when consumers trust a total stranger in their peer network more than an industry expert, journalist or marketer, it’s very tempting (and easy) for companies to try to launch their own ‘viral’ marketing campaign by pretending to be ananonymous guy that happens to be a brand zealot for their own product or service. This legislation also covers bloggers who fail to reveal that they have received money or other compensation for writing about a product.
It will be interesting to see how this law plays out in the rest of the world and how it will be enforced. Will the industry self-police and preempt a consumer revolt? Or, will be have to go back to the old fashioned method of only trusting people we know?
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