Comments on: Since When Do Bloggers Ever Follow The Script?

By: Shaquayla Mims

Shaquayla Mims — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:29:49 +0000

Wow, when things like this happen it often makes me wonder “how far is too far” in pr. This is not the first time pr professionals have engaged in acts of manipulation, and it certainly won’t be the last.

By: Mitch Mitchell

Mitch Mitchell — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:24:05 +0000

I definitely agree it’s deceptive; it’s just not the kind of deception that’s new. Remember in the 70′s the Palmolive commercials? Well, that was based on reality, where they had women come up & put their hands in different solutions, telling them it was one thing then telling them what it really was after the fact. Goodness, it probably goes back way further than that. I’m not saying as much whether it was right or not but to be outraged at what essentially is an old scheme makes little sense since they essentially volunteered for it.

By: Adam Singer

Adam Singer — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:56:41 +0000

Hey Mitch – I do see your point. But a lot of these bloggers do *not* eat frozen food. And they were tricked into eating it. That’s not what they signed up for. What you wrote makes sense, but it is still also deceptive – even if it didn’t physically cause harm.

By: Mitch Mitchell

Mitch Mitchell — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 05:51:13 +0000

I have to admit that I missed the part about why these folks were up in arms. I had read about this one previously and still don’t get it. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen commercials where people were invited to a taste test, told they were eating something else, then it was revealed what they were really eating.

To me, there were two things here. One, if they didn’t like the food then that was that and the entire thing didn’t work for the company. If they did like the food and then were told it was something else, being upset at that point is disingenuous to the entire process.

Two, the food they were served was actually the food they were being served. By that I mean they weren’t told they would be eating chicken and then found out it was alligator; that would have irked me more.

Now, should the company have asked people to come and told them what they’d be eating, then performed a double blind test; probably. But from what I read these folks decided to show up for what was basically a free meal; buyer beware holds for free meals as well. I tend to be the non-trusting type, so I probably would have asked all sorts of questions and been disqualified. If these folks showed up to review food from a chef they didn’t know, calling themselves food bloggers who probably should have known better, then it’s on them.

At least that’s how I see it. :-)

By: Tamar Weinberg

Tamar Weinberg — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:38:33 +0000

It would be interesting… kind of like the PR spammers wiki ;)