In the world of social media, you cannot be lying to your customers.
In the age of Wikipedia, user generated content, a searchable history on Google – it is near impossible to lie without being found out.
Audiences are now media savvy, wary customers – no longer believing unconditionally what brands and companies tell them.
Now I have spoken about my feelings on the now infamous Witchery Man debacle on Community Girl previously, but I did have the opportunity to hear from the agency responsible for the campaign at the recent Social Media Club Sydney.
Adam Ferrier spoke of successful figures, an extremely satisfied client and brand awareness beyond anyone’s expectations, but unfortunately also spoke about lying to your consumers for the sake of a campaign being acceptable in some situations.
While I definitely give recognition to Adam’s upfront honesty, his willingness to talk about the campaign with a public audience, and his acknowledgment of mistakes that his agency made – I still believe that “honesty is the best policy” (pardon the cliche).
Lying to consumers for the sake of a viral campaign or awareness only further damages the brand when the lies are discovered. Audiences are already suspicious enough, you only have to read the discussion on Mumbrella’s recent post “Agency’s cereal intruder”. People are already calling foul on the story, claiming it must be the beginnings of a albeit creative, Uncle Toby’s campaign.
Apart from the Witchery Man, and Best Job in the World incidents, there are numerous examples of campaigns that have taken a turn for the worst, when their true motives have been uncovered:
- Walmart’s – A couple’s trip across America, spending nights parked in Walmart’s carparks
- Sony’s – CD copy protection scandal that left millions of PC’s open for attacks by hackers – without telling their customers, and then ignoring the web storm
- Dell Hell
Just to name a few…
Paull Young has a fantastic post on the impact of similar campaigns on brands trust and reputation – in “Worshipping at the False Church of Viral”
Do you think it s ever reasonable to deceive your customers for the sake of a campaign?
Do you think a campaign is ever successful when it has initially lied to it’s audience?
Do these campaigns subsequently damage the reputations of brands, or does it damage our industry?
I have had a lot of discussions of late about the validity of “destination” communities. In Australia, most social media campaigns utilise pre-existing social networking platforms like Facebook, to engage with their audience.
Community Girl 
Recent Comments