Just spotted this article - http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_n...ks-for-praise-are-hotels-abusing-user-reviews From a marketing perspective, reviews are a double edged sword. If they're too good, people might assume they are fake. If they're awful, it can really hurt a business even if they are unfairly negative. It's no surprise companies would start offering bribes to their customers for good reviews. What's next, bribing the most loyal of customers to write scathing reviews of the competition?
I've written sample reviews for websites - a sort of guide to help real site visitors understand what sort of things they can type in a particular field or box. To my knowledge I've never written anything blatantly illegal, nor do I like to misrepresent myself on things like hard sell landing pages. Not only for my personal ethics, but because I'm a teacher and I have additional responsibilities to the community I work in because of that.
hmm...it was ur decision, and seems good to me. they will hire someone else, and ppl do write fake reviews, no big deal now a days.. i am not saying that its a good thing, infact, its more than lie..its making other believe at ur lie, which can be financially caos at some point.. one should not write misleading reviews.
Nice decision. Well i too was approached many times with such offers, i declined it flat. The more we promote dishonesty in any business, the results come back to us in future. Further more, i declined many prono related content work too. I also include casino in it.
I left a real life sales job because I couldn't promote a product I didn't believe in. Now that I'm self employed I turn down work that involves saying things that I don't believe. I'm happy to write promotional content, but only if I feel I'm being truthful.
I think this is quite an interesting debate to be honest and it is hard to see the best approach. 1. Yes duping people is flat out immoral. 2. As has been pointed out someone (in this case AC) will take the job. 3. There isn't really any international policing of the internet so legality is rarely a problem in reality. With these points in mind it's hard to see where we as content writers stand as, if someone is going to do the job, does it make any objective moral difference whether it is you. What I mean to say by this is if someone will do it, is it your moral responsibility to determine the way the buyer uses the content. Now many of you will of course slate me for this statement but I am merely playing devil's advocate for the sake of the question. So if someone will write it does it matter if it's you? If we take the moral answer of yes it does matter we still must concede that someone will actually write it anyway so no real moral benefit is actually acheived. You only make yourself feel morally better at the end of the day - you do not stop the work being done. So I put it to you as writers to consider the following. If you are asked to write reviews (even 30-40) then a better approach, morally, might be to take the work and write a mixture of honest and balanced reviews using both positive and negative points. You can assuage the fears of your client by telling them that consumers are more savvy to overly positive reviews than they might think and that it is better to be honest in your testimonials. So if you personally engage with the product and find it's strengths and weaknesses then you will be well equipped to write honestly even if principally falsely. If you do this then you will actually be more helpful to the overall internet community than by simply refusing the work as you will have written balanced (though false) reviews of a product. This is more beneficial to consumers than simply passing off the work as you are in a position to be honest in your reviews whilst not being too one sided. I personally think that morally this is better than passing over the work to someone who willl potentially, intentionally mislead potential customers. Finally, of course, there must be frequent exceptions to this guideline but I am very interested to hear your responses
I've been approached as well and asked to write fake reviews. I declined. Unfortunately, I think this is common on many low quality sites. One must use some common sense these days when reading reviews online and do some basic research into the products you're interested in buying if you have questions about the quality, etc.
Yeah, most reviews are fake. Just like people on TV that "LOVE" Jiffy peanut butter, the family that was saved by their insurance company after a storm, the paid review of the 2012 BMW, the $50 hooker that puts on make up and a push up bra is also fake it is called advertizing and marketing. You can turn down jobs and feel self righteous about it but in the end it is just how the world of advertizing and marketing works. Advertizing is deception in nature.
I doubt anyone really thinks 'Oh, that nice happy family uses Jiff, so it must be good" just because there's a commercial that implies that. Does anyone actually believe that Robert Wagner uses that supplemental insurance he's promoting right now? The key is in the language. Wagner is explaining a product, he never actually says, "I use this." A testimonial, by it's very nature, implies "I have purchased and used this product or service." One is a demonstration or dramatization, the other is a a true endorsement.
If you are copywriting, at some point or another you are going to have to say a bunch of bullshit. Face it. Copywriting involves coming up with creative words to describe stuff that nobody truly needs and make people want that stuff by triggering their emotions. You, as the copywriter, are a deceiver. Embrace it or stick to the theses, school textbooks, and general objective writing. While writing fake reviews is more obvious bullshit, any kind of writing to advertise companies is bullshit as well.
My personal opinion: the clients have formulated a normal request for a copywriter, as they need their product to be well-rated. This is, of course, up to you, whether to take the offered job, or decline it, though I can't see anything unethical in writing some "consumer" feedback, if it's required, especially if it's well-paid. In your case, I suppose you didn't have to worry about lying, as the marketing statistics say that consumers pay little attention to what the strangers say, they either trust their surrounding, or test the products on their own. You had little chances to fool anybody.
Wow, I just got asked about doing the same thing today. The company showed me the negative reviews that they had been receiving and it looked like the negative reviews were faked and possibly all by the same person. They contacted me for positive reviews to combat these because they were afraid it was going to affect their reputation. Are there things you can do to help companies facing situations like this in an ethical manner?
I've never been in a situation like that so far.. But if I were in your shoes, I'd proudly decline the offer too the same way you did..
30 to 40 of them :O!!!! That's how scam businesses get traction I would say. Falsified customer reviews can definately make them seem like a reputable company when in actual fact they are scam-artists. Good move on your part though!
Is it your personal moreality or ethics which forced you to do that? Again, do you really think that such fake reviews can make people change their opinion about the product?