Sony Confesses To Creating 'Flog' 12-18-06 Category: Internet Marketing, Blogging and RSS, Internet Culture Key Points: In the wake of a similar scandal involving Wal-Mart, a “flog” (fake blog) launched by a marketing firm to promote the new Sony PSP, has been exposed by a simple WHOIS lookup of the site registration data. A number of users posted angry comments on the blog, accusing its creators of trying to deceive them. In addition, pundits in the gaming space lambasted the fake blog. On Penny-Arcade.com, a popular Web destination for gamers, Jerry Holkins< (who goes by Tycho described the promotion as "transparent, insulting, idiotic, and ineffective." On Wednesday, Sony released a statement acknowledging that the blog was inauthentic and they promptly shut down the comments functionality. Moral of the story: Transparency is paramount.  As communications professionals working in the world of social media, we must always remember the importance of trust in the dialogue we are entering with our audience.  Through their disingenuousness, flogs turn away those they are intending to reach. Excerpt - for full article, please visit MediaPost. Sony Confesses To Creating 'Flog,' Shutters Comments by Shankar Gupta, ANOTHER FAKE BLOG SCANDAL IS roiling the blogosphere. This one--the latest in a string of stealth marketing efforts--involves a "flog," or fake blog, created by viral marketing firm Zipatoni to promote the Sony PSP. The blog, alliwantforxmasisapsp.com, was supposedly authored by an amateur hip-hop artist "Charlie"--whose cousin, "Pete," craved a PSP under the tree. Written in faux hip-hop and Internet lingo, the phony blog, which went live at the end of last month, quickly raised suspicions. Last week, some readers conducted a WHOIS search, which unmasked the site's registrars as Zipatoni. Sony Wednesday released a statement acknowledging that the blog was phony. "Sony Computer Entertainment America developed alliwantforxmasisapsp.com as a humorous site targeting those interested in getting a PSP system this holiday season," it read. "We've now addeda posting that provides this clarification to consumers visiting the site." The company did not comment further. Also on Wednesday, the authors admitted they created the blog as a marketing tool. "As many of you have figured out (maybe our speech was a little too funky fresh???), Peter isn't a real hip-hop maven and this site was actually developed by Sony," the author wrote. "Guess we were trying to be just a little too clever. From this point forward, we will just stick to making cool products, and use this site to give you nothing but the facts on the PSP." After the confession was posted, comments on the site were shut down. <- Back to: Single View