pirate jenny
Member
Registered: Dec 2004
Location:
Posts: 2 |
quote:
Originally posted by JMO4now
Unfortunately, whatever litigation that will ultimately shut down such
viral advertisers will probably also stop all of us "local yokels" from
sharing our ideas of products. Yesterday there was a thread I found
very heartwarming, in which someone couldn't find a toy for her
child--multiple posters did web searches until someone found a place
with the toy in stock... A real joy to see people helping each other
out, but I'm sure that type of request/response will have to be
outlawed under any laws preventing viral advertisers from doing so. A
shame for everyone, really, to see the life sucked out of the internet
that way!
It doesn't have to be against the law, though. It would suffice if
companies just realized that this kind of promotion doesn't work. Viral
marketing works both ways, and I can tell you that, personally, my
opinion of Court TV is tainted by all of this. And I'm sure I'm not
alone.
Legal measures are only necessary when some party refuses to abide by
the standards of behavior agreed upon by the community at large. I
think it's a fair bet to say that most people agree that abusing
community forums and using others' property for the sole purpose of
advertising your products and services is unacceptable. It's not a
sustainable model. It just cannot continue and be allowed to spread, or
we will all end up losing our communities. It happened with Usenet. It
kind of happened with email. And now, it's happening with discussion
boards, too. Laws don't really work, anyway. The penalties for spamming
are just one of the costs of doing business for spammers. The same
thing will happen with these viral marketing techniques if it's allowed
to continue. Imagnie the discussion boards you frequent as full of spam
as your email is today. (Moreso, actually, because you can't very well
keep a public discussion board obscured the way you can with your email
address.)
The only way to stop this is to make businesses realize that this
technique does not work, that people resent having their communities
exploited like this, and that we are aware of what they're doing and
are determined to stop it. Viral marketing works both ways. Any
short-term viewership gains will be far outweighed by the general
negative impressions that this sort of behavior creates. And is there
really any doubt that, if people were aware of the tactic, they'd
disapprove? Well, there are those of us who are committed to bringing
this tactic to the attention of the people it's designed to target.
That is all we need to do to turn the viral aspect around.
I've personally emailed Court TV about this several times already, and
I've never gotten a response. People have tried to start threads here
to get their attention at least a couple of times, but the posts were
deleted and the posters banned without response.
It's good to see this subject coming up here, on their own discussion
boards, among their own viewership. If Court TV gets the message now
that these tactics are just not cool with people, and that they are not
going to work, we can stop them now, before they have a chance to catch
on with everyone else out there who has somethign to sell and spiral
completely out of control.
Thanks to everyone here, BTW, for listening to this, and for
recognizing the issue. If they get the message that even their loyal
viewership has a problem with these things, it may well make them
reconsider what they're doing.
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12-07-2004 07:12 PM
