Edelman Has New Ethics Scandal Brewing With Microsoft's Blogger Bribe Campaign

What's strange is that some bloggers received Acer Ferrari 1000s, which score only a 2.8 Windows Experience Index. According to Microsoft, a 3.0 score is required to preload Windows Vista Premium and run it with all features operable.

See http://oakleafblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/microsoft-gives-bloggers-sub-aero-28.html

--rj

When I saw this (http://www.istartedsomething.com.nyud.net:8080/20061227/microsoft-free-ferrari/) , I just couldn't believe it.

I went to a few of the "gifted" bloggers Web sites. Only one, Laughing Squid, made it clear MSFt provided the Ferrari. Brandon LeBlanc, at first, simply said he "traded in" his old PC - but when caught, "Updated" his blog to make it clear that MSFT gave it to him. Barb Bowman doesn't mention MSFT in her post about the holiday gift; she says AMD gave it to her. Others were just as foggy. And, I have to bet there are some bloggers who got the laptops and haven’t said so.

Bloggers taking stuff? When so many pose as straighter-than-straight, out to show the world how corrupt MSM is? A company giving laptops to "reporters" who cover the firm ... well, it's pretty easy to see what's at work here. It's a bribe. Bloggers may not be able to afford the finer things or even the refurbished things. But accepting a $2,000 laptop is just plain w-r-o-n-g.

Real journalists know what's going on here. We and our companies understand there are rules. We have morals. Our employers have codes of ethics which prohibit foolishness like this. Our choice. Our responsibility. Our professionalism.

Of course, we can always become bloggers.

Frank

Yes the fancy laptops are a bribe. And of course the whole scheme is unethical. That's what my post, and the one in Slashdot, and Scoble's were about!

But c'mon, you can't seriously put down ALL bloggers, and defend all MSM reporters on the basis of the actions of this greedy bunch.

Several of these bloggers, cheered on by Edelman -- a bear of exceedingly questionable standards -- and Microsoft, who hired an ethically challenged PR firm, have behaved reprehensively.

That doesn't make all bloggers reprehensible. The vast majority of bloggers have morals, and ethical standards too.

Say what you want, you will never make me believe that there is such a thing as reporting -- in blogs, MSM, or anywhere else -- that isn't colored by opinions, feelings, and, yes, money. At least most bloggers will tell you where they stand.

As for who's a "real" journalist: I think that topic's been beaten just about to death. We're different kind of journalists. I'll agree to that.

I'm certainly not besmirching (all) bloggers.

Er, I am one :)

But these gifted folks have certainly not all been "transparent."

I'm still wondering about the as-yet unidentified recipients who may be out there.

At least Pay Per Post now asks its minions to disclaim.

As Rumsfeld said, we don't know what we don't know.

Frank

Thanks for clarifying that. I read your blog, so I kinda was wondering how you could say we were *all* bums

And as Yogi Bera said, "It ain't over til it's over."

Richard Edelman said the company's Wal-mart ethics gambit was just "a small new media component" of "a classic publicity stunt".

Can't wait to hear what he calls this one.

Stunning. Will Edelman never learn?

FWIW, though, I have NEVER had a problem upgrading a computer to a new Windows OS. Not once. Worked like a charm every time. On multiple computers (mine, my laptop, my wife's PC, my kids' PCs...) no less.

i used to work in pr, where we often dealt with "traditional" journalists. whenever we sent them a product for review, it wasn't ever on a loaner basis. depending on the product, journalists were often expected to keep the reviewed product (think CPGs, liquor, electronics).

you're just another blogger who thinks they're more influential than they really are, and when companies don't contact you as part of their blogger relations program, get all pissy. i bet if you had received a laptop with vista installed, you'd be singing a different tune.

There is no guarantee that bloggers have Vista capable machines. And if they only give/continue to give these to butt-kissers, it's not like they are obligated to have given them to everyone in the first place.

> But c'mon, you can't seriously put down ALL bloggers, and defend all MSM reporters on the basis of the actions of this greedy bunch.

That's the problem. Who is the greedy bunch and who are honest bloggers?

This hurts all bloggers and works to the advantage of established media.

If the laptops arrive with the standard terms and conditions (i.e., for long term use and review) and the bloggers disclose the same, how is that different from most of the world where tech gadgets shower down on journos of all stripes?

DISCLOSURE: I freelance for three broadsheets in Ireland as an accredited journalist,

The people that got laptops where geek bloggers, they love getting gadgets to play with, I probably would have posted the exact same thing even if it was just a loaner (except for the fact that I would state that it was just a loaner).

And B.L., I've been running various builds of Vista/Longhorn since 2003, so I know exactly what is involved installing it on a new machine (several different types in fact). It is actually pretty straight forward, in fact ever since BETA 2 it has correctly detected most of the hardware (the Fujitsu Tablet PC doesn't have full support yet) and given me things like Aero straight away.

This all sounds like sour grapes to me.

what are the tax implications of a $2000 gift?......

I don't see the problem with giving them out, to be honest, though I did have to think about it. Absolutely, any bloggers reviewing Vista should disclose where they received the review unit (as if that were not obvious to intelligent readers), and as Scoble said, if you don't disclose you don't have ethics.

And B.L., I didn't understand your reference to Scoble's post in your comment-- he said the giveaway was "awesome."

What I find gruesome is that Microsoft is apparently caving in and is now asking for the return of the laptops. Now to me that's weak-- and perhaps we are seeing a PR disaster in the making after all.

Sit tight, Edelman is too big not to screw up something in social media again (my money is on the SL business plan contest, but maybe another flog will pop up), but this ain't it.

Number One, I switched to Mac a little over a month ago. I was sick of the constant forced Microsoft patches, security problems, etc. And Dell sold me a lemon, for which I have since gotten a refund. So I would have no interest in a PC, laptop or otherwise.

If Apple wants to send me a laptop, I will gratefully accept it, fully disclose it, and promise to mince no words if I had any negative experience with it.

But that's not the point. The point is that these gifts started being given out several days before ANY of the bloggers reported that they had received them. Where's the transparency?

And Edelman and Microsoft have set back blogging by treating bloggers differently from other journalists. I have a big problem with that.

This campaign - like the Wal-mart flogs - is not well thought out and has been poorly executed to date.

Yes, MSM journalists keep the stuff they get. That's no secret. But bloggers claim to hold a higher standard, to be willing to call a spade a spade, not to be beholden to advertisers -- so it's less than honest to receive a $2200 gift and not mention it until you get caught holding the bag.

It's all a conspiracy people :-)

Bloggers are slipping quickly down the trust totem pole thanks to the highly strategic undermining of the blogosphere by Big PR.

Think about it! Is it really in Big PR's interests to have a credible alternative to mainstream media?

A credible blogosphere makes it much harder for Big PR and their clients to "control the message."

So is it an accident that these incidents seem always to have Big PR behind them?

The blogosphere is quickly being relegated to the status of an unregulated stock message board, and that may or may not be the ultimate objective.

Or am I giving the Edelmans of this world too much cranial credit?

"The reason is simple. If you've ever tried to add a new Microsoft OS to an existing computer, you know you can't do that without totally fucking up your computer. The only way to switch to a new Microsoft OS is to start with a new computer. And, of course, to wait a year or two while they get the kinks out."

Are you retarded? Hundreds of thousands of people have installed Vista on existing system (and the vast majority are actually dual booting right now while driver issues are worked out).

How is this different from Shaq getting some new sneakers, or Tiger getting some new clubs? You're complaining about a strategy that makes absolutely perfect sense... provide your product or service to influencers for free or at a discount so that they can spread the word.

It's a great marketing strategy, not a 'scandal'. Jeez, chill out.

BTW: I'm a Mac guy.

No Hasan, I'm not retarded. But you're rude. I did update my operating system from 95 to 98 and experience a great deal of disruption to my company's computers as a result.

And you can read some of the known issues with Windows OS upgrades here http://labmice.techtarget.com/windowsxp/Install/win9xupgrade.htm, and here http://labmice.techtarget.com/windows2000/install/win9xupgrd.htm and here http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpupgdissues.html

No date? Why doesn't this story have a publication date?

every post has a date and time, at the bottom of the post.

Okay so let me get this straight, you're comparing a Windows 95 to 98 upgrade (from back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) to upgrading from Windows XP to Vista? This is why MS is sending out laptops, so people will actually try Vista instead of just slagging it because it's another MS program. If you're going to talk shit about things at least try the stuff before you do.

Apparently, Dave, Microsoft OS system upgrades are NOT a thing of the past. Here are some of the current problems people are experiencing.

Generally, I'll have to patently disagree with your core argument as well as your supporting points.

You're basically saying that a company giving materials out is bad, despite the fact that they CLEARLY told everyone involved that they had no pressure to blog, much less blog positively.

Do these recipients perhaps feel more inclined to write something positive? Do they perhaps have a better experience with Vista than with upgrading the machine on their own?

Duh. Of course they do. Welcome to Marketing 101.

If Microsoft was not communicating with bloggers at all, or doing nothing more than saying "Hey, download Vista and try it out", you'd probably be lecturing them on how they're a clueless old school organization afraid of engaging with bloggers on a level that makes sense to their position.

BL, you said: "But bloggers claim to hold a higher standard"

This a radically broad generalization that's confusing in its presentation. Bloggers are a wide variety of personalities and opinions. A sweeping, all-inclusive statement like this is pointless.

This issue is going to quickly going to turn into internet legend. Like the movie said... "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend". Surprisingly, in only a few hours, the legend has become fact.

Los Angeles Times Expose

A quiet first day of 07 -- so while perusing the internet I came across an expose from The Los Angeles Times of a while back on work that Edelman did on behalf of Microsoft. Clearly, the much more recent Vista work is not the first time that Edelman has provided unethical counsel to or exhibited unethical behavior on behalf of Microsoft.

You can find the article in the LA Times archives but you will have to pay for for it. Or you can find it for free by searching the Chico State website.

Here's to veritas in 07 -- in the meantime for all the Californians watching today's Rose Bowl: GO TROJANS!

Interesting. Here's the link to the post from the Chico State website http://www.csuchico.edu/~shockley/syllabi/MS_blitz.html

Even back in 98, Edelman was accused of astroturfing on microsoft's behalf.

I was surprised to read you say:

"If you've ever tried to add a new Microsoft OS to an existing computer, you know you can't do that without totally fucking up your computer."

I've done this several times, with several different MS OSs and on several different machines - and things have worked ok (give or take a few small gremlins) each time, except for once when it turned out I had a hardware failure.

I have the same problem as Philip. The extension worked for two days, after that it will clear the window and not display anything. I tried to uninstall mozilla, delete the profile and extensions and reinstall, but no luck :(