Blogger Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book, has gotten herself in a bit of a mess. She was hired by Glaxo Smith Kline to create and edit a blog about the company’s over-the-counter weight loss product, My Alli (pronounced My Al-eye). I was interviewed for that assignment. And I’m so glad I didn’t get it.
A most unfortunate side effect
The product has an unfortunate side effect. Here’s how one user describes what happened when she ate more than the recommended amount of fat ““(I)’ve pooped my pants 3 times today, and sorry to get descriptive but it even leaked onto the couch at one point!”
GSK has been clearly explained the side effects of the drug in their advertising and marketing materials, and apparently, plenty of people don’t care if they have to wear diapers as long as they lose weight.
But there’s not much discussion about that on the blog or in comments, which seems rather odd. In fact, there are hardly any comments at all.
So Ms. Weil put out an email and blog plea to blogger friends asking them to go comment on the blog. Nothing wrong with that. Bloggers, including me and my Twitter buddies, point out new posts to each other all the time. But unfortunately, her email said
“If you’re inspired or provoked, leave a comment on any entry. No need to say that you know me, of course.”
I’ve known Debbie for several years, and respect her skills and admire her facile writing, but crap! that was a dumb move. Of course, anyone who’s out in public blogging every day is going to make a mis-step sooner or later. I’ve made some, and I’m sure I’ll make others. The best thing to do is apologize and move forward.
Flogging for profit
The real problem is that the MyAlli blog reads like a fake blog — GSK and Weil’s protestations to the contrary aside. The few comments it has don’t ring true. Make me believe, for example, that a real reader wrote the comment on this post.
What to allow in comments is not a black and white issue. My policy is that I would not allow anything in comments that I would not allow in my living room. Many other bloggers share that view. But that doesn’t mean you can refuse to allow negative comments.
I did a “brain dump” on blogging for GSK
It was one of GSK’s multitude of image consultants who brought me in to do (paid of course) what he called a “brain dump” about blogging for their executives and several of their agencies.
Here’s the comment I just left on Brian Eisenberg’s post about Debbie Weil:
“I create blogs for corporations too, and I tell them, right up front that if every post and comment has to be vetted by legal or PR, don’t blog.
In fact, I told that to Glaxo Smith Kline when I was paid to do a “brain dump” to bring them up to speed on blogging.
The first slide in my presentation says “Message control is, and always has been, an illusion.”
They didn’t hire me.”
Maybe they just didn’t like me. I certainly don’t expect that everyone will. Maybe they didn’t like what I told them about transparency and blogging.
As for Debbie Weil, I don’t doubt that she wants to be ethical. But the hard part about being ethical, and being a true communicator is knowing when to walk away from a project. Even when there’s a great big pile of money on the table.
BL
Enlighten me here.
You write, “So Ms. Weil put out an email and blog plea to blogger friends asking them to go comment on the blog. Nothing wrong with that. Bloggers, including me and my Twitter buddies, point out new posts to each other all the time.”
Now I have no problem with asking fellow bloggers to comment (or at least read and hope they comment) on a post that I’ve written or read or otherwise find interesting. But the point there is that the subject matter of the post and/or the blog must be directly topical to the interests of whomever I contact.
You seem to be saying that it’s perfectly fine to approach fellow bloggers to comment on, as in this case, a client’s blog. A blog in which the contacted bloggers have no real interest in or ties to. In other words, it seems as if you’re endorsing the idea of seeding ‘fake’ solicited comments to give the impression that a blog is creating more interest than it really is. The only caveat is that you can’t say something like “No need to say I asked you”.
Isn’t the concept of soliciting these types of comments ‘wrong’ in the first place, regardless of whether or not one asks not to be identified? I’m not as upset as many, but I’d like to get your feedback on soliciting false comments.
Jonathan – yes, I’m saying it’s ok to ask friends to comment on a client’s blog or your own. She DID say “If you’re inspired or provoked, leave a comment on any entry.”
Weil’s email did NOT say “please make something up and leave a comment under a fake name.”
I see what she did as trying to get some conversation started on the blog.
The WAY she said it made it sound like she was being deceptive. More likely, she thought she was being funny, although the comment was anything but.
Crap is a slang word meaning excrement, and is used to mean either this, or alternatively, of low quality, but could also be, occasionally, viewed as strongly vulgar by means of scatological and sensory-provoking use of the word. Note that this word can be considered a curse word, yet is considered mild enough that even a child may use it informally.
In its latter meaning it also connotes inaccurate, of little factual substance, lies, hype, or quackery. The word is used nearly interchangeably with “shit” and considered by many people to be the less offensive of the two. Still, some people find the word crap offensive, even if not intended to mean feces, and will use the minced oath “crud” instead
OR HOW DO YO SPELL DIARRHEA?
Bob: And crap is a side effect of MyAlli. In every sense of the word.
Sounds like Debbie got caught between a rock and a hard place. Seems unlikely going in that she had any hint that Alli would cause such devastating and embarrassing problems for its users. I’ll bet that being a part of the marketing behind such a horrible product that preys on people – people vulnerable to any dash of hope available – just became too much for her.
(Nevermind that fat-blocking is terribly misguided and non-productive… Reducing nutrionally-void carbs is far more likely to yield results.)
Sometimes walking away isn’t as easy as it might sound.
BL – I thought your audience just HAS to see this post, and how the Aussies reacted…
I received this related email a few weeks back:
http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/06/20/miracle-diet-pill-with-teeny-tiny-side-effect/
ENJOY !
Bob
Hmm. My confusion is a pretty basic principle of marketing. It’s called targeting.
But that aside, I wouldn’t ask my colleagues or friends to comment on a blog that’s geared at losing weight. I fear they would think I was calling them fat. Plus it’s not authentic.
Rob O – She knew the side effects going in! They were no secret.
they are central to the way the drug works. and making them known is part of the campaign.
apparently a lot of people don’t care if they poop their pants if they think it helps them lose weight. or that they’ll gain the weight right back if they stop taking myalli.
of course walking away from money isn’t easy.
TMI.
Too much verbal/blog diarrhea.
Who gives a crap, shit…?
High-flow skid tracks… gaaaaaaaaaaaaak.
Alli, Alli in free….
Great post, BL. I know that Debbie meant well and I was not offended when I received her email.
I agree with you that you should not start blogging as a company if you are not ready to accept negative comments or be fully transparent (hmmm… for example, when somebody says you are hiding! LOL!)
Eric
Ok, enough ragging on Debbie Weil. As you say, B.L., everyone makes mistakes. I would have preferred to have the blog ‘announced’ to me, and to have the choice of commenting left up to me (I am always willing to comment on friends’ blogs, if so moved…I will not make up a comment). But, since Debbie was especially concerned about it, I broke MY rule and left a banal comment…because I couldn’t think of anything worthwhile to say.
I wonder how many of us would have been able to walk away…if a big company threw money on the table and said, “Blog for us. Just don’t say things we don’t want you to say.”?
I blog for Purina…they do not police my work. We agreed what the blog was about, that it was for entertainment purposes, and that I could write fun posts to my hearts content. I now have a vet that contributes, and he, too, writes what the thinks is useful to the reader. We KNOW the precise, specific topics that are not subjects for the blog – it has clear guidelines for readers and commenters to review – and I don’t apologize for staying on topic, because that’s what it’s all about: staying on topic.
The Alli blog is… a corporate blog that I don’t find myself all that attracted to. But, I’m glad I did what I could (little that it was) to help Debbie out. Now… the rest is up to GSK.