It is the holiday shopping season. Here is one for the times. Some of you may have already read about this but it is worth mentioning as a cautionary tale. Tom Siebert writes, “What do you call a phony blog that's actually a front for a huge corporation? A "flog"?” in his article, Pro-Wal-Mart Travel Blog Screeches To A Halt. Apparently Walmart hired two people to produce a pro-Wal-Mart blog called "Wal-Marting Across America," It was supposed to be written by a pair of average Americans chronicling their cross-country travels in an RV and lodging in Wal-Mart parking lots.
Tom Siebert writes: “ The blog, launched Sept. 27, was profiled in this week's issue of BusinessWeek, which exposed the site as a promotional tactic engineered by Working Families for Wal-Mart (WFWM), an organization launched by Wal-Mart's public relations firm Edelman. WFWM paid for the RV and all travel expenses, rerouted the trip's original plan, and plastered a logo on the RV's side. Though a banner ad announced WFWM sponsored the site, it did not divulge Wal-Mart paid for the couple's RV, gas, food and other expenses.”
The venture lasted less than two days before it was outed by the watchdog organization Wal-Mart Watch. It is amazing what people think they can get away with on the transparent web.
Thanks to Rohit Bhargava for pointing this story out. 
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