Ethics: How Far Would You Go to Get People Talking?
A recent article in the Village Voice explored grassroots word of mouth marketing in the music business to promote new bands. Even as the article exposed harmful anti-consumer stealth marketing tactics, several marketers (all quoted anonymously) basically gave a virtual shrug to strong ethics guidelines, such as those outlined in WOMMA's Code of Ethics. One publicist was quoted as saying, "I will do anything. Whatever gets people talking about my client's product. There is no moral line."
WOMMA's take: We will continue to oppose stealth marketing and fight the good fight for strong ethical best practices in word of mouth marketing.
More info:
http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0609,sylvester,72318,22.html
