Top-tier public relations firm Edelman is taking some heavy-duty flack from the media and PR community for cooking up a bogus site called Wal-Marting Across America.
Edelman’s Wal-Mart team recently admitted to publishing the flog, or fake blog, about a couple who loved Wal-Mart so much that they went on an RV adventure across America, staying in Wal-Mart parking lots. What better way to put their finger on the pulse of Real™, Working-Class America®?
The fact that it was a paid PR stunt with professional journalists and photographers was not disclosed.
The blog attracted a ton of scrutiny from the media and from people who hate Wal-Mart .
Before Edelman knew it the fiasco was cracked. The flog was outted, and their eye was blacked.
The sister astroturf organization, Working Families for Wal-Mart, also got exposed by all the backlash.
Lesson: Do something deceptive to get publicity, you might well get your wish.
But it might not be the kind of publicity you want.
Just ask the one surviving member of the superstar pseudomarketing group Milli Vanilli.