Technology as the Demise of Big Corporations

The dawning of the Internet has brought about both positive and negative effects into society. It allows marketing and public relations specialists to receive information about specific populations in order to serve them more efficiently and adequately. At the same time, the effectiveness has been the foundation of several problems plaguing internet users and the online realm. This notion become evident when one considers the many problems that consumers face when it comes to private information and the public that exploits it.

Blogging•Definition: a medium for internet dwellers to expel opinions and personal ideas to the public.

•Now corporations are using blogs to promote the well being of their clients.

•Sock Puppets--false online persona, used to conceal ones identity

•Meat Puppet--A fictional person who passes as an actual human being online is considered a ‘meatpuppet’ according to the Washington Post.•These are some of the techniques used in corporate blogging in order to create buzz.

•Meat and Sock Puppets have also become a prominent technique on social networking sites known as Facebook and MySpace.

•Ruckus Inc. set up a Facebook profile, proposing a sexual service as a result of getting 100,000 members to sign up for his page. This posed moral issues in addition to deceptive marketing techniques. However, marketers and public relation professionals are pushing the ethical envelop with not only young adults but children as well.

Social Networks

Consumer Generated Advertisements

• Two companies have applies this technique and have experienced the negative effects: Malibu Banana Boat and Chevy.

• Chevy allowed its consumers to make commercials for the Tahoe. The result was a negative critique on SUV’s and the environment. Chevy however, showed these commercials and allowed for the critique.

• Malibu set up a contest for consumers to create a commercial to the Banana Boat song. The structure of the contest was ridiculed for being a hoax and connected with a company employee rather than an ordinary consumer.