- A fan of a brand receiving a free clothing product and wearing it (and reviewing it) on their video blog
- A company freely asking for video clips of their customers eating one of their products and the posting the silliest ones online?
- An online marketing person recording his girlfriend (in very little clothes) using a Nintendo Wii Fit computer game, and then uploading it to YouTube for millions to view
The answer is... it depends. There's a thin line between posting honest and dishonest content. In my opinion, the deciding factor is transparency & disclosure. In my examples given, this would be OK...
- As long as the fan states they got the product for free. Its then up to the video blog audience to decide if they accept that
- As long as the company makes it clear that they are requesting content from customers and the purpose they will be put to. Its then up to the customer to decide if they want to submit video
- As long as Gio & Lauren were doing it in their own time and there was no genuine link between the agency who they both worked for at the time and Nintendo (which they both deny)
Note: http://laurenbernat.com/ has now moved agencies, but still champions cyber fitness - Its then up to you the viewer to decide if you want to visit this site again and again....
2 comments:
This is the "Wii Fit Girl." I just came across your blog post and felt impelled to tell you that our video was not fake. I had no idea I was being recorded. Nintendo did not contact us. It was all just a coincidence that we work in advertising. Don't believe me check out my blog laurenbernat.com where I have documented my entire REAL journey:)
Lauren
I did say in my post that the video would be OK as long as you were doing it in your own time and there was no genuine link between you and Nintendo.
Thanks for stopping by and putting the record stright on this issue.
Good luck with the fitness site.
Hayden
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