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The call for corporate transparency is one of the loudest in social media, and one could argue that social CRM has taken flight because customers demanded a way to get past the false front of advertising. That’s why the recent case of Lifestyle Lift drives me up the wall.
Background info: Lifestyle Lift is a cosmetic surgery company that engaged in a marketing practice known as Astroturfing—using false testimonials to give the impression of customer satisfaction. The fraud was discovered, and the New York State Attorney General fined the company $300,000 as part of a settlement. You can see coverage here (via Ars Technica).
Deceptive practices like this are nothing new, and neither is my outrage—I first heard about the Lifestyle Lift situation a couple of weeks ago, in a local newspaper article handed to me by my girlfriend—but I wanted to see how it turned out before venting on my blog. I’m angry for a number of reasons. The company president directed employees to create false online personae and write glowing reviews of Lifestyle Lift procedures, without identifying themselves as employees. They were also to argue with and discredit legitimate critics, since obviously the honest opinions of real people were bad for business. I can’t believe it came from a failure to understand how social media works, so the only alternative is an active desire to commit fraud, coupled with complete disregard and contempt for the public and the law.
What really galls me is that, rather than destroy the company, the AG allowed it to settle for a small fine and a promise to stop their deceptive practices. While $300,000 may seem like a lot of money to an individual, it’s likely a drop in the bucket for a business that offers cosmetic surgery. Their reputation will certainly take a hit, assuming anybody hears about this case, but it doesn’t seem likely. The closest the Lifestyle Lift site comes to admitting wrongdoing is the following bit of fluff, at the bottom of its main page:
The Lifestyle Lift Code of Internet Conduct and Assurance
Lifestyle Lift® pledges that all Internet communications accompanied by the trademarked Lifestyle Lift® logo are fair and accurately represent the latest in medical information about facial firming procedures. The comments and photographs are from actual patients and fairly represent the results and opinions of thousands of our patients. Lifestyle Lift® is proud to take a leadership role in establishing new standards of Internet conduct and communications. We promise that any Internet communication accompanied by our logo can be relied upon as true and accurate; and all communications originating from our practice will be clearly identified with the Lifestyle Lift® logo. If you have any questions or concerns about the authenticity of any internet content or postings, please contact Lifestyle Lift®.
Note the part about taking a leadership role (emphasis mine). They get caught in an institutionalized program of lying to the public and discrediting real people, and rather than admit to wrongdoing they claim to be leading the charge for open and honest communication? That’s chutzpah. Plus, there’s no clear way to enforce the claim, so all Lifestyle Lift has to do in order to keep Astroturfing is to be a little more careful about it. That just ain’t cool.
We have a responsibility, in this increasingly social and connected world, to fight against this sort of thing. To demand honesty and decry fraud. It’s bad enough to see sockpuppets on message boards where it’s all just talk—this is people’s money and appearance at stake. Don’t let Lifestyle Lift get away with it. Don’t let anybody get away with it. Do your part to make sure everybody knows about this bold dishonesty and the wrist-slap punishment it incurred. When you suspect Astroturf marketing is in play, make noise about it. If you’re in business, don’t do it. It’s up to us to create and maintain the honest dialogue we demand, and to make sure those who try to cheat are held accountable.
Tags: astroturfing, cosmetic surgery, deceptive marketing, false advertising, fraud, social media, transparency
You bring a very interesting issue (hopefully that was the part you wanted to bring up) in my opinion.
This is not about fraud, which will unfortunately continue to exist, or lying. This is about reverting the power to the people. How many times you heard the saying “you can’t fight city hall”? Or people who give up instead of claiming their rights because they don’t think they can win.
In my view, this monumental paradigm shift we are undergoing as a society is about having people control the relationship, reversing the thousands or years that has been otherwise. As organizations got bigger and bigger, they tend to exercise their bully muscle more and more. This new model of Glasnost, of giving the communes and communities a voice is bound to change that in a short time.
I think that the “revolution” in Iran was the tip of the iceberg and if we take to your call-to-action at the end (“tell everyone you know”) we can begin to control the situation more, and demand change from the organizations.
As I said, was that your point?
Exactly. The power of social media is still in the hands of the public, where it belongs. When businesses enter the social sphere, they gain the benefit of direct access to their customer base, but accept the responsibility of playing by the new rules: honesty and accountability. Thanks for helping me clarify that.
Marshall — Great insights as always. This is an example of how CRM can be used for evil purposes. I shudder to think about what will be possible when characters like this learn how to use social medial really well. Party on.
Marshall – well written and kudos to you for taking a stand, will do my best to spread the word. I know we’d all be interested in hearing about how/if the company follows up with you.
Dennis brings up a great point – what happens if companies like these become adept at social media applications? There’s already widespread misuse of Twitter that doesn’t seem to have a solution (people posing as others). At what point does the public reach a point of frustration and distrust with social media apps if there are no controls put in place?? I’m struggling with this because while I believe free speech should not be controlled, when does the lack of control turn a useful medium into one you cannot trust?
Anand Chopra
[...] heard of astroturfing? It ain’t pretty. Our good friend Marshall Lager blogs about the nasty practice of using false testimonials to give the impression of customer satis…. A cosmetic surgery company, Lifestyle Lift was recently slapped with fraud charges for its [...]
I think the increasing amount of astroturf is going to become what separates Word of Mouth from Word of Some Guy. I’m not going to trust Amazon reviews or testimonials from strangers. If I can’t tell whether you’re a real person, I’m going to depend on the people I know to be real people. They don’t have to be people I know in real life; every community on the internet generates its own experts and mavens, and they’re the ones we go to for information.
You can’t fake genuine expertise. But am I too pessimistic in thinking that the new wave of fauxtimonials is going to be corporations trying to buy off the experts?
Yo I have been reading your blog for the past week and it is good info, how many members do you receive?