As regular readers know, I’m ambivalent about advertising in general, but very clear when it comes to shill marketing campaigns. So it’s with pleasure that I see Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb outing Magpie clients in his post, “How to Sell Your Soul on Twitter and Who’s Buying“–including Apple, Skype, Cisco, StubHub, and Box.net.
But be sure to read through to the comments: some commenters note that it may not be that Magpie’s clients are not the big brands themselves, but rather their affiliates. Still, I see some legitimate guilt by association even if that is the case. After all, a brand should provide and enforce ground rules about how its affiliates behave, especially when their behavior directly affects the brand’s reputation.
The Noisy Channel 
2 replies on “Shooting Down Magpies”
Trust me – they do all have ground rules – the affiliates choose to break them.
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Fair enough, but isn’t that’s where enforcement comes in? Apple has enough concern over guarding its brand equity to sue people using the word “pod” in their product names. Ensuring that its own affiliates to play by its rules feels like a no-brainer.
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