Lost Remote » Edelman gives free Vista laptops to bloggers, recalls them

Edelman gives free Vista laptops to bloggers, recalls them

Steve Safran January 4th, 2007

How does Edelman PR simply not learn from past ethical lapses? As the PR firm for the Vista launch, Edelman sent selected tech bloggers a free Acer Ferrari laptop complete with Windows Vista installed. It was apparently “up to the blogger” whether they wanted to keep the $2,300 laptop or test and return it. Microsoft blogger Long Zheng reportedly broke the news, quite happily, last week. Edelman took heat, deservedly, and then asked the bloggers to return the laptops. You may remember that Edelman is the PR firm that engineered the Wal Mart flog disaster. Richard Edelman blogged about it, and even listed changes being made at the company as a result. Backpeddling is, apparently, ethical. Writes one of the bloggers who received - and then was asked to send back - the computers: The original email read “you are welcome to send the machine back to us after you are done playing with it, or you can give it away to your community, or you can hold onto it for as long as you’d like.” Then, after the firestorm began, that blogger received this “clarification”: Just to make sure there is no misunderstanding of our intentions I’m going to ask that you either give the pc away or send it back when you no longer need it for product reviews. Mr. Edelman has yet to blog about this latest miscue. (I have posted a request at his last entry, but the comments are moderated and, as of this writing, it’s not up yet.) But fellow PR firm Pierce Mattie thinks the idea is swell, and is even lecturing bloggers who disagree: “Bloggers: Be professional and human, don’t crucify a company for deeming you worthy of free products to review and own! … Honestly, if you’re a Blogger and you get to keep a product like that, the human thing to do is say thank you.” Yes, you little ingrate bloggers, take our bribes and love them! Gee. Thank you for the advice. UPDATE, SAT AM: The question that I posted at the Edelman blog has still not been “approved” for public eyes. Mr. Edelman is out with a new posting - which does not address the laptop giveaway. So I posted my question again on his new entry. Credit, however, to Pierce Mattie who posted my comment, pointed out an error I made and respectfully disagreed with my points.

5 Comments Add your own

1. steve garfield | January 4th, 2007 at 9:02 pm

I think the clarification was later rescinded by another email.
2. Cory | January 5th, 2007 at 12:00 am

Apparently Lost Remote wasn’t prominent enough to get a laptop to send back. Minus two points for Edelman.
3. thefloggingchannel | January 5th, 2007 at 12:15 am

The key, of course, is disclosure. If Edelman PR wants to send free Vista laptops to select bloggers, said bloggers should feel obliged to let their readers know about the arrangement. And if they worry about the perception that might create, maybe they shouldn’t agree to it in the first place.
4. Kami Huyse | January 5th, 2007 at 10:02 am

This falls in that area which is gray. As of today, many companies have sent samples for bloggers to evaluate, this one is just particularly pricey. My feel is that Edelman isn’t totally to blame for this since Microsoft has a long history of interfacing with bloggers, and inviting them for exclusive meetings, etc. So, this could have easily been their idea completely. That said, I wonder if this tactic really worked for them since the discussion isn’t about Vista, but instead about ethics - not good.

I am thinking that we as bloggers (and in my case PR firms) need to come up with a mutually accepted code of ethics by which we can operate in the Social Media area. Right now it is a little bit like the wild west. As for credibility, bloggers have the burden to earn their reputation with their readership, so full disclosure is essential I think.
5. Shannon | January 9th, 2007 at 10:52 am

Hi Steve,

Our server crashed over the weekend and appears to have taken out all of our posted comments and those waiting to be approved.

I did enjoy the conversation that was going on in the comments section of our blog and I think it helps us all to better understand each other’s points of view, even if we don’t all agree with each other.

I never mind when someone disagrees with me…if everyone always agreed with me, I think I would get bored with writing. It’s when people respond to what I write and is a subject we can all bring our points of view to the table with, that I enjoy the most.

I hope you continue to read Pierce Mattie’s blog and jump in the conversation.

~Shannon