Obtaining fake online reviews – either good ones about your business or bad ones bashing a competitor – is now a major moral issue with internet marketing. Will we find a moral compass that keeps online reviews legitimate, or will they lose credibility in a web of lies?
False advertising is as old as advertising itself. Businesses that boasted more than they brought to the table. Some type of snake oil has always been for sale.
With something that is clearly an advertisement, like a billboard or a website landing page, consumers allow for this. Businesses cast themselves in the best possible light. They imply that your life will improve if you use their product or service.
Some businesses go too far, claiming to be something they’re not. People come back complaining (and suing) because they got sold snake oil. That’s usually the beginning of the end.
Authentic Deception
Today, false advertising is at a new level of deception. Fake online reviews are placed in the context of authentic consumer opinions. It’s one thing when something that’s clearly an advertisement stretches the truth. It’s another when the content itself is a total misrepresentation.
In 2015, we find ourselves at a crossroads. Review websites are popular, and consumers are coming to expect that a business with any merit has positive online reviews.
At the same time, snake oil is running amok. Realizing the impact that online reviews have, businesses use them to inflate their reputations while trashing competitors.
It is without question an unethical practice. The article notes: “For service companies, buying reviews seems a shortcut to the better reputation they are unlikely to achieve on their own.”
It also is a way for businesses – that have no competitive advantage to stand on – to cut down their competition.
Review websites like Yelp! have taken legal action against business leaving fake reviews, and claim that “fake reviews are a legitimate target of law enforcement”.
Likewise, technology is constantly being developed to identify and quarantine fake reviews.
The Public Domain
However, the internet has changed business and product reviews. What was once the domain of professionals in a strict editorial environment is now public domain. Opinions may be well-thought out – or half-baked. Websites eat-up the free content, so the free-flow of public reviews is likely here to stay.
Online reviews have many positive aspects, which is why consumers value them. The can give honest insight into what working with a business is like, or what to expect from a product. They provide constructive criticism that helps businesses improve their processes.
They’re democratic. Online review platforms give everyone a voice – an opportunity to provide useful input.
But freedom creates moral issues. Writing fake reviews to benefit yourself or damage a legitimate competitor is not only immoral, it’s criminal.
One is reminded of President Kennedy addressing the nation on the even more serious issue of civil rights in 1963. He concluded that “We are confronted by primarily a moral issue.” One that required “action…above all, in our daily lives.”
Where Do You Stand?
If fake reviews are what you need to coax people to work with you, your problems run deep.
You’ll never develop a loyal customer base on lies. You’ll never build your business by tearing down another.
Examine your business practices. By far the best way to create a profile of legitimate, positive reviews is to earn them, customer by customer.
And bear in mind JFK’s words as he commended those who faced the moral issue of civil rights:
“They are acting not out of a sense of legal duty but out of a sense of human decency.”
Businesses are at stake. Jobs are at stake. Family’s livelihoods.
Decency. Business could certainly use more of it.
Honest reviews from real consumers may just move us in the right direction.