Can you trust word-of-mouth anymore?

In Monday's NY Times, there was an article about taxi drivers in London becoming pitchmen for an online gambling web site. They are paid to chat up their passengers and, if the passenger expresses interest in the gambling site, they can even pass along a coupon. This is being called "word of mouth" marketing. But I find it a little creepy.

So this morning, at a hotel in Toronto, I was having breakfast and chatting with the woman sitting next to me about getting back to the airport tomorrow. She reached into her purse and gave me the business card of a taxi service she recommends. "They're great and not expensive," she said.

This woman seems perfectly trustworthy and sincere, but, for a moment, I wondered if she is one of these "pitchmen."

What do you think of this? Will there be a time when we can't even trust the people around us?

Comments

[Dani Nordin]

It's sad, but this seems to be the newest thing in marketing - these creepy, paid word-of-mouth campaigns. Yes, you should find your evangelists; yes, you should find a way to motivate your evangelists to act (which may and should include tangible incentives for referrals), but this business of finding completely unrelated individuals to evangelize for something they aren't already familiar with? Yeah, not so much.

[CHRIS]

I'm not so sure it's a matter of "trust" because really, how trustworthy is ANY advertising or marketing? It's nothing more than people trying to get you to buy their product/service. A bit creepy? Maybe. Unusual? Yes.

I'm also bothered by the fact that it's a Spray-N-Pray type of marketing. These companies are blanketing their message out there without any real target in mind.

[Sonia Simone]

Paid WOM isn't WOM. IMO. (I wonder how many acronyms I can actually squeeze into one comment.)

Instead of actually doing something worth talking about, a company pays people to talk about them. It's like paying someone to ask you for a date . . . creepy and pathetic.

[Jezra Kaye, Communicate with Power and Ease]

Lately, William Gibson has been writing about people whose jobs involve "creating buzz." (He's the novelist who wrote the Neuromancer series in the '80s, correctly predicting the rise of cyberspace, artificial replacement organs, the Chinese economy, and much else). If you think "fake WOM" taxi drivers are creepy, check out Gibson's world! But really, is this so different than when an interior decorator recommends a contractor (who they may or may not actually believe in, or get kickbacks from)? How do you know when ANY referral, except from trusted friends, is sincere? We seem to have morphed into a totally "buyer beware" world.

[Chuck Nyren]

I was actually prompted by your post to post on my blog - but somehow yours got lost. I made up for it in the comment section:

http://advertisingtobabyboomers.blogspot.com/2008/01/whats-word.html

"Creepy" - great word for it.

Actually, I think of WOMM as a throwback to medicine show snake oil sales techniques - where someone from the 'audience' takes a swig and is cured. It's shilling of the worst sort.

[Chuck Nyren]

Just click my name for the URL ...

[Nicole Lisa]

I recently read an article about blogs that are really undercover advertising campaigns: either specifically set up to push a product, or ones where a company goes hunting for bloggers to push their product and pays them for it. (Very popular in the tourism industry as I hear it.) Who knows what to believe anymore?

[Ramon Ray]

I think we do have to be cautious of PWOM however I think it's less than we probably think. Also you can sometimes really tell when someone is gushing about a product from their heart. A few friends have raved to me about their Mac computers - I know they are for real, I can hear it.

I rave about Verizon wireless service - trust me - it's real!

Ramon Ray - http://www.smallbiztechnology.com