Customer reviews: Customer reviews are one of the most powerful marketing tools out there. Brands like Amazon, Yelp, and TripAdvisor built their businesses out of reviews—generating trust by promoting customer feedback.
Some companies do engage in writing fake reviews for their products. This practice, often referred to as "astroturfing," and involves creating misleading or deceptive reviews to artificially inflate a product's reputation or to discredit competitors. Fake reviews can be posted by employees, hired freelancers, or even automated bots.
Reasons Companies Write Fake Reviews:
- Boosting Sales: Positive reviews can influence consumer purchasing decisions, leading to increased sales.
- Improving Search Rankings: Higher ratings and more reviews can improve a product's visibility on e-commerce platforms and search engines.
- Counteracting Negative Feedback: Companies may post fake positive reviews to drown out genuine negative reviews.
- Competitor Sabotage: Some businesses may post negative reviews about competitors to harm their reputation.
Consequences:
- Legal Repercussions: Many countries have laws against false advertising, and companies caught writing fake reviews can face fines and legal action.
- Loss of Trust: If consumers discover that a company has been posting fake reviews, it can lead to a loss of trust and damage the brand's reputation.
- Platform Bans: E-commerce sites and review platforms actively monitor for fake reviews and may ban companies that engage in this practice.
1. Do you consider fake reviews: immoral, illegal or within regular business practice, explain your reasoning.
2. How heavily do you rely on customers reviews when buying a product or service? Explain.
3. How do you know if/when you are reading a fake review?
4. Do a search to figure out if/where you can buy fake reviews online?
5. Is it considered illegal to post fake reviews on sites in Canada?
5. Find a product with amazing reviews, copy 2 positive reviews for it. Do these reviews seem real why or why not?
6. Find a poorly rated product. Name the product and copy 2 negative reviews for it. What generally happens to bad reviews?
7. What is the process for buying fake reviews and how much does it cost? How do companies get away with advertising they will provide fake customer reviews?
7. The Marketplace segment on Fake Reviews is known as investigative journalism, do you think the program was helpful in changing the problem with fake reviews? Explain why/why not.
Circa 2017 CBC Marketplace
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