WOMMA WAMMY: The Latest Blog Fraud

Remember, it’s not the transgression that will necessarily get you in trouble; it’s the cover up.

Do you know that this elaborate soft-shoe dance that the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association did regarding the recent Edelman/Wal-Mart blog fraud, was all because Edelman PR is a major funder of the organization? Rick Murray, WOMMA’s Treasurer and member of their Governing Board, also heads the "Me2Revolution," the very Edelman practice responsible for social media.

Hmmmm. Here, let me put it more plainly: thief secretly pays off judge; judge gives thief a pass; judge makes broad public announcement of thief’s commitment to ethics; public fooled; judge then assists with the cover up by then frustrating media inquires.

On October 18, 2006, WOMMA issued the following: WOMMA STATEMENT ON EDELMAN BLOG DISCLOSURE ISSUE. Quote: "WOMMA has held discussions with top Edelman executives regarding this situation. The company has committed itself to a global training program to ensure that all of its employees and sub-contractors fully adhere to the WOMMA Ethics Code, and to establishing mechanisms to assure compliance. We are assured by Edelman management's public actions to accept full responsibility, pledge to make certain that the error will not be repeated, and again endorse the WOMMA Ethics Code. Mistakes will be made."

"HELD DISCUSSIONS WITH TOP EDELMAN EXECUTIVES"?! Excuse me, he's the Treasurer and member of the Governing Board for God's sake!

"MISTAKES WILL BE MADE"?! Ah, fraud is now officially an oops. What’s "fraud" exactly? It’s the "Intentional misrepresentation or concealment of information in order to deceive or mislead." Hello?! And the judge reduced it to a traffic violation and let the perp go.

What makes this incident so heinous? BL Ochman hit the nail on the head, "It's time for the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) to throw Edelman PR out. Edelman clearly violated WOMMA's ethics code, not once, not twice, but for four times. Or doesn't the code mean anything?"

Exactly. To her point, this judge here at least claims to be the adjudicator for the word of mouth marketing industry worldwide. Specifically, WOMMA's very mission is to: "set standards;" and "protect consumers and the industry with strong ethical guidelines." And here, right from WOMMA's Code of Ethics: "We comply with FTC regulations that state: 'When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product which might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience) such connection must be fully disclosed.'" The fact is, WOMMA didn’t... purposefully... and benefited financially.

So how much did it cost to buy this judge? As of the writing of this article, neither WOMMA or Edelman have responded to our inquires. But here’s what we know so far. Apparently, Edelman is a "Governing Member." That costs $10,000. That gets Edelman: a "Seat on the Leadership Committee;" "First choice of committee chairs;" and "Unlimited executive participation." Apparently, it also buys a "get out of jail pass" and a "BIG shill in a time of crisis."

Bottom line: An industry trade association in effect took a bribe and violated the very thing it’s committed to uphold and protect.

A Lesson to Those that Bluff in the Bluff Business

Got a postcard email "Regards from Singapore" from Richard Edelman yesterday. He first gingerly accused me of being "convinced that PR must be the dark side." And to prove me wrong, he went on to give a couple examples. "How about... Trojan going to campuses to encourage women to insist on the use of condoms," he said.

Hmmmmmm. This is a good lesson to those that bluff in the bluff business. This is kind of a derivative of "you can never kid a kidder." Sure there are always exceptions but it's tough to find hard numbers in a business that doesn't measure all that well or often. What makes that a huge problem today is that the marketplace now calls your hand before you've had a chance to look at your cards.

The marketplace called Richard's hand directly...