“Edelman, the PR firm currently under investigation for its business practices with corporate giant Wal-Mart which resulted in its removal from WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) for administrative review is now working with the Electronic Sheep Corporation. Edelman boasts software giant Microsoft as a client and even in their own “Edelman Trust Barometer” show Microsoft as the Most Trusted Global Company. One can only imagine what wonders they will bring to Second Life.”

How does that sounds, covers all the key points I feel. I was really amazed at the Edelman Trust Barometer, but the Sativa Protoype Trust Barometer just broke.

Edelman did do an amazing thing with I Love Bee’s, but they were only following a trend, The Beast was the father in terms of large scale ARG’s. This contest in SL makes me wonder more about who actually was behind the idea of ILB, what contest were they in and how many copies of Halo 2 they got as a prize.

I have nothing against ESC, nor Edelman, one has done some great things for SL, the other will do things to SL, therein I see the catch. I see no value in bringing droves of people into a system that cannot handle it. Who wins in this situation, certainly not us, the embedded players who will watch something we enjoy grind to a halt under the strain. The hype wagon is almost full and its soon to burst, how long can people stand behind something when the something is eating itself?

Of course if you mean only that *someone* respects them I’m sure that’s true. I’m sure that some people respect them just because they make lots of money and have Microsoft as a client. But then I think I think it’s fair to say that those people and I respect different things.

That’s only fair, Uri. But by that same standard, isn’t also fair to acknowledge upfront that Edelman is, questionable Walmart imbroglio aside, still one of the largest and most respected PR firms in the world, with Microsoft its leading tech client?

I don’t defend anybody, including myself. I’m talking in general. Just because we don’t know about anyone else’s questionable activities doesn’t mean they’re clean. Edelman got caught. Does that mean I think they’re the only ones? No. And I’d be willing to bet neither do you. All I’m doing is recognizing today’s pathetic reality: we should all know that we need to protect our own interests. Not just from the one’s that get caught, but most especially from the ones that seem the most ethical and trustworthy; they’re potentially the most dangerous imo.

So people should always do their homework. If they don’t, they should expect to be burned. I don’t like it and it’s not nice, but then neither is a community so full of distrust for each other that they have to worry about rampant virtual theft.

As to the rest of your comment, I believe we’re in agreement.

OK, I’ll bite: what other PR firms in SL are currently censured by WOMMA? This “they all do it” defense of Edelman is an insult to all the other corporations and PR firms in the game who haven’t pulled stunts like nontransparent pay-for-post marketing strategies.

And no, I don’t think anyone here is opposed to corporations in SL. *I* certainly don’t object to their being here; I just get frustrated by their sometimes idiotic behavior (false claims of first, etc). In this particular case I think that people should be informed of the track record of the Sheep’s partner in this contest, and that the SL blogosphere should do better than drop to their knees and start fluffing the minute people announce one of these deals. Edelman comes with baggage, the contest has limitations, and these facts need to be introduced. People can draw their own conclusions about the contest and whether they want to enter under the circumstances. I don’t care if people enter, I just want them to be fully informed when they do.

Another way to put this: Always look a gift horse in the mouth.

And then there’s the whole “we hate RL corporations coming to SL”. Why? They were in SL long before they even *knew* of SL – courtesy of the residents who stole their identities and sold product bearing their trademark and textured using copyrighted images stolen from company websites. Residents defended these identity thieves. And some of the one’s defending their unethical behavior even lied about their reasons for doing what they did.

I’d say we have a problem with hypocrisy.

The only real problem I have with this competition is that it’s no different than most every other competition I’ve come across. Not as bad as the international watchmaker who claimed the IP of every submission for their own use (and gave out one prize: $1000 and a job), and not as offensive as the Doctorow-endorsed Neuros competition which targets a well-meaning community, and which set a ridiculously low “bounty” on a very specific set of features intended to raise the value of their product and potentially increase sales. This doesn’t approach either of them.

I don’t blame ESC any more than I blame Peugeot or any other standardized competition out there. I only think they should have broken the old mold and set a new, more equitable standard. Not just for SL or virtual worlds, but for other competitions.

Nope, not at all, I have no opinion on what Edelman and ESC are doing in SL. Just trying to bring a fuller picture to a post that begins, “[D]oesn’t anyone know who these guys are?”– because I’d think Edelman’s relationship with Microsoft is pretty important to actually knowing who these guys are. How that influences your opinion of their SL project is up to you, but it’s definitely a point worth factoring in.