A fake blog (sometimes shortened to flog or referred to as a flack blog) is an electronic communication in the

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...

format that appears to originate from a credible, non-biased and independent source, but which in fact is created by a company or organization for the purpose of marketing a product, service, or political viewpoint. The purpose of a fake blog is to inspire

viral marketing Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way tha ...

or create an

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

that generates traffic and interest in a product, much the same as

astroturfing Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants. It is a ...

(a "fake

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

" campaign). A fake blog is akin to industry-supported "

astroturf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has ...

" efforts that pose as legitimate grassroots activity. Fake blogs are corrupted forms of

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

, which as a discipline demands transparency and honesty, according to the

Public Relations Society of America The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is a nonprofit trade association for public relations professionals. It was founded in 1947 by combining the American Council on Public Relations and the National Association of Public Relations C ...

's code of ethics and the Word of Mouth Marketing Association's code of ethics. Authenticity and transparency are important in

social networking A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for ...

and blogging, as these codes of ethics attest. The UK Chartered Institute of Public Relations' social media guidelines cite the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and state that both astroturfing and fake blogs are not permitted. As

tools gain in popularity, corporations and special-interest groups legitimately use their own blogs to promote company agendas without cloaking their identities (one such example is Southwest Airlines Blog, a blog sponsored by Southwest Airlines and written by its employees). One notorious example of identity cloaking, resulting in a fake blog, was exposed when Edelman, an international public relations firm, created a fake blog in 2006 called Walmarting Across America. It was purportedly written by two Wal-Mart "enthusiasts" who decided to journey across the United States in an RV, blogging about the experience as they visited Wal-Marts along the way. While two people actually did travel across the United States in an RV, the publicity stunt was revealed to be paid for by Wal-Mart, a client of Edelman. The act of writing fake blogs, or the commercial, strategy behind it, has been referred to as "flogging",

Fake parody blogs

One genre of fake blogs is the

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

blog; written ostensibly by a

celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in spor ...

or other noteworthy individual. Unlike other flogs, parody blogs are not necessarily marketing tools. Parody blogs are often written to entertain, confuse, enlighten or to express a point of view through satire and humor. Noteworthy parody blogs include Fake Steve Jobs
Mock Mark Cuban
and the networ
News Groper
There are also a very popular regional flogs like the one of th
Indian Prime Minister
and the a famous stock market speculator calle
Jhunjhunwala

Notable flogs

4Railroads & Mcdmillionwinner
blogs promoting

McDonald's Monopoly The McDonald's Monopoly game is a sales promotion run by fast food restaurant chain McDonald's, with a theme based on the Hasbro board game ''Monopoly''. The game first ran in the U.S. in 1987 and has since been used worldwide. The promotion has ...

. Allegedly created by "Stanley Smith" and Marcia Schroeder (a real winner in 2004, but who had nothing to do with writing the blog). Both were pulled shortly after being exposed.
Wal-Marting Across America
written by two Walmart "enthusiasts" who decided to journey across America in an RV and blog about the experience as they visited Walmarts along the way. While the two people actually did travel across America for the purpose of this blog, it was revealed to be paid for by Walmart.
/ref> * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061231030003/http://consumerist.com/consumer/blogs/sonys-psp-blog-flog-revealed-221384.php All I want for Xmas is a PSP purported to be written by a group of kids who wanted to get a friend's parents to buy him a

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 200 ...

. Exposed due to the domain registration, as well as a post admitting the blog was fake shortly before the site and all of its contents were pulled down.
Working Families for Wal-Mart
Working Families for Wal-Mart for

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

Edelman Edelman is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Abram Wolf Edelman (a.k.a. Abraham Edelman; 1832–1907), Polish-born American rabbi; the first rabbi in Los Angeles, California * Adam Edelman (born 1991), American-born four-time Is ...

Paid Critics
for

Dr. John H. Watson
for Sherlock BBC TV series.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fake Blog Blogs Online advertising *Blog Ethically disputed business practices sv:Flog