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Samsung Offered StackOverflow Users $500 For "Organic" Publicity

Posted by timothy on from the no-pesticide-kills-fllu dept.

First time accepted submitter rjmarvin writes "Digital marketing company FLLU, hired by Samsung to promote SSAC, offered $500 to StackOverflow users to pose 'casual and organic' questions over the next month about the 2013 Challenge. Android developer Delyan Kratunov turned them down, then posted the whole exchange on his blog. Outrage, of course, ensued." Sorry, no bounty on the comments below.

4 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. You know what this reminds me of? by Seumas · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dice.

  2. Re:Facebook does it, Slashdot does it by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Interesting

    he should just have kept the money.
    or just offered rounds of booze to the guys.

    like wtf were they supposed to be asking around anyways and why the hell on stack exchange? that would be like showing problems with it.

    OTOH this is brilliant marketing since now I know about the challenge. much higher publicity than some stupid stack exchange questions.

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  3. Would've been terribly unsuccessful anyway by harvestsun · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here is how it would have gone down:

    Question: "Need some feedback on the app I am about to enter for the Samsung Smart App Challenge." (yes, that is an actual quote from the email)
    Response: "Welcome to StackOverflow! Please read what this site is about, and "How to ask" before asking a question."

    Aaaaand... closed for off-topic within 60 seconds.

    StackOverflow has one of the most diligent communities I've ever seen. They wouldn't tolerate this shit.

  4. Not everything is about Apple. by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's hilarious to see an Android apologists like yourself struggle to tie this back to Apple somehow.

    How in any way is offering a review unit to someone who may write about a device with every reader knowing they got a review unit, the same as having technical people pretend they were naturally interested in Samsung on a pure technical site and not divulging they were paid to express interest? Can you honestly detect zero difference in the morality of open vs hidden action?

    I can imagine you would have quite a different message posted if the name of the company offering money to game technical sites was Apple and not Samsung.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley