Franchisor Fined for Fake Reviews

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

A ABC news story, by Joel Stonington,  reports on a "franchisor's" use of fake reviews.

Lifestyle Lift agreed to stop posting false reviews online, in a settlement with state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday.

This is reportedly the first prosecution nationally of "astroturfing," the practice of creating a fake grassroots movement or illegitimate buzz around a commercial item, something that Cuomo's office called "a growing problem on the Internet," in a statement issued Tuesday.

Cuomo's investigation revealed internal emails in which employees were encouraged by company executives to take spare time during the day to write the reviews and post to message boards. "Put your wig and skirt on and tell them about the great experience you had," read one.

According to the AG's website, regarding the use of fake reviews by Lifestyle Lift:

Lifestyle Lift has more than 40 locations across the U.S., including Manhattan, Long Island and Syracuse.

The company engaged in a concerted effort to bombard Internet message boards with positive stories about themselves.

Lifestyle Lift's president believed that negative Internet postings had significantly hurt the company's reputation and thought the success of the company hinged on controlling messages posted online.

Company employees were directed to create accounts with various Internet message boards and pose as satisfied customers of Lifestyle Lift.

Employees also attacked legitimate message board posters who criticized Lifestyle Lift and tried to get those posts removed from message boards.

Some of the employees, or shills, stories can be read by clicking here.

Here is one of the more interesting shill post:

"What was with all the negative posts online? Those negative stories did not add up atall. They did not make any sense.

Lifestyle Lift had done thousands of procedures,their doctors are board certified, and they have doctors from Harvard, Stanford, and all the topuniversities in the country ...

Why was that happening? Was Lifestyle Lift really a scam?

The juxtaposition of the authority of "doctors from Harvard and Stanford" with Lifestyle Lift is cute.

Lifestyle Lift is not a franchisor, but operates about 40 centers in the US.

This action by AG Cuomo is consistent with what the FTC now demands in their guidelines on testimonials.

Endorsements must always reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the endorser.

Furthermore, they may not contain any representations which would be deceptive, or could not be substantiated if made directly by the advertiser.

Slash dot picked up the fake review story and there about 200 comments on the story, but none of the commentators make the obvious point: the employees could have been quite straightforward that they were employees defending their companies reputation.

The desire to meet negative posts online with fake reviews tells you a great deal about the underlying ethics of the company and ultimately product: they are willing to lie about the product to counter act negative reviews.

Hmm, does this apply to your franchise?