As an aside, it's also not that hard to keep things on the up-and-up. Literally all you have to do is disclose a relationship to something when you talk about it. Simply saying that you received a free product, or the company sponsors your podcast, or your Dad runs the school, is normally all that is needed to be okay legally and, in the eyes of most, ethically. Eliminates the miniscule chance of trouble. I think what there is a bigger chance of (vs. enforcement) is losing credibility with your audience, e.g. if they believe that you are hiding something or discover that you were hiding something. Generally speaking, it's not worth it.

On 2/3/2025 at 7:40 PM, sensei8 said:

How my wife discovered that her boss was Astroturfing was when my wife read a review about the business she works out, and the review that was written was in my wife’s name…my wife never wrote any reviews anywhere about the business she works at!! 

Also, Bob, I'm not sure how I glanced over this portion. Yes, that is ridiculous. If your wife were to contact the site hosting the review, they might do something.

Edited April 15, 20251 yr by Patrick

My guess is it's pretty rampant and frequent. I've gone to many schools in my travels to watch what they do, and some of them just plain SUCK! Yet you read the reviews and they sound like heaven on earth. I've been retired for some time now and never used the internet for my dojo. I always preferred word of mouth.

Remember in the old days when Dojos would advertise in the phone book?  No fake reviews there, back then you earned your reputation through your students, not some bogus review online.

 

 

On 4/19/2025 at 12:49 PM, KarateKen said:

Remember in the old days when Dojos would advertise in the phone book?  No fake reviews there, back then you earned your reputation through your students, not some bogus review online.

 

 

Those were the good ole days.