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September 22, 2005Hugh McLeod & Ben Metcalfe Take the Gloves Off and Begin Thrashing One Another
It's got drama, fighting words, studied insults, and an audience baying for blood. It's the Hugh McLeod vs. Ben Metcalfe knock-down, drag out. And it's playing simultaneously at Ben's and at Hugh's. As most of the free world probably already knows, Hugh is using his blog to promote Stormhoek Wine, just as he promotes Thomas Mahon's bespoke suits. His belief that social media can be used to launch global microbrands has many observers and -- including Desirable Roasted Coffee -- more than a few believers. Ben thinks Hugh's promotion of Stormhoek is unseemly, even distasteful. And said so, calling the wine "crappy" and Hugh's promotion of it "pimping". Hugh fired back with one of his trademark cards -- I never want to be a target of one of those -- and called Ben an apparatchnik of "socialist media". Yikes. Let the fur fly! The spat has generated about 40 comments between the two sites. And while the boys are grudgingly making nice again, the core issue remains. Is it seemly to use blogs to market products (especially using free samples)? Is marketing in keeping with the spirit of social media. I'm 100% with Hugh's principles on this: what on earth is wrong with marketing using one's status in the blogosphere? It may well backfire on Hugh one day, but I see little that is unseemly or unethical about trying it. And the other side of the argument -- that the blogosphere should be non-commercial -- is just plain silly. But opinion seems sharply divided -- and I don't think this debate will die anytime soon. The discussion continues here and here. Posted by Allan Jenkins on September 22, 2005 at 05:03 PM in Bizarre & Amusing, Blogging for Benjamins, Ethics, Food and Drink, In Defense of Elitism, Marketing | Permalink TrackBackTrackBack URL for this entry: Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Hugh McLeod & Ben Metcalfe Take the Gloves Off and Begin Thrashing One Another:
» Other News Worth Noting from IF Tracked on Oct 8, 2005 6:53:31 PM CommentsBah. This is just the age-old debate that comes up on EVERY topic. One one side, someone says, "I use public facility X, therefore I get to decide how everyone else will use it." Implied is "because everyone else is my inferior." It's never hard to find people to oppose that. In between are a few, just a few, who say, "perhaps we should have some rules for the use of X." They are invariably shouted down from BOTH sides: one says "of course, use MY rules!" and the other says (you knew this was coming) "We don't need no steenking rules!" Posted by: Tim Hicks | Sep 22, 2005 6:15:09 PM Yeah, but I am not sure I see a need for "rules" here at all. We aren't talking about a limited resource, nor is it a space where everyone is forced to visit. For now, I'm firmly in the "we don't need no stinking rules" corner. The market will take care of it. Posted by: Allan Jenkins | Sep 22, 2005 7:43:59 PM It kind of misses the point. This isn't about whether Hugh and Ben agree or not on a point of view. It's about the way Hugh stepped over some sort of line and associated Ben's remarks in his personal blog to his employer. It's about Hugh's 'shoot first (generally insulting), worry about the response' later approach. It is an issue. Especially for those trying to understand and communicate to industries that find this medium terrifying. It;s the strident language which many, including myself, have difficulty in explaining to others not used to this medium. Oh yes - and I DO think Hugh is on to something fairly profound. Posted by: Dennis Howlett | Sep 23, 2005 1:53:55 PM Did you happen to catch the one GapingVoid card about a so-called guru who tried to spin it as a compliment on his blog? It was a pathetic - and bad - spin. Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | Sep 25, 2005 6:30:09 AM Post a comment |
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