in Google's health care advertising group, writes a blog entry indicating that her health care customers might want to purchase Adword campaigns in order to counter some of the criticisms offered up in Michael Moore's Sicko. Several blogs pounced on Google and Ms. Turner criticizing Ms. Turner for criticizing Sicko, and criticizing Google for pursuing this kind of business. After a few days Google does an about face stating "they blew it" by pursuing the business and criticizing Moore. Lauren Turner then issues an apology stating that her views were personal and not those of Google's.
Michael Moore is a polarizing voice whose facts are quite often in dispute. If your industry or your business comes under attack by Moore should you have the right to use Google to defend your reputation? Does Ms. Turner have the right to state her personal opinions about Sicko on a Google blog? This is where I stand:
1. All enterprises have the right and obligation to defend their reputation.
2. Google's ad platforms should be open to all enterprises to defend their reputation.
3. Google employees have the right to express their personal opinions on Google blogs.
Demonstrating the slippery slope here, CNET's Elinor Mills put a post up today titled 'Sicko' criticism--'We blew it', in which Elinor characterizes the Google criticism as "justified". I emailed Elinor to find out if 'justified" was CNET's official position or her personal opinion - not unlike the personal opinion of Lauren Turner. Being a stand-up journalist, Elinor emailed me back and updated her post with my comment, wondering if she (Elinor) may be a touch hypocritical. Read her post here.
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