1. These types of activities are often called “stealth marketing” because they are not openly presented as promotional tactics. Learn more about this practice and decide if it is ethical.
2. Can some of the tools used in public relations be considered stealth marketing? How about product placement in movies or television shows? Others?

Word-of-mouth communications can be very persuasive. You’re more likely to see a movie or buy a clothing brand because your friends recommended them. Marketers are harnessing the power of word-of-mouth with creative tactics. However, some tactics are criticized because consumers don’t know they are being marketed to. For example, Sony Ericsson came under fire when it became known that it hired actors to pose as tourists asking strangers to take their picture with the cool T68i phone. Wal-Mart was criticized for a blog about Laura and Jim RVing around America, stopping at Wal-Marts across the country and writing glowing things about the retailer. Wal-Mart never disclosed that it was sponsoring the trip.
Procter & Gamble, while not paying moms to talk about its products, provides samples and coupons to these influential people recruited into their Vocalpoint network in hopes that they say positive things about them to others.