Edelman

Last week, Wal-Mart was pummeled for a fake Wal-Mart blog set up by Edelman PR, which after nearly a week of silence has owned up to the deception - sort of.

Edelman may end up more bruised than Wal-Mart as a result of the kerfuffle, writes Business Week. Wal-Mart has disavowed any involvement, saying "it was a Working Families for Wal-Mart initiative and we didn't have anything to do with it" - though the retailer funds the group. CEO Richard Edelman writes on his blog that though his firm helped write the rulebook for companies trying to tap into the blogosphere, it didn't follow its own rules for transparency: "This is 100% our responsibility and our error; not the client's."

Meanwhile, the blogosphere has been abuzz about how Edelman, ostensibly in the vanguard of the social media revolution, has betrayed the very principles it has been espousing. Moreover, it failed to subsequently join the heated online conversation for several days. And CEO Edelman would not agree to be interviewed, according to Business Week.

"Edelman PR's mea culpas for creating a blatantly fake Wal-Mart blog ring hollow because Richard Edelman apologizes for getting caught, not for the agency generating yet another unethical Wal-Mart social media campaign," wrote BL Ochman in her blog.