Microsite.com

OK. Repeat after me: “I, state your name, will never, ever, ever, ever, ever try to hide, camouflage, cloak, disguise, shield, shroud, or in any way lie about my identity or purpose in an online marketing campaign.”

If you do, you will be outed, exposed, and humiliated. Your company’s reputation and its brand will be tarnished. And you may be fired.

Sadly, there’s a long history of companies thinking they could outsmart the online crowd with stealth marketing techniques like flogs (fake blogs) or fake postings in chat rooms and on YouTube, only to be embarrassed in the end. See Sony, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, and Dr. Pepper to name just a few.

Now you can add Ask.com and its agency Fallon Worldwide to this List of Shame.

In an attempt to promote itself by criticizing the dominance of Google.com, Ask.com began running ads in London subway cars on March 12, exhorting commuters to “stop the online information monopoly.”

The ads didn’t mention Ask.com or Google, but directed people to a website, www.information-revolution.org, where they could sign up with their names and email addresses. The site – it has since been updated with Ask.com branding – attempted to appear like a third-party, benevolent site created to share information about online search. (Note the .org selection.) It was, however, nothing but an online shill for the former AskJeeves site.

Once the online crowd discovered the truth, scurrilous attacks were posted fast. One posting read, “I thought this may be an informative Web site about how information is used on the Internet. Instead I discover it’s just a cheap ploy for an inferior search engine.”

Of course, someone else posted, “I’ve lost my cat - has anybody seen it?”

Now, don’t get me wrong. I realize everyone stumbles into ethical lapses once in awhile. But, Lord, in today’s world, why would you be so calculating or so wanton about it. Who thought this through and approved it?

Well, I know this: The wisdom of the online crowd is supreme. There’s just no point in trying to stealth anything because you will be found out. Ask Dan Rather. Then take the aforementioned pledge.