• by Shankar Gupta , January 2, 2007

Public relations firm Edelman has once again roiled the blogosphere, this time by giving laptops to prominent bloggers on behalf of its client Microsoft.

The laptops--which were sent out to a host of tech bloggers, including Brandon LeBlanc, Scott Beale, Maurio Freitas, Mitch Denny, and Zen.Heavengames--were top-of-the-line Acer Ferraris, retailing for between $1,800 and $2,300, pre-loaded with Windows Vista--the new operating system the move was designed to promote.

Some of the bloggers, including MSTechToday.com author LeBlanc, initially didn't disclose the laptop was a gift. Rather, he said he had "traded in" his old computer for the new Ferrari.

Eventually, LeBlanc disclosed the laptop came from Microsoft, and apologized for the delay in releasing that information. "I intended to fully disclose where this laptop came from," he said. "As readers have pointed out, I should have disclosed where it came from the very second I posted about it and for that I apologized."

Meantime, readers posted comment on LeBlanc's blog showing their anger. "I guess anyone spending so much time talking up a corporate line would feel like 'I traded in' was a fair disclosure of a corporate bribe," wrote one. "When should we expect your glowing review of Vista?"

The angry comments sections have apparently caused Microsoft and Edelman to rethink the move--according to blogger Marshall Kirkpatrick, who received one of the laptops, Microsoft sent another e-mail out to the recipients last Wednesday, saying that when they were done reviewing the Vista software, they should give the PC away on their blogs or send it back. Initially, Microsoft had said the bloggers were free to keep the review machines. A Microsoft spokesman later told The New York Times that the bloggers did not have to return the laptops.

Online marketing strategist B.L. Ochman said that the move was objectionable largely because of the lack of transparency. "I don't have a problem with them giving away Vista," she said. "What I have a problem with is them giving away computers and then not insisting that people say right off the bat that this was a gift from Microsoft."

But Andy Sernovitz, head of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, said that the bloggers and commenters are simply piling on Edelman, which was recently involved in a fake blog scandal with its client, Wal-Mart. "This is a small group of anti-corporate bloggers who would attack all marketers," he said. "Because it was Edelman, they get outed by the people who are looking for a scandal. But there's no story here." Sernovitz added that sending review copies of software and hardware was standard procedure.