myTukar’s open letter to their competitor, Carsome, has sparked interesting discussions among netizens. Opinions vary regarding myTukar’s decision to call out Carsome for allegedly conducting marketing campaigns that go against ethical advertising and review practices, with some perceiving it as a low practice – suggesting jealousy.
Published on February 29 on myTukar’s Facebook page, the open letter, addressed to Carsome CEO Eric Cheng, has garnered over 900 likes, 280 shares, and 300 comments at the time of this article’s publication.
“This is not new for them – they have had similar offers from as far back as 2020.”
According to the letter, myTukar alleges that Carsome has a long practice of incentivizing five-star reviews through marketing campaigns, rewarding customers with prizes for the most-liked reviews. It notes that myTukar has tolerated this practice for a while as they claimed Carsome to have practised such rewards as far back as 2020. but now strongly urges Carsome to adhere to ethical advertising and review practices.
“We believe this goes against ethical advertising and review practices, and have a few words to say,” myTukar wrote on Facebook caption.
The letter expresses concern that rewarding and incentivizing five-star reviews will not only erode trust and reliability in the long run but also create an environment of mistrust across the used car industry in Malaysia.
“It’s okay to ask customers to leave reviews. However, it is unethical to reward customers for 5-star reviews.”
In the same Facebook post, myTukar shares a screenshot of Carsome’s alleged incentivizing campaign, outlining steps on how customers can win prizes by rating them 5 stars on Facebook or Google, with the most-liked five-star reviews winning.
“Google also says that this is unethical and fraudulent, and that’s why we’re calling this out,” the Facebook caption read.
According to Google’s policies, fake engagements are prohibited and it includes:
- Paying, incentivising or encouraging the posting of content that does not represent a genuine experience.
- Discouraging or prohibiting negative reviews, or selectively soliciting positive reviews from customers.
- Content that is not based on a real experience and does not accurately represent the location or product in question.
- Content that has been incentivized by a business in exchange for discounts, free goods and/or services.
“Genuine or not, let the public be the judge.”
“Ultimately, biased reviews hurt the entire industry and consumers as well. We think it’s important that all businesses are judged fairly by their services, not by the amount of money and prizes being given out. We believe all customers want to read genuine reviews when researching about who to spend your money with,” myTukar wrote in an edit.
As of now, Carsome hasn’t issued any official responses to the open letter, leaving questions about accountability and integrity unanswered. However, the call-out has generated varying opinions that could potentially impact the brand’s reputation.
Some commenters on myTukar’s post suggest it is up to them to do the marketing.”Genuine or not, let the public be the judge,” netizen claimed.
Some even view this situation as free marketing for Carsome. “Thanks to myTukar, now everyone knows how to try and win an iPhone.”
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