Rappler is under fire on social media for reporting about the supposed disappearance of the giant globe at the SM Mall of Asia complex— which turned out to be publicity stunt by Netflix.

IKEA rides on social media buzz over Netflix’s ‘missing’ MOA globe PR stunt

Netizens blamed Rappler for causing confusion by posting a statement over the weekend that the towering structure has gone missing, with the only disclaimer being the hashtag BrandRap.

The untrained eye is likely unable to decode that it’s a mark of a paid advertorial disguised as news, which caused panic and confusion for many as the initial information claimed the globe was stolen via helicopter.

Gone globe: SM Mall of Asia’s icon reported missing… but is it?

Hours later, Netflix owned up to the fake “heist” and said it was but a grand ad for its new series, Red Notice.

“DEAR DOMINANT MEDIA GATEKEEPERS: Putting a disclaimer (‘Editor’s note: This article was provided by Netflix’) does not justify packaging a publicity stunt as a news article,” Journalism professor Danilo Arao said. “The news media should provide relevant information, not profit-oriented deception. Red notice is on you!”

Even TV host Anthony Pangilinan found it distasteful.

“That PR stunt…makes me think…if a company will issue an official security memo, major news groups will ‘cover’ it, what’s to stop others from new stunts involving supposed heists, thefts, kidnaps, etc? I think we should take a second look at this, disinformation and all,” he wrote.

Bloomberg journalist Claire Jiao also drew the line between a advertising feature and this farce propagated by Rappler.

User @ninabiscuit said it was a matter of journalism ethics.

“Is Rappler running the stolen globe stunt ethical? I’m pretty curious about the legalities…. the posts on social media all have that BrandRap hashtag but that doesn’t scream “branded content” so it feels a little deceptive,” she said.

The post Master of misinformation: Rappler draws flak for ‘news’ about fake MOA globe heist first appeared on Bilyonaryo Business News.



Master of misinformation: Rappler draws flak for ‘news’ about fake MOA globe heist
Source: Filipino Daily Inquirer