EXOD837 Can I recommend my company's product in a chat room? It is a basic principle of business ethics that salespeople may not lie about their products. The Jewish tradition can make us sensitive to other, more subtle ways in which we may be misleading a customer. Q: Companies sometimes advertise their products by paying someone to enter an Internet chat room under a false name and praise the product as if he or she were an ordinary customer. The representatives view this as a service to the consumer. Is this an acceptable practice? A: The Torah tells us, "Distance yourself from any lie" [this verse]. Wouldn't it be enough to just command, "Thou shall not lie"? Perhaps because it's so easy to deceive without telling an outright lie that a simple prohibition on lying is not enough. Therefore the Torah warns us to distance ourselves from falsehood of any kind. In the case mentioned in the question, it may seem as if no one is lying. Using a fake name is a common practice in chat rooms and certainly does not fool anybody. The recommendations being made are sincere. The words are true-but the message is a lie. By using the strategy, the company is trying to communicate the notion that satisfied customers all over cyberspace are buzzing about their product. If the salesperson were to say this out right, they would certainly be lying; "telling" people the same thing through an elaborate charade only adds insult to injury by wasting people's time -and band width-with bogus endorsements. The Torah forbids us to "put a stumbling block before the blind" [Leviticus 19:14]. This includes misleading anyone who is blind to what is really happening. The sages give an example almost identical to the situation you describe. In his commentary on this verse, Rashi says, "Do not advise someone that it is in his interest to sell his field in order to buy a donkey, when your real intention is to buy the field from him." Here, too, the person is giving advice, perhaps even sincere advice, but his counsel is misleading because he hides his own interest in the outcome. In addition to being unethical, this practice is unprofessional. The code of ethics of the American Marketing Association, to take just one example, requires "Avoidance of sales promotions that use deception or manipulation." Many chat rooms also have their own by-laws regarding commercial promotions, and participants must observe these. The problem here is not sincerity but transparency. Since the identical endorsement will have vastly different meanings for the consumer depending on whether it comes from a disinterested fellow consumer or from an incentivized salesperson, hiding the personal stake in the outcome is definitely a form of deceit. Aside from the business ethics issue, there is also a problem here of personal ethics. You present yourself to this online community as someone who is interested in forming human connection with other members, yet your real interest is commercial. This is an unfair exploitation of the norms of these communities. Commerce is a positive area of human endeavor. Not only does it provide us with goods and services, it also stimulates human relations, because we need to reach out to others to meet our needs. The marketplace is also a meetingplace, and in cyberspace as well people enjoy the fellowship of chat rooms and newsgroups. Jewish tradition explains that our material desires have an important role to play in encouraging us to form human connections. But we should never put the cart before the horse and make profits the end and human relationships only a means. It is wonderful to exploit selling in order to generate friendships, but it is shameful to exploit friendships in order to generate sales.