http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/09/65000-pyramid-electric-autojournos-pump-tesla-stock-receive-massive-gifts/
QuoteImagine the following scenario: Your humble author buys an Accord Coupe, and loves it, and suggests that you do the same. Not so hard to imagine, insofar as that's what actually happened.
Now let's imagine I tell you that you, the TTAC reader, can get a discount on an Accord if you use my referral code. That's kind of odd, right? After all, I'm here to report on the Accord, not to incentivize your purchase. Last but not least, let's imagine that for every four Accords sold with my referral code, Honda gives me $6,200 worth of Honda products. A new CBR500, maybe, or an ATV for my son. And let's say that there's actually more to it than that — in fact, for every four Accords I sell, I can receive up to eleven thousand dollars' worth of goodies.
Last but not least, let's imagine that I hold a significant amount of Honda stock and that my posts are written with the knowledge that positive Honda stories might help that stock move in a direction that is profitable for me.
Sounds crazy, right? Welcome to the world of Fred Lambert and his site, electrek.co.
What a piece of shit.
Lol Tesla. They souls take the money they pay guys like this for knobs and stalks
Ridiculous
Apart from the ethics, this type of thing is just stupid from a business angle. Tesla is one of the most scrutinized companies in the world, already struggling with learning how to scale production (see Model 3) and they can't afford the negative press.
Now that the automotive giants are committing to EVs I wonder how the feisty pioneering minnow will hold up under the onslaught.
So Tesla is handing out the money that we taxpayers gave them? Come onnnnnnnnnn.
On the flip side, most of Tesla attack pieces are from people trying to short their stock. Every time you see Tesla the news, it's almost always has a financial agenda behind it (either way).
You know, I'm actually not mad at this. Affiliate marketing and referral codes have been a thing in e-commerce for ever. Hell, this type of thing regularly happens at dealerships where the manufacturer will offer rebates and incentives to move products all the time. Since Tesla doesn't have a conventional dealer network, it makes sense that the incentives are structured to benefit individuals. Its all part of the "new-age model" or whatever you want to call it.
Quote from: Xer0 on October 09, 2017, 11:51:35 AM
You know, I'm actually not mad at this. Affiliate marketing and referral codes have been a thing in e-commerce for ever. Hell, this type of thing regularly happens at dealerships where the manufacturer will offer rebates and incentives to move products all the time. Since Tesla doesn't have a conventional dealer network, it makes sense that the incentives are structured to benefit individuals. Its all part of the "new-age model" or whatever you want to call it.
There's a difference between offering incentives and offering kickbacks to members of the press, unless it's part of a referral program that is open to anybody (or any current Tesla owner).
The problem here is what the journalists at Electrek are doing. Incredibly unethical of them.
I'm not familiar with the site so I went and checked it out. Here is what their about us says:
"Electrek is a news site tracking the transition from fossil fuel transportation to electric and the surrounding clean ecosystems.
The site is part of the 9to5 network, which includes 9to5mac.com, 9to5Google.com and 9to5Toys.com.
Owner and publisher of the 9to5 network Seth Weintraub created the site and he often contributes articles."
A bit further down it then clarifies Seth's financial position:
"Some writers of Electrek maintain positions in $TSLA and other green energy stocks:
Follow
Seth Weintraub ✔ @llsethj
Disclaimer for @electrek readers (And will be posted to the site) I am back into $TSLA
11:13 AM - Feb 8, 2016
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We also use affiliate links when possible as an additional source of revenue for different products."
It doesn't look like they position themselves are journalists and are pretty open about the financial incentives they operate under. Again, I don't really see this as that big of a deal.
https://electrek.co/about/
Quote from: Xer0 on October 10, 2017, 01:46:56 PM
I'm not familiar with the site so I went and checked it out. Here is what their about us says:
"Electrek is a news site tracking the transition from fossil fuel transportation to electric and the surrounding clean ecosystems.
...
It doesn't look like they position themselves are journalists and are pretty open about the financial incentives they operate under. Again, I don't really see this as that big of a deal.
It looks pretty firmly like they position themselves as journalists to me! They write articles about "the transition to electric", so in that respect they're clearly biased against fossil fuels, but it's another step entirely to take customer referral cash payments from a manufacturer. It gives them every incentive to hype Teslas and ignore other manufacturers: it's blatantly unethical, a clear conflict of interest.
I don't think Tesla is in the wrong: they shouldn't have to vet every customer. Electrek, if they want to purport to be a "news site", should be held to a higher standard. Otherwise they should just call themselves "a Tesla-enthusiasts blog" or something to that effect.
I subscribe to to an (excellent) YouTube channel, fullychargedshow, that focuses of EVs & renewable energy. They seem to be pretty up front about their sponsorship: looks like some of the earlier episodes were supported by direct sponsors: energy companies & manufacturers. Now they've turned to Patreon. Which is good. Of course you have to have patrons who aren't going to try to steer your content. It's always a tightrope.
(Slightly OT: the demonstrated use of photovoltaic-generated electricity to power EVs via powerwall-type storage is intriguing - changes the game IMO)
As I said, Tesla articles are all about the stock price on either side (positive/negative)
Tesla is up something like 60% on the year which is pretty much caused by Model 3 expectations. If the 3 is a success, the stock could double. The 3 fails, well then stock dhorters are going to make serious cash.