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03 Jul 2007
An advertising sales account planner at Google has apologised for comments on a company blog regarding the new Michael Moore film Sicko.
Lauren Turner used Google's Health Advertising Blog to make a pitch to healthcare companies to buy Google adverts opposite the film to get their message across. The comments caused a storm.
"Moore attacks health insurers, health providers and pharmaceutical companies by connecting them to isolated and emotional stories of the system at its worst, " wrote Turner.
"Moore's film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare's interest in patient well-being and care."
The entry angered fellow bloggers, who accused Turner of trying to flout Google's 'Do no evil' mantra.
Turner apologised today and tried to play down the incident, maintaining that the views expressed were hers alone.
"Some readers thought the opinion I expressed about Sicko was actually Google's opinion," she wrote.
"It is easy to understand why it might have seemed that way because, after all, this is a corporate blog. So that was my mistake. I understand why it caused some confusion."
In the film Moore advocates replacing the current private health care system in the US with universal healthcare for all.
The filmmaker claims that health companies hide the fact that they are primar ily motivated by profits by running PR and marketing campaigns.
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Do you agree?
Totally Inappropriate
I know few people who are allowed to use their job to promote their own views. What Ms. Turner did was totally inappropriate, and she knows that. What's worse, by inviting health care companies to place ads, Ms. Turner seems to be speaking for Google itself. If she wished to express her PERSONAL views, she ought to have done so on a PERSONAL blog--which she could have set up for free using Google's tools just as any one of us can do. That Ms. Turner did not do so, but rather used a COMPANY blog, seems a deliberate ploy to use Google's name and prestige to advance her own views. People have been fired for less severe infractions involving inappropriate computer use.
Posted by: Jenny 06 Jul 2007
Why should they?
Why should they have to apologize to Moore. Dose he have to apologize to anyone for his remarks?
Posted by: Jono 05 Jul 2007
google
googles doom was secured when it became a corporation. as of that point it should of been clear to all that google has become profit driven not customer driven.
Posted by: tom var 05 Jul 2007
Also
She said that it was her own opinion not that of googles. So once again why dose she have to but not him.
Posted by: jono 05 Jul 2007
Sic semper Sickos
I reallhy can't stand Michael Moore. He is a traitor, and his Bowling for Columbine was such a puerile piece of sophomoric propganda that I won't go see "Sicko", even though, apparently, it is, at least from the reviews that I have read, a much better film. In my recent experiences with government bureaucracies, I have just been reminded how awful they are. I mean, truly awful. Remember, it was bureaucratic absolutism that helped bring down the Roman Empire, and kept ancient China from ever being a vibrant, dynamic state. Mr. Moore is indeed a sicko if he thinks government is the answer to the mess that we have now. For-profit enterprises are more efficient. But, as was pointed out in a previous comment, they operate with one overarching goal of maximizing profit. In many respects, as this is applied to people's health care, this is, well, sort of evil. If the current government bureacracies that are supposed to have oversight of the current system actually worked, and Uncle Sam was better than a half-ass referee, we would have a much better system. Which circles back to the argument that more government is not the answer. If big government was the answer, the system would already work...so since it doesn't, Mr. Moore wants to create more government. Bottom line is, you will have a system of inertia and no profit motive to innovate, to develop better medicines and better health care technologies. And you will end up with a bunch of lazy mediocrities deciding your fate - that is, deciding it if it isn't too much trouble between government mandated breaks and holidays. So what is the answer to this conundrum? Don't get sick. Don't be a sicko. Or my solution? Enact and enforce laws that punish both the profit-seeking innovators and the government bureaucrats who do wrong with the guillotine.
Posted by: Alan Ford 05 Jul 2007
Fire her
Or him. Just fire them!!!
Posted by: Gene Buffington 05 Jul 2007
Stomach Turner
I don't understand why this woman was allowed the authority to push her personal agenda in violation of Google's stated policy. Apology aside, I believe she is a detriment to Google and her employment should be terminated.
Posted by: Jay Jeffries 05 Jul 2007
Slamming Michael Moore
Kudos to Lauren Turner. Although she might have bent company policy, I think this incident should have been handled behind closed doors. If it had been my choice, I would have given her a raise and not aired my dirty linen. I don't particularily like Mr. Moore, and don't think his movies are factual or true documentaries - they're political tripe which only further divides our country.
Posted by: Morgan Lighter 04 Jul 2007
Google sabotages alternative viewpoints for profit
I was appalled to discover yesterday that Google was prepared to use its media might to sabotage alternative viewpoints (i.e. Micheal Moores' film Sicko) for the sake of profiteering from the corporate healthcare industry. I don't buy the line that this is a minor mistake by a staff member acting alone. Google will fall as fast as it has risen if its reputation is not maintained as an independent force for fair open information exchange.
Posted by: Phil McCready, Innovation Economics LLC 03 Jul 2007