John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, has been busted. It seems he's been blogging and commenting on chat lines for some time, hiding his identity and posting comments praising Whole Foods and sometimes knocking the competition.


Sneaky and unethical? For sure. Embarrassing, now that he's been outed? Yes. But illegal? I hope not.
And The Wall Street Journal, in its editorial on Monday, feels the same way.
The SEC is now investigating to see if Mackey, who used the screen name "Rahodeb," violated any laws, supposedly by disclosing insider information.
It's ironic that this comes out just as the marketing bloggers' collaborative book Age of Conversation is off the press. The book puts in one place what many of us have been saying online .... the importance for companies to connect with customers via a two-way dialogue that involves listening as well as sending out marketing messages.
I'm still thinking through my position on this, but my initial take is that Mackey would have served himself and his company better had he been open and honest when commenting online. Whole Foods has a good enough reputation that they don't need an anonymous cheerleader sneaking around chat rooms and blogs. Most people, in fact, would have complimented him for personally participating in online discussions.
My real concern is the possible impact any SEC action might have on other top-level execs who we in marketing and public relations might, in the future, want to encourage to get into the online trenches and converse with customers. Will this scare them off?
Getting CEOs and CMOs online to talk directly with customers can be a good thing .... for customers and marketers alike. Let's hope the government doesn't scare the lawyers into advising the top corporate folks to zip it up.


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

After 30+ years in this business, I still look forward to going to work. Rarely are two days the same, and the challenges are varied and stimulating.

My firm, Reich Communications, Inc., handles an interesting range of clients that take me from b2b to consumer publicity, from the world of high-priced art to advocacy for issues including traffic safety and securing mental health resources for survivors of mass violence globally.

Over the years at mid-size and large New York agencies, I’ve served a client roster that reads like a “who’s who” of business – General Electric, Emery, Ryder, Travelers Insurance, Phillips Petroleum, Georgia-Pacific and Jaguar Cars. I’ve also worked with groups like the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association (for their giant New York Auto Show), Syndicated Network Television Association, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Highlights include leading the publicity team that launched L’eggs hosiery, which later became a Harvard B-School case history. I also managed P.R. and community relations for the Metro New York McDonald's Co-op, with more than 250 stores. We won a Marketing Excellence Award for a McDonald's public service program I developed on fire safety. It also won an Emmy for on-air host Dr. Frank Field, health & science editor at media partner WCBS-TV in New York, and it was directly credited by the NYFD for saving several lives. During those years, I also had more than my share of Big Macs.

I have a degree in Industrial Management and an MBA in Public Relations. I live in southern Westchester, 15 miles north of midtown Manhattan, in the same town where I grew up. “Money-earnin’ Mount Vernon” is how the town is now known as a center of hip-hop culture, but it also claims as native sons Denzel Washington, Dick Clark, author e.b. White, Art Carney, Art Buchwald and Sean “P-Diddy” Combs.

I write about marketing, media and public relations at my blog, "my 2 cents" If I ever retire from this crazy business, I'd love to be an all-night jazz deejay.