A young, attractive couple is hanging around in Times Square. They are wearing back-packs, and they have with them a Sony-Ericsson cellular telephone with a digital camera attached. Approaching a passerby, the young man of the couple smiles and says: "Would you take a picture of me and my girlfriend?" Almost everyone is willing to, and as they do, he explains how the new gadget works. "It's easy. Look. Just push this but- ton. This is so sweet.
I just got it. ... " Soon the passerby is intrigued with the cell phone too. And although she'll never find out, the passerby has just had an encounter with two paid operatives in a "viral marketing" campaign, promoting a product like a virus spreads disease-silently but effectively.
How would you feel if the attractive person who flirted with you at a bar asking for a light for a cigarette turned out to be hawking that cigarette? Does stealth marketing seem unethical to you?