MyTukar calls out CARSOME for campaigns that go against 'ethical advertising'

Malaysian digital used car platform myTukar has issued an open letter against its competitor, CARSOME, over campaign practices that it says are "eroding trust and reliability" and creating an "environment of mistrust" in the industry.  

The issue erupted over CARSOME's "long practice" of rewarding and incentivising reviews as part of its marketing campaigns. According to myTukar, CARSOME gives out prizes for five-star reviews and most-liked five-star reviews. 

"Rewarding and incentivising five-star reviews will not only erode trust and reliability in the long run, but also create an environment of mistrust across the used car industry in Malaysia," it said in an open letter posted on Facebook. "We have long tolerated this and strongly urge CARSOME to cease such activities," it said. 

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It added that customer voices matter and that they should have a final say as to their experiences with a company. "Five-star reviews spur us to keep up the good work, and any negative reviews help us pinpoint any blind spots in our processes in services, allowing us to further improve," it said. 

myTukar added that competition within the industry is essential and urged CARSOME to "set the playing field right again" and to support its commitment to creating a "transparent, honest environment" for all used car buyers and sellers.

In an update, it said that while it is okay to ask customers to leave reviews, it is "unethical" to reward customers for five-star reviews.

"Offering discounts, prizes or monetary rewards in exchange for good reviews violates Google's policies. Google also says that this is unethical and fraudulent, and that's why we're calling this out," said myTukar. 

Since it's open letter, myTukar's brand sentiments have dipped from 9% positive and 3.9% negative to 7.4% positive and 25.5% negative, according to media intelligence firm CARMA.

Conversations surrounding myTukar also went from discussion around the website, its vehicles and its experience to a drastic dip, focusing on the open letter

After the letter, conversations surrounding myTukar involved words such as 'letter', 'incentivising' and 'reviews'.

CARSOME, on the other hand, saw its brand sentiments plummet from 18.4% positive and 9.2% negative to 5.1% positive and 30.4% negative following the letter. 

Respecting the principles of fair competition

When MARKETING-INTERACTIVE reached out, Khairudin Rahim, CEO of 4As Malaysia said that in his opinion, incentivising any five-star reviews or recommendations by rewarding customers with prizes or the potential of prizes is unethical and breaches its industry’s Malaysian Content Code (advertisement section).

"Publishing five-star reviews or recommendations from customers is advertisement content. Advertisements should not contain testimonials unless it is genuine and related to the personal experience of a customer," said Rahim.

"When the testimonial is not genuine because the customer has been 'incentivised' to give a five-star review, consumers will be misled by this falsehood and exaggeration," he added. 

Rahim also explained that this practice further subtracts from the "trust deficit prevalent within the used car industry".

This does not help correct and build trust that serious players who want to build a brand in the used car industry crave.

"All brand owners have an inherent duty to produce advertisements that are legal, decent, socially responsible, honest and truthful and to do so with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society," he added. 

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