US grocer Whole Foods CEO John Mackey continues to manage the revelations of his eight years of chat room activity against rival Wild Oats Markets. Mackey’s speculations about bankruptcy and falling stock prices were posted in Yahoo! chat rooms under a pseudonym and have come to light in Federal moves to block a Whole Foods purchase of Wild Oats Markets.
Coming shortly after Shiny Red’s research released earlier this month highlighted consumers dislike of fake bloggers, Helen Nowicka of Shiny Red, commented:
“The disclosure that [Mackey] has apparently posted anonymous comments on a Yahoo stock market forum goes against one of the golden rules of new media: transparency. Consumers expect businesses to be open and honest in their online conversations and that’s even more so when your brand is based around green values as is the case with Whole Foods.”
Read the rest of Nowicka’s comment to Revoluton here and Mackey’s own blog here.
