How stupid do you have to be to send comments from Starbucks HQ... Wow. For such a clever plot, this is a really sad ending. Reminds me of the Mona Lisa story a few days ago.
Read the article again and click the link. There was one Starbucks employee at Starbucks HQ who made one comment about a totally different story (the Starbucks pay-it-forward chains).
When I worked at Blizzard, I'd occasionally post pro-Blizzard comments on random blogs; sometimes I'd do it while at work on break. So what? They were still my own honest opinions and not some campaign by Activision to defend Blizzard's honor or something.
Oh, I didn't click the link - I just assumed he was being correct when he said "employees". Your situation is a little different, if this is a starbucks advertising campaign.
Yea, personally I think disclosure is still important, but an employee that happen to like randomly astroturf is one thing, a entire campaign of astroturfing is another.
When I worked at Blizzard, I'd occasionally post pro-Blizzard comments on random blogs; sometimes I'd do it while at work on break. So what? They were still my own honest opinions and not some campaign by Activision to defend Blizzard's honor or something.