Ok, so Target has been called out by angry customers and bloggers for having a Facebook page that encourages its group members (called Rounders) to post good things about Target and Target products but to make their affiliation with the Facebook group a “secret.” The Minneapolis StarTribune has reported on how this was done. Basically, college students are given some free swag to say good things about Target online. It’s called a brand ambassador program, and they are almost always bullshit. The problem with them is this: It’s fake and manufactured buzz. The first problem is relying on students to actually do what you say. Good luck with that. The second issue is that students will destroy your brand if you are not being honest and genuine with them. Real, genuine buzz or word-of-mouth will come on its own by being true to your brand, true to your customers, and actually doing something innovative that will move the needle. Paying people with free stuff to say good things about you isn’t genuine or good for your brand image. It’s just plain lazy. Kinda like buying ads on Facebook when you need to come up with a real back-to-school strategy. Facebook ads are what a brand does when it has no original ideas and is simply following the masses because “that’s where the students are”. Target doesn’t need to do this and can stand on its own with college students. That’s what’s sad here. The upside is that when Target realizes that brand ambassador programs are typically crap and that Facebook advertising is a colossal waste of a college marketing budget, they will move on, and people will forget they ever tried.