Another reason to doubt

I had two opposite reactions to this NYT Magazine story about "hidden persuaders" -- people who follow the dictates of a highly paid advertising agency to shill for new products in order to create a "buzz." The amazing thing about this story is that these people aren't paid, they're volunteers. Supposedly they earn some sort of rewards points, but clearly they participate in these schemes simply because it's fun for them and because they have access to new products before their peers. On the one hand it horrifies me -- that the people whose reviews I might look at on amazon.com, for example, or even the people sitting on the subway reading, have an ulterior movtive. On the other hand, I found myself thinking, "Hey, maybe I could get some of that for my next book." Seductive, isn't it?