A few words about word-of-mouth marketing

There's a marketing movement afoot to actively promote word-of-mouth as a viable marketing tool. Fair enough. Some products and services can benefit from an approach like this. But some marketers are now crossing the line, and again, threatening to spoil it for the legitimate marketers.

For example, Sony recently hired graffitti artists in San Francisco to paint comics on outdoor surfaces in order to promote their PSP game devices. The goal of the campaign was to generate buzz for the product although the ads never mentioned the company or product by name. 

But once real artists got wind of who was behind the graphics, they tagged the graphics with the word "Fony" and bitterly complained that the giant corporation should leave the city's sidewalks alone. The end result was that Sony was seen as a poser and alienated itself from the indie art community.

In my opinion, marketers have an obligation to disclose their intentions. Anything less than that is a thinly veiled attempt to deceive the public. Do you agree or disagree?