MEDIA WINNER: Washington Post's Geoffrey Fowler
Technology reporter Geoffrey Fowler went after Amazon on the pages of Jeff Bezos-owned paper, the Washington Post.
“Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post, but I review all tech with the same critical eye,” Fowler wrote about his paper’s owner -- and his article pulls no punches in condemning the online retail giant for how it presents and organizes search results for customers.
The article goes on to lay out how Amazon is filling search results with sponsored products, some from its own product lines and some from retailers who have paid to promote their wares.
To test the theory, Fowler searched for "cat beds" on Amazon, discovering that out of the first five screens, “more than 50 percent of the space was dedicated to ads and Amazon touting its own products."
Fowler went so far as to call Amazon’s ads “deceptive,” noting how many brands pay for their products to be promoted in searches for a competitor brand, and how the labels Amazon uses mislead customers to believe the designated products have been endorsed or evaluated as high-quality.
Fowler ended the article by urging consumers to stop relying on Amazon’s recommendations while shopping online. The Washington Post is sometimes accused by its critics of not taking on its powerful owner. Kudos to Fowler for proving them wrong. |