I worked somewhat high up in the marketing department at Sony for the past 5-20 years (I don't want to be too specific and out myself among coworkers) and was laid off or quit sometime in the past few months (again, don't want to be too specific).

I appreciate what Sony has managed to do in the photography market, hardware wise. It shouldn't have been as difficult to market such good cameras, but you know what photographers are like and how dug in Canon and Nikon were. We really had to pull out all the stops. It is essentially trench warfare.

Anyway, I just thought the board should know that yes, there are paid "trolls" (they are actually called brand ambassadors) on social media and forums to push Sony marketing. It's been the norm at Sony for some time now. It isn't considered unethical either. It's just part of the viral marketing department. Other companies have adopted the practice too. I can't really speak for other companies (although their marketing campaigns are pretty obvious) but Sony Pictures has one that puts most others to shame. Remember the "The Interview" fiasco? Pure marketing. It wasn't a good movie, and the Paramount execs knew it and threw a fit. The marketing department at parent company SPE (Sony Pictures Entertainment) decided to salvage it by using it as an ad instead. Worked very well, too. The media loves stuff like this, and they were more than willing to run with it. A terrible movie that was going to go ignored and lose money ended up being released for free, and generated tons of good press.