Full disclosure:

I used to worked high in marketing dep at Sony for last 4-14 years (I do not want to be specific and expose myself amongst coworkers) and I was laid off or quit somewhere in the past months (I don't want to be specific).

I do appreciate what Sony has accomplished in photography market, on hardware side. It shouldn't have been a difficutly market for cameras development makes, but as you know how photographers are like, and how established Canon and Nikon were. We really needed to engage all our efforts. It essentially was a warfare.

Anyway, I thought that the board should know be aware, that yes, there really are paid "trolls" (we actually call them brand ambassadors) on media and forums to push Sony marketing. It's been so at Sony for some time now. It isn't considered unethical. It's only a part of our viral marketing. We are not the only ones. Other companies use similair practices. I can't speak for them (but as you can see, their marketing is pretty obvious) but at Sony we have put others to shame.