Adjunct instructor of marketing Wayne Landers offered his sales management students in the spring semester 50 points of extra credit to leave fake, positive reviews on a remodeling business in Conway.
Students were informed to leave a Google review for Hendricks Remodeling that included “positive remarks around integrity, craftsmanship and customer service,” a Landers’ email to class members said.
According to the syllabus for the class, each exam was worth 100 points and a week’s worth of work was around 40-60 points. The bonus was offered at the end of the semester, which could bump students up a letter grade if they were on the edge.
Many Google reviews for Hendricks Remodeling are dated shortly after Landers’ email and use the same language with the same keywords. One reviewer’s profile shows a UCA football player and another shows someone wearing a UCA jacket.
One review said, “With Hendricks Remodeling you’re not just getting a new bathroom or kitchen, you’re getting the integrity, craftsmanship and customer service that has made this business a staple in Conway for years.”
Another said, “Hendricks Remodeling is a great company that displays exceptional integrity, craftsmanship and customer service.”
The Federal Trade Commission’s endorsement guidelines state: “Endorsements must reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs or experience of the endorser. … Endorsements must reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the endorser. … Advertisers are subject to liability for false or unsubstantiated statements made through endorsements, or for failing to disclose material connections between themselves and their endorsers.”
Multiple reviewers of Hendricks Remodeling from over a year ago mentioned the same keywords Landers included in his email. The same reviewers also left reviews recommending Wayne Landers as a real estate agent for Pixel Properties, a Little Rock real estate agency.
The Echo reached out to Provost Patricia Poulter and Chair of the marketing department Tracy Suter in late July about the bonus point assignment, and Poulter replied in an email, “Upon reading your email, I contacted Dean Hargis, who had been in conversation with Dr. Suter.” Poulter added, “When concerns arise about the particulars of an assignment, the normal practice is for the department chair and the faculty member to have a conversation about said concerns. That is what occurred in this situation.”
Although Poulter would not say what happened in any of the meetings, she said, “the chair, the dean and I are all satisfied with the resolution.”
Landers declined to speak with an Echo reporter unless Suter approved of the interview in advance.
On July 30, Landers sent an email to students from his spring sales management class that said, “Due to unforeseen potential issues with an assignment like this, I have to ask you to remove your Google review from the business. If you left a review, please go back in and remove your review. Your grade will not be affected in any way.”
The reviews are still on the site and are easy to spot.
Additionally, a June 16 post on the Hendricks Remodeling page on Facebook thanks Wayne and Amy Landers as customers of the business and includes a video showing the results of a remodeling project.
According to the FTC, the guidelines are not laws on their own, but businesses caught abusing these rules could be subject to punishment. “Law enforcement actions can result in orders requiring the defendants in the case to give up money they received from their violations and to abide by various requirements in the future. Despite inaccurate news reports, there are no ‘fines’ for violations of the FTC Act,” according to the FTC.