Amanda Congdon Really Sells Out

I wonder if Amanda Congdon, fomerly of Rocketboom, expected any blowback from doing these DuPont commercials? Industrial chemicals don't really seem like her kind of product. By contrast, Dove’s ad campaign is a better fit. She's a young, well-endowed, attractive, woman. Acting as a spokesperson for what is essentially a beauty product makes total sense for her. But DuPont and Amanda make a strange juxtaposition. This could be what's causing the current hubbub.

Personally, I have essential problems with DuPont’s business practices, its corporate ethics, political influence, and its status as a world polluter. But that's not the point here. Despite a concerted effort by their PR team, DuPont has had, and continues to have, chronic problems with pollution. Since Amanda Congdon is on the record as a supporter of things ‘green’ it makes you seem like a disingenuous spokesperson to do their web spots.

Her self-defense on her blog seems to be digging her deeper and deeper into an ethically compromised hole, claiming that because she is not an official journalist (she's a blogger thank-you-very-much) she doesn't have to follow the ethical guidelines that hedge in the mainstream media. Instead, she feels can write her own rulebook, redefine her own paradigms, and pretty much get away with anything she wants to do. To me this attitude doesn't represent the vanguard of new media, but the tactic of a selfish opportunist who is justifying actions she already knows are questionable by retroactively changing the context in which she originally made her decisions.

It's clearly a bluff, she probably doesn't believe herself either. Her actions speak too loudly. By associating herself with DuPont, Amanda Congdon is clearly in it for the money.

Why did ABC Hire Amanda?

Have you seen Amanda Congdon's new show on ABC? Not much different than what she did with Rocketboom, eh? Now I remember what irritated me about the show: the faux perkiness, bad jokes and insincere mugging for the camera. But at least ABC knows what sells. Check out that screen capture that ABC is using to promote the show. Why do you think they chose that particular shot? A few months ago Jason Calacanis said that Ms. Congdon was at the "top of the talent pool on the Web." Take some time to watch her newest efforts and decide for yourself where here best assets lie.