Post research result on my website

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helloworld

Member
28 April 2022
3
0
1
I want to conduct a social experiment and publish the results on my business website.

Experiment: It's a "Kiss Marry Kill" game with popular sports stars. Idea is to ask 10 girls who would they kiss, marry and kill from selected 5 sporting stars (e.g Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Tim Cahill ...). The article will publish the results provided by 10 girls without making any conclusions or assumptions. And I would not even mention who will be Killed out of respect (because that would be an insult to that specific player). Is it ok to publish this on my business website as a research article? can someone sue me for defamation?
 

Ricardo

Well-Known Member
30 April 2014
21
0
126
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, however I am a plaintiff in a defamation case. You should not rely on this as legal advice.

I can't imagine that the "kiss" or "marry" part could be defamation, unless the reasons for those things was somehow defamatory or would bring harm to someone's reputation.
The "kill" part itself would probably not be defamatory on its own because it is clearly said in jest, but the reasons provided for *why* they want to "kill" these people is what you'd normally look at.
The burden of proving defamation for public figures tends to be much higher.
Another thing you need to be aware of if you're a media publisher is to familiarise yourself with how to avoid defamation lawsuits, for example:
* Obtain evidence for every allegation or imputation
* If you don't have evidence for something, be sure to qualify that it is an opinion, not a fact.
Examples:
• "In my opinion, the restaurant's steak tasted burnt" instead of "The restaurant burnt my steak"
• Take a picture of the burnt steak
 

Tim W

Lawyer
LawConnect (LawTap) Verified
28 April 2014
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Sydney
It's not "research".
It's a petty publicity stunt to draw traffic to your website.
Grow up.
 

Ricardo

Well-Known Member
30 April 2014
21
0
126
It's not "research".
It's a petty publicity stunt to draw traffic to your website.
Grow up.
I'm not sure your rebuking is appropriate. In marketing, people do petty publicity stunts all the time.
 

Tim W

Lawyer
LawConnect (LawTap) Verified
28 April 2014
4,913
820
2,894
Sydney
Our OP is planning to pass off a petty, amateurish, marketing stunt as "research."

So, let's answer their questions one by one:
Is it ok to publish this on my business website as a research article?
No, because it isn't "research".
And to say that it is could be misleading and deceptive.
...can someone sue me for defamation?
Depends what you say.
But in any event, free-riding on a celeb of any kind exposes you to an action for unjust enrichment.
 

helloworld

Member
28 April 2022
3
0
1
Our OP is planning to pass off a petty, amateurish, marketing stunt as "research."

So, let's answer their questions one by one: No, because it isn't "research".
And to say that it is could be misleading and deceptive. Depends what you say.
But in any event, free-riding on a celeb of any kind exposes you to an action for unjust enrichment.
Thank you for the reply. As I said this is a social experiment, maybe I used the wrong word "research". The article will be about how we conducted the experiment and then the results we gathered. We are not planning to make any conclusions in the article about why girls made certain choices or insult celebs on their attractiveness. Also, we will not push any products in this article except having 'about the ' sections.
 

helloworld

Member
28 April 2022
3
0
1
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, however I am a plaintiff in a defamation case. You should not rely on this as legal advice.

I can't imagine that the "kiss" or "marry" part could be defamation, unless the reasons for those things was somehow defamatory or would bring harm to someone's reputation.
The "kill" part itself would probably not be defamatory on its own because it is clearly said in jest, but the reasons provided for *why* they want to "kill" these people is what you'd normally look at.
The burden of proving defamation for public figures tends to be much higher.
Another thing you need to be aware of if you're a media publisher is to familiarise yourself with how to avoid defamation lawsuits, for example:
* Obtain evidence for every allegation or imputation
* If you don't have evidence for something, be sure to qualify that it is an opinion, not a fact.
Examples:
• "In my opinion, the restaurant's steak tasted burnt" instead of "The restaurant burnt my steak"
• Take a picture of the burnt steak
Thanks this is very helpful.