Earlier this year Geddes who spent several years working on the Microsoft account at PR Company Burson Marsteller, where she honed her media manipulation skills, tried to gag SmartHouse and ChannelNews from reporting on the fact that Sony is bleeding losses, laying off thousands and losing market share with key products like Bravia LCD TV's and Sony Playstation gaming consoles.
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eral times during the past 12 months Geddes who heads an internal team of communication consultants at Sony has questioned 4Square Media about stories that she has described as "negative".
On one occasion shortly after we revealed that Sony Australia was laying off 32 people Geddes threw a major hissy fit demanding that we take down a story relating to the sacking of the 32 people in Australia and the kidnapping of senior Sony executives involved in the termination of Sony staff in Europe.
As a company, Sony has always been overly protective of their image. Management still see the Company as a premium high quality consumer electronics Company that can charge a premium for their products.
However, consumers and leading industry analysts are seeing them differently with thousands of consumers now walking away from the brand because of design and pricing issues, with several of their products being seen as significantly overpriced when compared to the same products being sold in the USA.
During the past month, three senior industry executives including Activision CEO Bobby Kotic, gaming analyst Michael Patcher, DisplaySearch Director, for Small & Medium Displays Chris Cotty have criticised Sony for price gouging with their Playstation 3 gaming console. Activision even went as far as telling the media that they are considering dropping development of games for the Sony platform.
These are senior executives of major organisations involved in the gaming industry.
