Google makes me feel sicko

From time to time, Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) reminds everyone that despite all of the talk about peace, love and the sharing of information, it is just a company.

A case in point is the idiotic rantings of a low-level executive trying to kowtow to the health care industry. Writing about MIchael Moore's documentary "Sicko," Lauren Hutton Turner laments that "Moore's film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare's interest in patient well-being and care."

Of course, Hutton, an account planner who works with health care companies, has a solution: buy more advertising on Google. "Whatever the problem, Google can act as a platform for educating the public and promoting your message," she writes. "We help you connect your company's assets while helping users find the information they seek. "

Hutton is being vilified and mocked throughout the Internet. But even though the criticism of her is a little unfair, it raises a bigger issue about the honesty of Google's search results. It's not in Google's interest for someone searching for the term "health care costs" to see a link to Moore's documentary come out on top or even on the first two or three pages.

This reminds me of a bizarre story I heard about the Wall Street Journal and Enron. Soon after the first Enron stories appeared in the newspaper someone in the Journal's advertising department supposedly (I am not sure if it's true or not) sent the company a letter offering to do a branding campaign to combat the negative publicity being created by its own reporters.

Hutton is probably no different than thousands of other Googlers looking to get a bigger slice of the world's advertising spending. She erred in showing publicly how Google values its advertisers over its users just like every other media company. If people get some use out of Google while it makes money for its customers, it's a happy coincidence.