I sat down at my HP Compaq™ tc4200 Tablet PC, took a sip of my Starbucks™ Peppermint Mocha and tried to absorb the sense of betrayal I felt when I read that Sony yesterday confessed to creating a “flog,” or fake blog, to promote its products.

“The blog, alliwantforxmasisapsp.com, was supposedly authored by an amateur hip-hop artist ‘Charlie’–whose cousin, ‘Pete,’ craved a PSP under the tree. Written in faux hip-hop and Internet lingo, the phony blog, which went live at the end of last month, quickly raised suspicions. Last week, some readers conducted a WHOIS search, which unmasked the site’s registrars as Zipatoni.

Sony Wednesday released a statement acknowledging that the blog was phony. ‘Sony Computer Entertainment America developed alliwantforxmasisapsp.com as a humorous site targeting those interested in getting a PSP system this holiday season,’ it read. ‘We’ve now added a posting that provides this clarification to consumers visiting the site.’”

A clarification? How about “we’re liars, sorry we got caught.”

Zipatoni (no link, sorry), claims on its site to “move consumers into action to get them to interact with brands.” What it doesn’t explain is that it does this through the creation of imaginary consumers and feigned interaction. Zipatoni now joins the star-studded ranks of Edelman and others in giving atrocious counsel to a client. And worse still, they were ratted out by a simple whois search. Good lord, man, what a shoddy operation. Have a friend sign up for the domain next time!

I think the larger lesson here is that it’s time for the shamelessly commercial, like Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, Sony and others, to come out of the closet of disingenuousness and step into the light of shameless commercialism. My dad always says “if it doesn’t fit, use a bigger hammer,” which is not really relevant here, but he also says, “if you can’t fix it, feature it,” which is.

Corporate America has proven that it is addicted to hyperbole, deception and manipulation, and many companies will soon give up all pretense of authenticity in their use of social media. With advertorial and the infomercial, print and broadcast advertisers tore down the age-old separation of advertising/editorial church and state, and simply purchased print and broadcast space for their phony editorial content.

What is surprising is not that advertisers and marketers have broken the contract of authenticity with consumers, but that they have not done so more widely and more blatantly. I think we are poised at the dawn of a new age in social media, the advent of the “blogvertorial” (or some other portmanteau designed to assuage the feelings of guilt that are only natural but must be suppressed when advertisers need to resort to deception to promote inferior products and services).

So I say, go for it. Stop pretending that people are interested in and engaged with your company and its products. Once you cross the line into blogvertorial land, you can say anything you want with impunity. It’s really liberating, and when you’re shamelessly commercial, and open about it, no one can attack your credibility.

And in case you’re wondering about all the product mentions in my post, I’m practicing for the next obvious stage in the maturation of social media — paid product placement. Companies interested in discussing a placement deal on the Hyde Park blog should contact my agent as soon as possible, as space is sure to sell out.