Playboy model (and one of Hugh Hefner's live-in girlfriends) Kendra Wilkinson (above, with her ancient boyfriend) loves Olive Garden restaurants, and says so frequently on her MySpace page and elsewhere.

That's kind of a problem for the Olive Garden, which promotes a wholesome family atmosphere.

Let's leave for another time any discussion of family values, the fact that bimbos have families, too, the chance for Olive Garden to steal business from Hooters, and so on.

The point is that in a webbed world, your brand is not yours alone.

Much is made of the power of grassroots supporters and word-of-mouth marketing. The flip side is more problematic: some of the folks who talk up your brand make the folks at corporate queasy.