Share SLO social ambassador fired

September 4, 2013

The Rosetta Marketing Group has fired San Luis Obispo’s first social media ambassador, Bentley Murdock. [KSBY]

Rosetta hired Murdock six months ago to promote San Luis Obispo by attending events and posting on social media. The marketing firm received funds from the San Luis Obispo Tourism Improvement District to hire Murdock for a year.

Murdock served as the city’s ambassador for six months after a highly publicized, six-week hiring process that involved interviews with, among others, Mayor Jan Marx.

Others involved in Rosetta’s promotion of San Luis Obispo tourism said that Murdock was not attending events.

Sources told CalCoastNews a few months ago that Murdock’s firing was imminent.

Rosetta now says that the San Luis Obispo ambassador position has been eliminated, and the firm is using a “street team” of more than 100 volunteers to fill the role of promoting the city.

“We just didn’t see him,” said radio host Adam Montiel, who applied for the ambassador position and is a member of the street team. “If you ‘Google Bentley Murdock Share SLO,’ the first thing isn’t from posts. It’s the article that says he won.”

Montiel said he interviewed Murdock on his radio show the after Rosetta hired him.

“He was chosen because the mayor liked that he didn’t drink,” Montiel said. “When you figure how much wine plays into everything we do here, that didn’t even make sense.”

Murdock said he is seeking legal representation. Roestta said it could not comment due to the threat of “legal ramificiations.”