Dec 1st, FTC (Fuck This Chit)
- Thread starter Roundabout
- Start date
Same shit just a different day. People just need to figure out other creative ways of pushing shit instead of flogs and farticles (this assumes most networks will crack down and not allow you to use the types of flogs and farticles pubs are using now)
HarveyJ
He is - THE CACTUS!
Shit, you guys really stopped thinking outside the box, didn't you?
Solution:
Get (hire) attractive friends, go out for coffee with them, and then make a seemingly "off the cuff" video of them saying how good the product is.
Then you can link through to YouTube or some shit on your legal compliance page, and state that you have the details of said friends and their testimonials.
The only thing that this makes it a fuck up for is geo-targetting scripts.
Then again, perhaps a clever affiliate here could start a service for genuine testimonials, with a database of people using certain products, drilled down by region, and a script that will geo-locate visitors and throw up the correct testimonials.
Make money by charging people a monthly access fee, dependent on volume usage of referals.
Person gets referrals by paying $25 for a legitimate video endorsement, with legitimate contact details of the person in it who is willing to be contacted by the FTC and say that the testimonial given was their opinion at the time.
That way, all the testimonials are genuine and documented, marketers get the benefit of using said testimonials, and someone has a new service that makes them heaps of money keeping people legally compliant, and some people might even get thanked in the street for referring some other anonymous douchebag onto something that's going to rape their credit card.
Me, I don't give a fuck, because I'm not pushing products I'm not comfortable with and this is too much work (both effort and technical) for me... but I thought you guys might like the idea.
re: lawyers... we've consulted quite a few actually on the topic. And like most lawyers, when new "guidelines" or laws come up, they all say the same thing.
"We will have to wait and see who gets hammered first" (translation: new laws are always vague intentionally and generic in scope, we need to sit and wait and see how far the FTC wishes to stretch it to fit their definitions.)
Testimonials can be written in such a way as not to break any guidelines. It's just as exciting to see a bunch of people say "I can't wait to try this product, it looks awesome" then pictures of before and after BS photos (nobody ever stops to think how photos got uploaded in text-only testimonials which I find funny as hell).
I'm seeing a new trend leaning toward animations. Instead of real people, theyre showing before (a fat cartoonish lady) then she morphs into a thin cartoon lady. This is an interesting approach as it doesnt show a real human being, and you can probably get away with "dramatization only" in the fine print, for the fucking idiot who thinks you're showing a real person.
"We will have to wait and see who gets hammered first" (translation: new laws are always vague intentionally and generic in scope, we need to sit and wait and see how far the FTC wishes to stretch it to fit their definitions.)
Testimonials can be written in such a way as not to break any guidelines. It's just as exciting to see a bunch of people say "I can't wait to try this product, it looks awesome" then pictures of before and after BS photos (nobody ever stops to think how photos got uploaded in text-only testimonials which I find funny as hell).
I'm seeing a new trend leaning toward animations. Instead of real people, theyre showing before (a fat cartoonish lady) then she morphs into a thin cartoon lady. This is an interesting approach as it doesnt show a real human being, and you can probably get away with "dramatization only" in the fine print, for the fucking idiot who thinks you're showing a real person.
Unfortunately if they want you bad enough they'll stretch the rules, as far as they need to be stretched, to get you. (No matter what did they did in previous cases.)
But overall waiting to see what goes down is your best plan. I wouldn't stop anything - or change anything drastically unless you have no TOS on your page or something- although it's hard to say how hard they'll come out swinging chances are you won't be hit first.
...PS -Only a few hours away. Oh it's like Christmas eve!
I heard a story once about a guy who was "served" by Santa Claus. Never believed it, but apparently the story goes that the sheriff/marshall couldnt get the guy so he came to the door dressed as Santa so he'd open it.
Ho Ho Ho ;-)
I think the FTC will grab a few big dogs by the collars and screw them over royally, to scare the crap out of the rest of the affiliates watching. They might even make up some shit to put the scares out. If your ads are everywhere they'll know you're making coin.
But they can't possibly police it all.
As for the solution, rebills are old hat (Hopkins and his try now free and I wont cash your cheque for 30 days stuff):
- Tell people they'll be rebilled (even on a continuity basis)
- Decent quality product (it doesn't have to be awesome, but on the level - this isn't hard to do in most cases)
- Let the minority (in my experience) of complainers/freeloaders cancel their rebills and let the word go around that the company is for real
- Perhaps introduce smaller price points which people can ignore each month (you're more likely to remember to cancel a rebill of $100 then $15 a month)
What dya reckon?
But they can't possibly police it all.
As for the solution, rebills are old hat (Hopkins and his try now free and I wont cash your cheque for 30 days stuff):
- Tell people they'll be rebilled (even on a continuity basis)
- Decent quality product (it doesn't have to be awesome, but on the level - this isn't hard to do in most cases)
- Let the minority (in my experience) of complainers/freeloaders cancel their rebills and let the word go around that the company is for real
- Perhaps introduce smaller price points which people can ignore each month (you're more likely to remember to cancel a rebill of $100 then $15 a month)
What dya reckon?
We don't have shady rebills anymore to my knowledge. At least we have been cutting them mercilessly and suffering the pain.
We do still have continuity offers, but with terms clearly explained/visible - not hidden. And yeah, we did make lots of money on this stuff in the past. Doesn't mean we can't aspire and evolve to something more.
That's the thing - so many people think of any rebill (now a days) as shady. Not all of them are - some are actually valuable...
Either way, Looking forward to seeing what happens now that it has officially started (at least in some of the US).
Really? Yet I get to the end of your evercleanse page and can't even figure out the total about to be charged to a card, nor what the fuck the t's and c's that don't seem to have any relation to the cleanse product are:
https://www.evercleansepromotion.com/legal.php
"If you do not agree with these Terms of Service, please do not SUBMIT ANY information TO THIS WEB SITE or otherwise use or access the Service. You must read and agree with all of the Terms of Service contained in this Terms of Service and the Bigbusinesspro, pay2day, insuranow, insurancexs, shieldmycar, bigbusinessprofessionals, threeminutequote, lowerloans, myidpolice, 123fico, IdentityLookout, easyidguard privacy policies then in effect ("Privacy Policy"), which is incorporated by reference, before you use the Service. If you do not agree to be bound by these Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy, you may not use or access the Service.
1. Products and Services.
1.1 The Service is an online marketplace where you can research and compare services and resources. "
What? This is a colon product no? How come these make zero sense?
Look I don't give a shit what Hydra does or doesn't do, but I'm sick and tired of hearing 'oh no- we're different' only to find out that I've just pushed thousands of orders that are going to result in problems b/c of some idiot advertiser.
