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Internet Marketer Prison Sentences
By TheAntiHype | October 13, 2008
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Image via Wikipedia
The headline read “Internet Marketer Responsible For Prison Sentences”
In an unprecedented move the courts today sentenced thousands of unsuspecting “would be” internet marketers to anything from a £1,000 (say $2,000) fine to 5 years in jail for deception.
Despite their pleas of “we had no idea what we were doing was wrong” the judge, looking solemn declared…
“Ignorance of the law is NO defence”
One of the defendants, who happens to be well known to readers of this blog – yes Homer – was excused punishment on the grounds of diminished responsibility (and total incompetence). He is still not over the public humiliation he received from his ex Sylvie Fortin and is clearly not in control of his faculties. Trying to rebuild his life with Marge he embarked on another spending spree that ended with his recent court appearance.
Asked what he had done Homer responded…
“All I did was to buy a really good product on the theme – how to make money online. It was being heavily promoted – in fact most of the big names seemed to love it. I just followed the advice in the product and the next thing I knew they arrived.”
“I was dragged out of bed – at least I was wearing my newest satin pajamas – to be interrogated by the newly formed Internet Police.”
“It seems I’m not allowed to put up a picture of someone else on the internet, make out that I am that person and say that a certain product has changed my life. They said that is deception. The IP actually was quite agitated and told me that I was obtaining money by deception”
“Fortunately, I hadn’t actually sold anything. Between you and me” he continued “despite trying a million different strategies I’ve never actually sold a thing online!”
Fact or Fantasy?
I really cannot say. I just feel there are some very grey areas surrounding certain online activities and posing as someone else to gain financial advantage could very easily be construed as deception.
If, for example you saw a weight loss program being promoted by a 350 lb lump, would you buy the product? If you answered yes, please leave now 
Assuming you wouldn’t – would you buy that same product from that same lump if that person had a royalty free picture of a good looking young thing, clearly no more than 150 lbs, stating how much weight she / he’d lost using product X?
If you were in the market I’m guessing you may give the product a go because you believed what had happened to the “promoter” of the product could happen to you.
Now if you knew who was behind this promotion – someone who had only put on weight from the day they were born I think you may think you had been somewhat deceived.
Maybe it’s time for the internet to be cleaned up a little.
What’s your take on this?
Am I wrong – should any amount of deception be allowed? Is this just another form of advertising? Should we as consumers be aware that all that glitters is not gold?
Tell me what you think – and in the meantime be careful what you do and say online – the headline above may one day come true!
The Anti Hype
Related information:
The Wikipedia description of deception according to English Law would worry me if I was up to these tricks!
And in New Jersey perhaps this would be of concern
Do some Google searches and you’ll find similar sites and articles everywhere.
I’m no legal expert but I’d hate to be sailing this close to the wind. I’d much rather know I was clean than rely on an assumption of some sort!
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Topics: Bad Gurus, Marketing and Advertising, Pajamas, The Anti Hype | 8 Comments »
October 13th, 2008 at 10:45 am
You know, I was wondering about this very thing a couple of days ago, when a person I met at a marketing seminar put a video up on a new product page and used a name and story that was at odds with what/who he was when I met him last year. He hasn't responded to my e-mail question — I guess I should not be surprised, yes?
The other thing that bothers me, as long as we're on the subject, is the use of checks, clickbank, and paypal account screen shots to “prove” that money can be made – in the “real world” it's illegal to use claims of income like that to entice people to purchase your opportunity, so I'm wondering why the same truth in advertising laws don't seem to apply to the web?
I'm with you 100% on this one: I'd rather be safe than sorry.
October 13th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
It seems to me there is still a very different set of parameters online compared to offline.
It is also confused still further by the international nature of the internet – for example which law applies – that of the vendors country or the site visitor?
There are stacks of examples of possible problem areas:
Discounted prices – in the UK to do this you have to prove the product was for sale somewhere at the full price at some stage – that will be difficult for some “gurus” to prove!
Price increases in 3 days. I've seen sites that have said the same thing for years!
And the list goes on
Personally I think as long as you conduct your business ethically, honestly and don't try to mislead anyone you won't go too far wrong.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:59 am
In the US you can show examples of weight loss, income, etc. but you do need a disclaimer and you are supposed to be able to prove the claim you make. This is why you will often see earning disclaimers and statements to the fact that this one individuals accomplishments aren't average.
But most people don't read the small print. If every program I ever saw gave me the results they showed in their sales pages right now I would be making millions every hour without doing any work. I do make money but believe me I work for it.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:58 am
A 60 year male webmaster, showing a picture of him as a 15 year old girl with and without spots may have difficulty proving “his” claim that his revolutionary acne cream worked!
By the way – you forgot to mention that the millions are only made if you work in your pajamas
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Just when I think I have seen it all when it comes to hype along comes a new line. Many of these people I looked up to when I first started looking into IM and its a big disappointment to see what are bold lies being used to sell products. And that many all tell the tale just to promote a sale for them or a friend.
Unfortunately I have gotten to the point where the delete button is my best friend unless I am looking for a good chuckle for the day. It may mean I miss out on a real program put out by a honest person. But at least I still have money for my satin pj's.
November 5th, 2008 at 2:20 am
Hi Denise, good to hear from you. Glad to hear your spending money on satin pjs and not wasting it!
I came across some really relevant information about this subject – at least as it applies to the UK & Europe. I'll post later
November 5th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
[...] Internet Marketer Responsible For Prison Sentences | [...]
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