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!

© TheAntiHype for guru-fodder.com, 2008. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: deception, internet marketing, online fraud, Sylvie Fortin
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With just under 19,000 people already registered it looks like Michael Cheney is about to have a massive pay day!

Now, as The Anti Hype, I’m still in two minds about this launch. As you know I’m not keen on the over-hype associated with many launches. With The Golden Thread I do feel that this is a great product and will be very well received by those looking for a set-up and go solution, but I really dislike the volume of emails I’m receiving AND the offers of bonuses for using certain links – personally I’d rather have a discount!

The challenge is that although the product promises Cash Cannons for some products that are included in the package, by its very nature this means 500 people using the same system at the same time to sell the same products. Or maybe I’ve just missed something.

Anyway, I’ll let you into a little secret – I’ve been using Pre Sale Videos for about a year and to all intents and purposes these are the equivalent of cash cannons. No you don’t get the full training, personalised templates and resell rights products that are available in The Golden Thread. But, what you do get is professional pre recorded videos that promote a variety of great affiliate products.

All you do is sign up, get your links and promote or embed the code on a page of your own. The following is an example and in keeping with todays theme of video sales pages this video is for a brilliant package of products that makes adding any video to any web page a piece of cake. I bought the product myself yesterday and I’m amazed at how easy it is to use.

WATCH THE VIDEO NOW

If you have no products to sell the basic PreSale Videos system may be a perfect fit – basically it’s a video with your affiliate link embedded into the code. But if you want to take it a stage further then you may want to source your own resale rights products. If so watch the video at the following link for details of a free trial to Resale Rights Express

So, if you miss out on Michael Cheney’s product or you find the price too steep take a look at Pre Sale Videos as an alternative.

© admin for guru-fodder.com, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cash cannons, michael cheney, presale videos, resale rights, the golden thread, video marketing
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