On a Annoyance Scale of 1 to 10, those ads are a MILLION. I spose one could just switch off images, but it's a pain to switch them on and off all the time :OP
Shrinking fat lady advertisement explained...
I had wondered about those ads. Not whether or not they were scams, but just what KIND of scam are they? So I googled it.
How It Works And Why It Is A Scam:
1. People browse websites and see the ads.
2. They click the ads and are taken to a website with a long narrative about the secret
3. After reading the nonsense pitch for a while they are channeled into “trying out” some Acai Berry/Weight Loss Elixir type products.
4. They put their credit card information and click “I agree” to a “no obligation trial”.
5. What they are agreeing to is an endless subscription to be shipped bottles of this stuff each month at a cost of around $80/month.
6. If they do nothing the products keep coming and they keep getting billed each month for $80.
7. When the consumer finally catches on and tries to cancel, the company makes it very difficult to unsubscribe from the service - messing you around on the phone and draining half an hour of your time just to speak to someone.
In Summary
You get endless shipments of useless drinks that are extremely expensive and will never help you toward your goal of losing weight. To stop the orders from coming is a very frustrating and time consuming process and in some cases may not be possible at all.
Sounds like the Columbia House of the New Millenium! (which every teenager I knew made the mistake of subscribing to back in the 70's - thank God we didn't have credit cards!)
This is the definitive statement:
ReplyDelete"Sounds like the Columbia House of the New Millenium! (which every teenager I knew made the mistake of subscribing to back in the 70's - thank God we didn't have credit cards!)"
LOL!! Monkeyweather, I forgot all about Columbia House! I probably ordered 40 LPs (or 8-tracks, remember them??) and then they sent me ads for the next 20 years! Haahahaaahaha!!!
You're right, thank gawd we didn't have credit cards back then :-)
The ad that I HATE HATE HATE over anything else is one that Drudge and other sites run from time to time for "Reversol" or something similar to that.
ReplyDeleteIt's always at the top of the page and it's in B&W. It starts scrolling down and you see a bugg guy's physique and when it gets to the head it's some 90 year-old guy that looks kind of like Jesus, EEEEEEEEK!!!
I can't get out of the page fast enough.
Sigh.
ReplyDeletebugg=buff
Although it drives me BUGGY!
tee hee
hehehe :OD
ReplyDeleteI was wondering, because I hadn't seen any bug guy ads! I felt left out....
I really loathe that fat belly ad, it is freakin everywhere. Great info mw, I wondered what it led to if you clicked on it and now I know!
ReplyDeleteWe're having some wild weather here. The tornado sirens have been going off, and the sky is black. Time to unplug electronics.
ReplyDeleteIt must be spring. :)
Oh no lady red! Stay safe.
ReplyDeletelady red, you've had one hell of a past 12 months :-(
ReplyDeleteYes, stay safe and check in when you can.
Be safe, lady red!
ReplyDelete---
I hate the ads too, and I do something about them: I click on them - particularly on the blogs I like.
Why? Because the blog gets revenue, and it costs the scammer's money.
Click click click everyday. If enough people clicked on the ads, it would drive them out of business.
Monkeyweather, you should start a viral email exposing the scam and urging people to click on the ads. Everyone who gets the email should send it to 10 other people. Or else they will be cursed with something terrible - farting in a crowded elevator, or something.
Floranista....I remember Columbia House. We ordered albums by the dozen from them in my fraternity days. Always in the name of someone we didn't know at all. Phone books are good for that. Only outfit that got hissy about it was Playboy...after about 2 years of fine magazines for all.
ReplyDeleteWe wuz bad.
Aridog, LOL! You were bad!
ReplyDeleteI remember the Columbia House merry-go-round! Once you signed up for the "free" 8-tracks, they kept sending you the "selection of the month" which was always a tape no one wanted. You couldn't cancel; they INVENTED the run-around!
Monkeyweather, it was a great analogy, and a great post. :)
There was an episode of Leave It to Beaver where the Beav ordered a bunch of records from a Clumbia House-like company. He didn't realize that he was supposed to pay for them.
ReplyDeleteI just deleted a spam comment from this thread. Our first spam! Our little blog is growing up so fast...*sniff*
ReplyDeleteI just emailed you about spam, lol! meow
ReplyDeleteI thought it was from the union thread, it must have been those dang belly fat people...