Can Spoof Weight Loss Sites Combat Real Scammers?
The Office of Fair Trading, a UK based consumer protection group, has come up with a unique way to fight weight loss charlatans - by inundating the web with their own brand of sketchy weight loss systems.
The spoof ads are strategically placed as banners or sponsored links on various sites and feature products such as; "Fat Foe" - pads the will allow you "kiss your dieting days goodbye", and "Glucobate", the "all-natural diabetes breakthrough". The difference here, is that conned web surfers clicking on links to learn more about the "money back guarantee" or to "order now" are alerted to the fakery.
The idea is that these fake ads will shuttle the discouraged and vulnerable people away from the real con artists sites. This idea has been used already successfully in North America.
Will it Work?
The theory sounds ingenious enough. It makes sense as at least a temporary detractor while groups try and hammer out legislation to prevent such scammers from promoting bogus products and making false or misleading claims.
The most glaring problem that I can see is that the promoters of these spurious products/systems collectively have much deeper pockets. I can't see any government or non-profit advocacy group having the means to put a dent in the massive network that is dodgy weight loss schemes.
Alice Tuff, development officer at Sense About Science, a charity fighting misrepresentation of scientific evidence, sums up the situation nicely;
The internet is cluttered with adverts and chat-room conversations testifying to 'incredible' benefits from untested, sometimes bogus, cures and treatments".
Quick Stats
- In the UK, an estimated 200,000 people spend an estimated £20m ($25.6 million USD) a year on false promises.
- The Office of Fair Trading research suggests most victims of health scams are women and aged between 35 and 64, yet fewer than 1% report the fraud to authorities.
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Another appetite controller, SLIMShots boasts its users eat up to 30% less a day. The single-serving shots of natural oat and palm oil are poured into your coffee, yogurt or cereal to make you feel full. I'm not sure how they came about those numbers, by I suspect is was not through the rigors of a double-blind, placebo study. You could use regular food choices to help you eat less.
ReplyI've thought about doing something similar but it just doesn't seem to make sense from a marketing perspective.
Anyone who would even click on one of those links is certainly not going to be interested in anything I have to say.
I think most health & fitness info marketers (that aren't acai berry/colon cleanse scam artists) are pretty much doing the same thing - get people to click on the link with all sorts of outlandish claims and then sell them the standard eat less exercise more program. They just don't tell them that's what they're selling them.
Most people want to buy a magic pill. Those that don't aren't going to visit the site to begin with - unless I guess it was totally outlandish then people might just go for entertainment value or out of curiosity? I guess I might.
I suppose if you could afford to do enough of it it might make a dent? I dunno. I can't afford to try that's for sure!
ReplySeems like a fun idea. Can't hurt. I think people really don't want to believe that the hard work of eating less/better and exercise are going to have to be done, the magic pill that allows one to eat all the want and not exercise doesn't exist, and the more that that is hammered into their heads, the better.
ReplyMy question is, how effective will this be at channeling people away from the real scammers? It seems like most of the fake websites are pretty similar to the real scam sites, so how are they going to get everyone to go to their sites instead of the scam sites? In theory it sounds good, but unless they replace all the banner ads, I don't think it'll stop people from trying something ridiculous like a tapeworm in a pill or some colon-cleanse product that will "eliminate 40 lbs of undigested fecal matter".
ReplyWell this website comes 100% free and introduces very interesting feature - SMS meal reminders. I'm not from US but I like pre-prepared diet plans.
site: www.wootAdiet.com
ReplyThese diet pills do not make a person lose weight, not even a single kilogram. These commercials just make money by selling their fake products and then vanish from the market when people come to know about the reality.
ReplyThis is where we need to be very careful... We have to review all of the best weight loss pills out there. After investigating and analyzing all of them, we have made our thorough reviews available, which offers you independent advice.
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