From our front-page news:
As I mentioned in our news earlier this week, there's a lot of advertising I can tolerate, but there's also a lot of advertising that repulses me. One such form of advertising I can't stand are scams, and I'm sure the only people against me on that are the scammers themselves. But what makes the scams even worse is that the ads they use for the purpose are likewise repulsive, and downright disgusting.
Think about it for a moment... what type of ad have you been seeing a lot more of lately, even on the biggest mainstream news sites around? Well, if you happen to stumble on similar sites as I do, then you've probably noticed promises of whiter teeth, without the need for a dentist visit or some other hardcore technique. There's nothing wrong with wanting whiter teeth, of course, but I'm still stumped as to how such ads could attract even the most desperate person.
The reason the ads were "repulsive" was because the images used were the furthest thing from flattering, and they obviously used the worst case scenario for each malady. Yellow teeth would have been minor, but I remember seeing mouths with missing teeth, black teeth... just lunch-churning imagery to be caught off guard with. It appears that they must have done fairly well, since they've lasted so long, but as of last week, Google has taken a stance and de-listed the perpetrators from its search engine.
I'm never one to jump to praise Google, but it has to be done here, because aside from the ads themselves, this was proven to be a scam. People would suspect that they were getting a free trial of something, and instead be signed up for an expensive monthly subscription of some related medication or product. In one of the most ironic twists I've ever seen, one of the companies who was banned from Google, and openly admitted to misleading consumers, is now suing Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! over not de-listing a copycat site that infringed upon its name, which opened up after the initial de-listings. This is like a drug dealer going to the cops to out someone for stealing their dope. Pure ridiculousness.
When Dazzlesmile and its parent company Optimal Health Science decided to become squeaky clean and ceased their dealings with Epic, Epic allegedly continued to run the ad campaigns, according to the suit. But the new ads were funded by a Canadian named Jesse Willms, who allegedly operated infringing websites including DazzleSmilePro.com and DazzleSmilePure.com — both of which have since been removed (see screenshot). Dazzlesmile LLC is also suing Epic, Willms and AtLast, which filled the orders, for trademark infringement among other things.
Source: Wired
Think about it for a moment... what type of ad have you been seeing a lot more of lately, even on the biggest mainstream news sites around? Well, if you happen to stumble on similar sites as I do, then you've probably noticed promises of whiter teeth, without the need for a dentist visit or some other hardcore technique. There's nothing wrong with wanting whiter teeth, of course, but I'm still stumped as to how such ads could attract even the most desperate person.
The reason the ads were "repulsive" was because the images used were the furthest thing from flattering, and they obviously used the worst case scenario for each malady. Yellow teeth would have been minor, but I remember seeing mouths with missing teeth, black teeth... just lunch-churning imagery to be caught off guard with. It appears that they must have done fairly well, since they've lasted so long, but as of last week, Google has taken a stance and de-listed the perpetrators from its search engine.
I'm never one to jump to praise Google, but it has to be done here, because aside from the ads themselves, this was proven to be a scam. People would suspect that they were getting a free trial of something, and instead be signed up for an expensive monthly subscription of some related medication or product. In one of the most ironic twists I've ever seen, one of the companies who was banned from Google, and openly admitted to misleading consumers, is now suing Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! over not de-listing a copycat site that infringed upon its name, which opened up after the initial de-listings. This is like a drug dealer going to the cops to out someone for stealing their dope. Pure ridiculousness.
When Dazzlesmile and its parent company Optimal Health Science decided to become squeaky clean and ceased their dealings with Epic, Epic allegedly continued to run the ad campaigns, according to the suit. But the new ads were funded by a Canadian named Jesse Willms, who allegedly operated infringing websites including DazzleSmilePro.com and DazzleSmilePure.com — both of which have since been removed (see screenshot). Dazzlesmile LLC is also suing Epic, Willms and AtLast, which filled the orders, for trademark infringement among other things.
Source: Wired