Advertising & Ethics

I looked up one of the Google Ad Sense advertisers, I didn’t click through, as that would be counted as a cheat, and from that site I hit, I filled in the answers to the questions, so I could receive a free astrology reading.

What I got, in summation? An up-sell. No reading, no news, nothing about my Sagittarius Sun, or my moon sign, or Mars, Venus. Nothing.

Then, because I did click through on the first offer, the auto-responder kept hitting that e-mail address with reminders, “I see you haven’t activated my offer yet,” and “I see big things in your upcoming transits, but you have to act now!”

Well, there you have it. Murky ethics, borderline false advertising, and questionable practices, just maybe a little shy of really being illegal. But certainly close, and other than offending my good tastes? Gray ethical area.

Very gray area. I’m surprised there’s been no hue and cry. Where’s the moral indignation when it’s needed?

“Take advantage of this good transit now: send me money!” Not an exact quote, but the line between advertising and ethical behavior seemed pretty murky on that one.

There’s always a catch, and I’ve covered it in the fine print, “You are opting to receive this information…”

Canned text?

“1) I’ve double-checked this information several times over and I can confirm that such an intense Transit will not take place in your configuration again for a long time to come. This is why you need to get the best out of this event now.
“2) I have calculated the dates of this Transit and so I can now tell you that over the month of March you will live though this period and to be more exact the Transit will begin on 8 February 2010 and will end on 9 March 2010.

That was an exact quote.