Firm nailed for fake testimonials and forum posts
Jul.15, 2009 in
Marketing
New York cracked down on a plastic surgery firm that was posting fake testimonials and positive comments on the web. That firm will enjoy paying $300,000 in fines for their sleazeball actions.
Better idea: Have a good product that real people make positive posts about.
Full details from the Office of the Attorney General.
Please share your thoughts on this by posting a comment below.
August 7th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
This is the best news I’ve heard in a while. Personally, I just scroll down past the testimonials. I don’t have time for the rah-rah’s on a sales page. If I want to know something about a product or service that doesn’t come from the ‘salesman’ I usually go to a third party site such as http://www.imreportcard.com/.
Dave Carlson
August 7th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Thank you so much for posting this about unscrupulous business practices. Its better to be open and honest about testimonials as you say.
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I am happy to hear that the law is after these kinds of scam. I think it is a shame that companies and people just take other people’s money and take them for a ride. I have joined all kinds of programs and am still trying to make it online.
I really like MyPowerMall . It helps me save money each time I shop online.
October 25th, 2009 at 4:33 am
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March 19th, 2010 at 9:14 am
The irony is that, after all of this talk of spamming other websites with fake comments and testimonials, your own comments are more of the same.
Ah, the interwebs. It doesn’t stop.
October 25th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
[...] fake testimonials and will have to pay $300,000 to the State of New York (special thanks to the High Tech Marketing Blog, a blog about internet marketing ideas and tactics, which does not include making fake [...]
June 3rd, 2011 at 12:13 am
The question to ask is, how many other practices use faked testimonials? I’ve even read about plastic surgeons using camera lighting to make the final outcome look more presentable. This is where the line between fake and real becomes blurry.
For instance, hair transplant specialists are known to use brighter flash for post procedural pictures since light dispersion makes the scalp look fuller. Similarly, rhinoplasty pictures can be greatly misleading with very slight alterations in camera angle.
While I commend the attorney general on cracking down on this practice, the burden still resides on the shoulder’s of the consumer.