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Acai, African mangoes, and the ‘tiny belly’ con

Posted on July 7, 2011 by DebbieN

The Washington Post:  ‘tiny belly’ online ad part of scheme, government says

Acai berry distributors have been under scrutiny from the FTC since the spring, but the “tiny belly” and “1 weird old tip” ads that flood the margins of your online newspaper are part of an elaborate scheme to sell you fake diets based on acai, African mangoes, hCG (placenta extract), and other snake oil.

According to the FTC, though, the true objective may be something else–the “free samples” require you to register your credit card.

Google and the other main ad server claim they’re weeding out bad ads, but this one is so prominent on so many sites you just have to wonder what kind of cut they’re getting from it. Because the same damn wiggling abdomen cartoon is everywhere, used over and over, it should be a snap to eliminate.

File this under: unappetizing.

Filed under: Food Magazines, Food Politics, nutrition, shopping, unappetizing | Tagged: , , , , , , |

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3 Responses

  1. Lurkertype's avatar
    Lurkertype, on July 7, 2011 at 8:22 pm said:

    Debbie, it’s things like this that make me happy I’ve installed AdBlock. You can get it for either Firefox or Chrome (probably for Opera too, but I don’t know).

    It comes with an extensive list of things to block, plus you can add anything you come across and hate with one or two clicks of the mouse.

    No flashing, beeping, dancing, pop-up menaces for me. I haven’t seen an ad in five years, so I had no idea what you were referring to at first.

    I’m prone to migraines and have friends with ADD, and blocking all those distractions pays off in mental rewards now, and saves us money later! (And if I had children, you best believe I’d be blocking ads)

    • DebbieN's avatar
      DebbieN, on July 8, 2011 at 1:18 am said:

      Hi Lurkertype,
      You’re too right (and also more technically savvy than me, but I’m going to check it out). It’s one reason I’ve paid for a WordPress upgrade not to post their own ads on my blog–didn’t want their engine serving up stuff I’d hate to have associated with me.

      The “tiny belly” ad is basically a gateway lure to all those desperate for a magic bullet answer to pudge (as opposed to the highly unpopular “Get out of the house and stop noshing in the car/the bathtub/your sleep and/or in front of the TV/computer/iPad/Gameboy/Wii”). Sign of the times, I guess–there’s a sucker born every minute.

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