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Someone needs to alert the FTC about this. Having an email saying "Someone created a profile about you!" only to come to the site and all of the sudden it says(
by daimyoyo 15y ago
Someone needs to alert the FTC about this. Having an email saying "Someone created a profile about you!" only to come to the site and all of the sudden it says(after you're forced to market the company for them) "it looks like there aren't any reviews yet" is textbook deceptive marketing.
- chc 15y agoIANAL, but in all likelihood, the distinction between "created a profile for" and "posted a review of" would save them. This is a textbook example of how to trick people without actually claiming anything false. An actual example that was in one of my textbooks: A car company claimed that its new model was three times quieter. The company's competitors objected, saying they didn't find it that superior to their offerings. The company clarified for the FTC that the car was three times quieter on the inside than the outside. The FTC agreed that this was accurate.
- ryanwaggoner 15y agoI see nothing deceptive at all about the quiet car claim, as you've worded it. I immediately assumed they meant quieter on the inside. Why would I care if my car is quieter from the outside? I'm inside it when I'm driving.
- chc 15y agoBut when somebody says one particular car is "300% quieter", most people would assume they're comparing it to some other car, not saying that it's quieter inside the car than if you were standing in the middle of the freeway. Honestly, I think that's at least as reasonable an assumption as "Somebody made a profile for you" -> "Somebody has posted a comment about you."
- rhizome 15y agoIt's even worse than that. They're saying, "somebody created a profile for you...us!"
- sorbus 15y agoI interpreted it as being quieter than the previous model, and can't really see how "its new model was three times quieter" can be interpreted to refer to the inside being quieter than the outside. So I suppose that there's room for confusion. As for why you should care about it being quieter from the outside: because noisy cars are extremely irritating to pedestrians and everyone else who isn't in a car (in the same way that people playing ridiculously loud music while driving in a car is irritating).
- TeMPOraL 15y agoI interpreted this as "quieter than <previous model/competitors' cars>". Also, I treat statements like "It's three times quieter." as completely worthless. "Quieter" is a relative term, and one has to be quieter than something for the statement to make sense.
- shrikant 15y agoThis. That kind of wording is right up there with "Now 50% more effective!" "...than what?" is always my first question.
- lurker19 15y agoSometimes the FTC makes mistakes that are worth corrective. Government officials are not the final arbiter of law, and certainly not of truth.