Do Media Outlets Have the Guts to Bounce Scam Ads?

Whose responsibility is it to vet ads for fraud?

Married but Lonely

We got this email advertisement offering us the chance to “Sleep with Married Women,” and “meet a cheating wife.” An ad is an ad, and we’re not here to judge…

23andMe

Company seeking to provide genetic information grapples with FDA.

The McShane Letter

We received something called the McShane Letter via snail mail. Something about it seems off: There’s a lot going on here. Even in the first sentence: Donald B. McShane is…

Blazing Saddles San Francisco Bike Share

Blazing Saddles, a San Franciso bike-rental company, has a Google Ad running for “San Francisco Bike Share” searches: The advertisement links to a page comparing Blazing Saddles’ rates to Bay…

Is that a Real Query Result or a Paid Ad?

FTC tells search engines to distinguish sponsored results.

Truth in Cat-vertising

Why are there so many cats in ads now, anyway?

Craigslist Apartments Double as Credit-Score Traps

Craigslist, an online classified section with ads for jobs, love, severely over- and under-priced furniture, and apartments, among other things, can be a font of opportunity for the Internet savvy.…

Toying with Gender Marketing

Not all girls like to play with dolls. What’s a race car girl to do when her favorite toys are marketed towards boys?

Lance and LIVESTRONG: You Need a Divorce

Lance Armstrong has conned me one too many times.

Slide Inc.’s Disco Text

Online Privacy Protection for Kids Strengthened

FTC strengthens children’s online privacy protections to keep up with changing technology.

Can you trust an online review?

In the fall of 2010, Todd Rutherford launched GettingBookReviews.com, a marketing service for self-published authors that provided book reviews for cash. Soon, he was making $28,000 a month writing reviews,…

Testimonial Comparisons

Archived Testimonials

Is Your Cellphone Spying on You?

The mobile phone world was rocked in November 2011 when a systems administrator from Connecticut posted a 17-minute video on YouTube showcasing how a hidden program installed on millions of…

Network Advertising Initiative

The Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) is a self-regulatory coalition of online advertising companies, including AOL Advertising, Google, Microsoft Corporation, and Yahoo! Inc.  The organization was established in 2000 amid increasing…

How Ryan Kaji Became the Most Popular 10-Year-Old in the World

Belinda Luscombe, Time

E-Cigarette Database

OnPassive

MLM has been saying it will launch since 2018. Distributors are “fed up.”