What Those Too-Good-To-Be-True Web Ads Really Mean
By Moon Daisy
(Or Probably).
You know the ones I mean, you see them everywhere on the web.
They promise you the things that everybody desires, and make it sound as if they're well within your reach.
You can banish your wrinkles, lose loads of weight, or be rich beyond your wildest dreams - all with "one simple trick".
This is one big teaser, as you have to click the ad to find out what the trick is! And once you've clicked the ad, who's to say that it tells you?
Who knows what you have to click on next, or what they make you do to find out these spectacular, yet simple secrets... Well I don't, as I'm too scared to actually click the links. (They look well dodgy, don't ya think?).
So, not wanting to click, I can only speculate on what may lay behind these ads, showing pictures of ordinary people with extraordinary knowledge.
Here are some of the ads, and what they (probably) mean.
Simple Miracles
There are many variations of these ads. The following are some that I came across this evening:
Local mom exposes an anti-aging miracle. Her £3 trick erases wrinkles!
Put a (£3) bag over your head.
Lose 1 stone/week with this one quick diet trick.
Don't eat.
1 trick of a tiny belly! Cut down a bit of your belly by using this one weird old tip.
Get liposuction.
Swindon mum makes £77/hour online. Unemployed mum makes £6,397/month working online.
She commits internet fraud.
Dermatologists hate her! Local mum reveals £4 trick to erase wrinkles. Shocking results exposed!
Well, the photo accompanying this ad shows a very old-looking mum pulling what looks like dried glue off her face. It is very disturbing. But maybe that's the answer; coat your face with PVA.
Comments
Thanks, Moon Daisy, yes, we all know the ads. As of yet I haven't clicked on any, but I've "thought" about clicking on the one that promotes and promises the Russian beauties, but I won't. Me thinks those ads are something like viruses: People just don't have anything better to do. Thanks for a good hub!
MikeNV, thanks for your comment. And thank heavens for truthful Americans, lol!
Thanks SubRon7. Yes, it's tempting isn't it? I haven't seen the ones about Russian beauties, lol! And yes, they could well be viruses. So I'm very wary about what I click..
Thank you both for reading my hub. Those ads keep popping up and I've been wondering about them, so I wanted to write something.
Very funny! I see these all the time and wonder how many people actually click :)
The adds which say mums reveal amazing truth etc are mostly based in the USA. In fact I got caught by one add from America and it was a scam getting you to allow the firm to send you supplies monthly and charge a whopping £80 a month, and you only had ten days to cancel, which included the time it took to reach you. Some people hadn't even received the trial before £80 was taken out of their account for the free trial. Yes, it wes advertised as a free trial. USA is just as dishonest as The United Kingdom. We are all in it together. Needless to say, the product didn't work!
I love the one where about getting enough sleep where the guy looks SO disheveled -- dude, lack of sleep isn't your problem. Meth is your problem.
Thanks for the great "interpretations" of these ads and for making me laugh! You got a "funny" from me today :)
Thanks glassvisage. Yes, these ads are everywhere now. I'm glad that I haven't given into the temptation to click, given Dawn's comment!
Dawn, thanks for letting us know what happens if you click some of these. It sounds like a big scam. Poor you for getting caught by it!
BusinessTime, I haven't seen that one about the sleep. Good interpretation! I'm glad I made you laugh, and thanks for the funny. Much appreciated!
First saw them all the time on American news websites, now they are everywhere.
Yes, I still see them everywhere! Thanks for your comment Arax.
the adds are just weird i've never clicked n em coz am scared 2! :D but i just wonder how many people do
Me too! I'm guessing that some people must click on them, or else they wouldn't continue to put them up. But I'm not going to. :) Thanks for your comment.
I accidentially clicked on one of these. I'd seen the ads all over the place, like all of you, and never risked clicking on them. However I was reading the website of The Daily Mail which is a well known UK newspaper and also has links to articles on the websites of other newspapers. I saw the "£5 trick/dermatologists hate her/57 year old mom looks 35" type headline as a link and the web address shown was that for the Guardian newspaper - a bona fide UK newspaper. I checked that the web address was in fact that for the Guardian, which it was, and thought maybe the Guardian had done an expose of these ads, so I clicked on it. Well it led me directly to the website offering these goods/services, not the Guardian website at all. Very deceptive. Furthermore, it's one of these websites that when you want to leave by going back to your previous page, makes it difficult by asking you whether you really want to leave. I have to say, the images in the ads look too creepy for me ever to want to investigate further. The one of the grey haired woman peeling some kind of transparent layer off her face is like something from a horror film!
MikeNV 8 months ago
These ads never appear in the united states. We ALWAYS tell the truth. What are you Brits thinking?
:P