Weight Loss Claims
Monday, February 16, 2009
Partly because today is Family Day in Alberta and I am taking the day off and partly because I think it may be worthwhile from time to time to “recycle” previous posts as they remain relevant but newer readers may have missed them, I am reposting a story from earlier last year:
To Lose 40 lbs in 40 Days Click Here!
Regular readers of my blog will have noticed that I recently added a tiny little world map to my blog page showing how many visitors from around the world now visit my blog. Those of you, who only subscribe to my blog by e-mail or in a reader, may not have seen this. You have to actually go to my blog to check it out (to visit my blog click here).
Clicking on the world map takes you to a site called ClustrMaps, where you will see a larger and more detailed version of the map. In this view, you will also see several “weight-loss” ads peddling everything from Chinese herbs to bariatric surgery.
I have no control over these ads and neither has ClustrMaps. They are automatically provided by Google Ads on the assumption that readers of my blog are probably interested in weight loss. Every time you click on one of these ads, Google and ClustrMaps earn a couple of cents from the advertisers (I, unfortunately, get nothing).
Any reader of my blog will of course quickly realise that the majority of claims made in these ads are entirely ridiculous and have little to do with obesity management. People will apparently spend money on anything!
If you are tempted to click on these ads and end up buying any of these products or services, I can only say “you have been warned!”.
If you click on the ads out of sheer curiosity about what the weight-loss industry has to offer – you will be putting their money into the coffers of Google and ClustrMaps – I don’t mind either: as far as I know Google is trying hard “Not to be Evil” and ClustrMaps deserves it for coming up with this neat little tool, which I think looks great on my Blog.
AMS
Canmore, Alberta
Monday, February 16, 2009
Hi – many thanks for your observations about ClustrMaps, and for using it so well! I just wanted to ‘beam in’ to mention that we certainly don’t intend to profit from anything that our loyal users might find inappropriate or objectionable.
Although we offer ClustrMaps+ (better maps, no ads) as a subscription service, in recognition of your good usage of ClustrMaps and constructive remarks, we’ve just upgraded you for free to ClustrMaps+ (the ads are already gone, and the better ‘zoomed-in continent’ maps will start appearing after the next overnight map update).
We have some more service improvements in the pipeline – stay tuned! And many thanks for your patience and for sticking with us.
With all best wishes,
-CJ on behalf of the ClustrMaps Team
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Thanks for posting this article!! There are many ads out there that are complete scams, but it’s up to the person clicking the ads to their homework on products before they buy them. Remeber people, ads are what pays for websites to be in business so that you can get free information.