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If you've never heard of a thing called a Farticle, it stands for fake article. These fake articles usually resemble news sites and are used to sell CPA offers and work very well from what I hear.
They are slightly deceptive in the fact that the reader thinks they are reading legitimate news from a news website. Here is a common example of what one would look like (blurred text to prevent copying):
The other day, I was sitting and watching television with my beautiful wife during dinner. We like to watch the news while we eat.
This commercial played and at the end I had to do a double take. Thanks to DVR, I was able to rewind this commercial (about 4-5 times haha). I decided to record this onto my phone to keep for future reference.
What do you think about this commercial?
You know, I’ve been seeing these for the past year and I’m surprised this is the first mention of it on the affiliate blogs amassed on the internet. If guys ever get caught up in legal action with farticles etc, we always have these as a “But what about these bastards?!” lol
Thanks for finally outing this out Volk.
I got sea sick.
HAH! Sorry about that! iphone stabilization isn’t quite there.
Wow more garbage on tv. I just feel like that makes our AM industry very shady. You can say that it is creative marketing but do you really have to trick someone into doing something?
Yep, I’ve been seeing these all over the TV stations lately. They look pretty legit….reminds me of The Onion though haha
You got to stop watching TV during dinner. Bad habit.
Not at all. Fits my life style perfectly.
There is a similar commercial that I saw where the theme of the TV shows CSPAN type tv. and an Announcement and it shows a clip of Obama talking about recession stuff. I was just like you, WOW!
Yeah! I’ve seen that one, ridiculous! These commercials are tricky and I don’t like them, just like I don’t like the farticles.You shouldn’t have to trick someone into buying your product. Although it may work very well, I think it’s too shady.
I had two points (which have already been made!) – 1) these types of TV ads have been running for a while and 2) there is one that actually uses Obama talking about mortgage crisis.
Direct response players have been doing this for years and years in newspapers, magazines, direct mail, radio and TV. If you want to know whats in the future of affiliate marketing pick up an older direct response book because affiliates follow in the steps that direct response markerters have already paved.
Yes this was borderline…but smart. For example the did not say “Channel so and so News”
I have heard from different bloggers how unfair regulations against television are compared to the very tight new regulations against web sites.
agree with AdHustler… Fake news and flogs were not created by online affiliate marketers. Marketers have been using these tactics and they will continue to evolve as new media emerges.
I really like your blog and i respect your work. I’ll be a frequent visitor.
What any infomercial about the latest abs sculptor to see a variation of the theme.
The only difference is that we are used to a lot of fitness products and not mortgage offers.
I’m guessing the text “Advertisement” at the upper right hand of the screen keeps them out of legal trouble — still a little deceiving, IMO though.
We saw the one with Obama as well. They are pretty deceiving, especially for the elderly.
PS – not a bad habit, it’s a good time to get the news and catch up on the world:)
I too have been seeing these ads for the past year or so. Seems to be in the same vein as the full page magazine spreads that are designed to look like editorials.
They’re all a bit deceiving, but it’s obviously an effective strategy.
You are exactly correct! It’s moved to television advertising.
Hahah, wow farticles another new word to put in the dictionary
at least they put a fat advertisement tag not like those fake articles………