Bubbleblog

In the introduction to the seminar Google for Grown-Ups, I use a series of slides comparing some of the more common SEO rip-offs to some American comic books ads from the 50s, 60s & 70s, and not just because there are specific parallels; the wider point is that there are many rip-offs that survive for decades (even though common sense tells you they should be common knowledge).

However, recently this old ad caught my eye...

... and a quick Google search for the product name 'Dry-Tabs' revealed that John Law had actually taken an interest in their claims:

It is ordered that respondent Gary Pharmacal Company, a corporation, and its officers, agents, representatives and employees, directly or through any corporate or other device, in connection with the offering for sale, sale or distribution of "Dry-Tabs " or any other preparation of substantially similar composition or possessing substantially similar properties , do forthwith cease and desist from: 1. Disseminating or causing to be disseminated any advertisement by means of the United States mails or by any means in commerce as "commerce" is defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act which advertisement represents, directly or indirectly: (a) That "Dry-Tabs" will be effective in stopping bed-wetting or correcting the bed-wetting habit in all cases. (b) That "Dry-Tabs is a new discovery for treatment of the bed-wetting habit. 2. Disseminating or causing to be disseminated any advertisement by means of the United States mails or by any means in commerce as "commerce is defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act which advertisement fails to clearly and conspicuously reveal that said preparation is of no value in stopping bed-wetting or in correcting the bed-wetting habit, except in cases of functional bedwetting not involving organic defects or diseases; and that the preparation should not be used by children less than six years of age except upon the advice of a physician. (source/PDF starts pg 42)

Archived data like the above from the (US) Federal Trade Commission website is now far easier to access and browse thanks to the improved PDF-indexing technology of leading search engines, and this site-specific search technique:

The above is a screen capture of the search I used to flush out this response from the FTC to a range of ads selling little plastic soldiers (and 'famous automobiles'):

Respondents are now, and for some time last past have been, engaged in the advertising, offering for sale, sale and distribution of toys and related products, including toys designated "204 Revolutionary War Soldiers", "104 Kings Knights", "Aircraft Carrier" and " 147 Famous Automobiles , to the public... Respondents' false, misleading and deceptive advertising claims... unfairly exploit a consumer group unqualified by age or experience to anticipate or appreciate the possibility that (their) representations may be exaggerated or untrue (source/PDF: starts pg 62)

I'm happy to report that the 'Monkey in a Teacup' people (see item #2 on this page) also got their wrists slapped. Not for any monkey business, mind, just for the hoops they made people jump through to get their hands on one:

Consent order requiring a partnership in Des Moines, Iowa, engaged in developing film and enlarging, tinting, and framing photographs, to cease using deceptive promotional schemes to se11 its photographic services and products, specifically, purported puzzle contests-so easy to solve that anyone could "Qualify" and "win" but then was required to sell respondents' products to 20 others before receiving the "real , live Miniature" dog or monkey offered as prize-which were thus used as "bait" to get names of persons who might sell respondents' services and products. (source/PDF: starts pg 86)

Of course, the ability of machines to read scanned documents is still limited, and this can lead to some words being poorly recognised and/or some brand names (e.g 'liftee') being falsely recognised as dictionary words, so the technique is hit-and-miss in places, but for a determined old hunter-gatherer like me, that's part of the fun.

In the end, I walked away from the hunt confident that most of not all of the examples I'd chosen for the seminar still supported my point, and I even found a product from this era that's still on the market (in both vintage and modern form).

Admittedly, once you make it clear to your chosen audience that the product is a 'fun' magic trick, it's no longer quite the rip-off that it used to be, but there are still echoes of the good old days in this placement of a convenient question mark on the modern pack:

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