Every once in a while I get an anonymous comment that is just link spam. Nobody but me sees these as I have things such that anyone not my "friends list" can leave a comment, but those must be reviewed by me before being made public. Almost all are made public. Spammers and trolls are the exceptions, of course.

Today another spammer tried, ( Read more... )

That's what the big text on the boxes read when I saw the display at the store this afternoon. I guess they had to be sure to distinguish their product from all those unheated electric blankets.

A couple things arrived in the mail this week, that when taken together are a bit amusing. First, Netflix is offering a free trial. A few days later another advert shows up in the mailbox. A local video rental place is offering a free rental, a couple rent-one and get one free deals, and even offering to forgive up to $25 in late fees. I wonder ( Read more... )

I've mentioned this bit of scammy advertising ( here and here) that attempts to trick the recipient of a post card into calling a number so as to bypass any Do Not Call listings. Since then, I've gotten yet another card from these jokers.

This time I didn't just toss it. Instead, I've scanned it so it can be an example for me to point out a few ( Read more... )

If you've had the misfortune of encountering a certain obnoxiously loud and repetitive television commercial, you know the rest of that line. If not, consider yourself fortunate. The product, whose purpose the commercial never actually mentions, is supposedly a headache medication. Considering how they advertise, I can only hope the makers don' ( Read more... )

In the Sleaze Factor post back in March I mentioned the postcardiod stunt that K-Designers pulls. Today there was a reply posted to it. The reply is reproduced here:

I work for K-Designers

It's not really a scam it's just an advertisement. Basiclly, if you call the number on that card you'll be connected to an inbound rep at our call center. ( Read more... )

A couple days ago I got yet another bit of advertising nonsense from a car dealer. In this case, in Algona IA which is a bit out of my way. I don't need a different car but the advert was revealing. Like many such adverts, this had a prize offering and went so far as to claim "Guaranteed winner."

There were five prizes. A couple were cash, a ( Read more... )

Sleazeball #1: K-Designers

A couple times now I've gotten a bit of advertising that is almost but not quite a postcard. It has a printed note that tries and utterly fails to look like a personal handwritten note, asking me to please call an 800 number in the next five days implying that waiting too long will mean I won't get a free, pardon me, ( Read more... )

It's snowing again. The optimistic forecast calls for only one or two inches total, the pessimistic forecast says five to nine inches by the time it's over late this afternoon or evening. This morning I heard a radio commercial, "You've been thinking about a certain green and yellow lawn tractor. Come in for a test drive today..." Yeah, this is ( Read more... )

I have a pen shaped like a syringe. There used to be some red fluid in the barrel of it, presumably to look a bit like blood. The liquid has long ago evaporated, leaving behind the red dye which dried in splotches. What really makes it wrong, though, is the message on the syringe-shaped pen: SAY NO TO DRUG. I did not omit the last letter. That's ( Read more... )