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#1
January 29th, 2006, 08:55 PM
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"Fake" testimonials
I have a quick question on testimonials.
Are there any laws against putting up "fake" testimonials? Thanks, Jeff
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#2
January 30th, 2006, 12:16 AM
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faking and the law
There are no laws as such against fake testimonials but many
countries have laws against gaining a monetary advantage by deception. So if you use your fake testimonials to get a paid job or contract then you will either be committing a crime or can be sued for misrepresentation or both. It varies from county to country. 
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#3
January 30th, 2006, 08:07 AM
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False Advertising - I'm pretty sure fake testimonials would fall under that, as they are a form of advertising yourself.
__________________
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#5
January 30th, 2006, 04:45 PM
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Actually false advertising would only fall under this if your testimonials speak of something which cant be achieved with your program. All in all, i think its not illegal, but unethical. But it can become illegal if your testimonials contradict what your really selling.
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#6
January 30th, 2006, 05:34 PM
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The thing is, testimonials typically are something along the lines of "This product is great, it really helped" or "I've been completely satasified by this product. It's done everything I needed."
Something like that could be considered false advertising in the sense that you are saying that the product has helped people achieive their goals, when in reality it has not. Not only did it not help people, the people saying that it was helpful don't even exist. The former example is less prone to something like that, as you're stating more of an opinion, which you could probably the buy on. The later is leaning more to stating some type of fact, which could get you in trouble. Depends on who's deciding what the definition of false advertising is. All in all though, using fake testimonials is mearly taking a stupid risk. Wait til you get some real ones.
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#7
January 30th, 2006, 05:47 PM
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Quote:
Did you even look? Lookup the Lanham Act ... (USA, FTC) Useful: FTC's FAQs on Advertising < read the top then scroll way down the alphabetical appendix to I for Internet Advertising. There it explicitly explains how all the above does apply to the internet and has several links you should look at. And Guidelines for endorsements and testimonials in advertising As you notice, the FTC is largely the body, in the USA anyway, that you need to worry most about. This might help: Quote:
An example, there's a "get rich quick in real estate" scheme or some such thing on tv. There they have some guy posing with a $500,000 car in front of a $50,000,000 mansion smiling and saying something stupid like "I owe it all to Sam Shady's Method" with text on the screen, visible but small, that says "Paid actor, not an actual endorsement ..." Or "Government foreclosures, buy real estate for as low as ten bucks" and it shows nice $100,000-$500,000 houses with a caption "houses depicted are not typical of actual listings" if you are being deceptive you can get away with it as long as you're upfront about your deceptiveness, see? :-)
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#8
July 29th, 2006, 12:11 AM
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Well it was only a matter of time...
There's an online testimonial verification service I recently came across called Trusted Testimonials. I haven't used them but the write-ups online seem pretty positive so far.
On their site I came across this funny cartoon that shows what fake testimonials can do to a person. You can check it out at: Cartoon Link Quote:
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#9
July 29th, 2006, 11:47 PM
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You should just not even think about putting fake ones up in the first place, just be ethical.
That cartoon was pretty funny too.
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#10
August 4th, 2006, 05:33 AM
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Also few clients may ask you to provide contact numbers of the customers as per their testimonials to cross check it. This may put you in trouble if you are using fake testimonials.
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#11
August 30th, 2006, 06:32 PM
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Anything fake about business is discusting. I despise the people who do it, and I despise the people who think about doing it. I steak my reputation on that. If you are having thoughts of making fake claims, why dont you just spend a little extra time and get some people to actually make claims about your product. You will be much happier with that then trying to dive around fake claims as they come back at you. Not only that but it could just take you to real results instead of fake ones!
Good Day
__________________
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#12
September 4th, 2006, 12:47 AM
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To keep it simple it is lying to the customer, as in you are a liar and
there goes any reputation you have everywhere. I can sell anything with only the truth and have, never lie!
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