Do Not Reply

Valueclick is currently running this ad on their network.

Classy. Hey, when you want people to sign up to get spammed*, you have to inflame them. And what the hell, it is just a murdered child, surely that is fair game right?

To be honest, we used to use valueclick/fastclick on our sites. They served cpm/cpc ads. But since valueclick and fastclick merged, they have gone down hill. From countless posts like this one, about dropping rates, to numerous accusations of trojan installs. Life just isn’t easy being a scumbag these days…

How conflicted is Valueclick? Valueclick owns Commission junction. On commission junction, they forbid the use of 180 Solutions/Zango to advertise their merchants (or at least they did), while they ban it there, they actually promote Zango using their valueclick/fastclick division. And the CJ side even warned merchants of shady CPA networks using companies like 180 solutions/zango… which maybe they only had issues if they didn’t signup by clicking on their own ad… or something. if you are confused, don’t worry. The rest of this is pretty straightforward.

Here is the landing page for that ad. So the deal is, to get your gift card, you have to give them info, fill out a survey, get spammed, blah blah blah…

But only the bottom of the barrel advertisers would use a child’s death to promote their special offers right? Well… sadly not really. Among the advertisers being promoted with this exciting contest is - Wal*Mart, Netflix, OldNavy, ADT security, Quicken Loans, Carnival Cruises, Block Buster, Discover Card and a bunch of companies that you would think were scummy enough to promote themselves this way.

I know, I am being an idiot. This is just business… and if you can’t capitalize on the death of a child, how in the hell do we expect anyone to make a buck?

* According to siteadvisor.com, popculturesurvey.com generated 291 spammy emails a week.

Feel free to take this article, post it on yout site, put your name on it, do whatever you want. I just want to get the word out.

Digg This

Thanks to digg.com and all the users there, my almost 3 month old article can finally claim victory. It wasn’t until the article was dugg a few days ago that the story gained traction and today Warner Brothers has announced that they will cut their link with adware firm Zango.

So to everyone who dugg the story, who contacted warner brothers, the ftc, etc. thanks. You made a difference. You made the Internet work like it should. It may only be one company dropping adware, waking up to what they were promoting, but its a start.

Also big thanks to abestweb.com where the initial information was posted and perked my interest to investigate a little more.

Thanks again and tonight have a beer on me. Unless you aren’t old enough. Then don’t. And no, the have a beer checkbox has not been prechecked…

A page that is “Just for Kids”, shows pictures of the Flintstones, scooby-doo and other cartoons sure seems like it would be targeted towards kids. Outside of chat rooms, just for kids normally means just for kids… On Warner Brother’s Website, it has all of this and a little something more, something very much not just for kids.

Notice the ad in the upper right? Where does that lead to? And who do you think this page targets?
It leads to a zango install page of course. Zango? Zango is 180 Solutions adware software, if that is starting familiar, they are the ncase people. I talked about zango here. They are also the people behind this alleged child porn browser. They are also the people who still silently install their software on your pcs.

Pretty kid friendly!

So lets go to the install page, this seems pretty adult to install software that will bog down their computer by filling it with ads. So at least the install page will look properly serious right? You be the judge.

That looks pretty scary! That friendly robot should scare off anyone under 18! And if you think I clicked that checkbox stating I am over 18, think again. Go ahead and visit that page, pre-checked because us over 18 crowd don’t have time to actually click boxes!

So okay. A rambunctious pre-18 year old actually visits a site targeted to them, reacts to a site targeted at them and then dares to submit a form that the friendly robot has already checked for them, surely this all must lead to some good wholesome content.

Right?

From their terms.

“Please note that you may receive Adult-oriented ads…”

So you are a parent. You monitor your kids on the web. You let them go to the WB so they can check out one of the WB’s cartoons. And what do you get? Pop-up ads and porn ads!

Th-Tha-That’s all folks!!

People have emailed asking what they can do.

First, File a complaint against Warner Brothers with the FTC.
Second, Call your congressman or senator.

Dig this