This isn’t directly sex related, and yet it is. It seems that ad company Etology is doing a dishonest, bait and switch email campaign to hook sex bloggers, and Bacchus at Eros Blog totally busted them on it. And in return, they offered a non-apology apology. After reading that post this morning, I’ve been poking around a bit on Etology (and their partnership with AVN) throughout the day. The parting shot about this in my inbox this afternoon was, “do these morons not realize they are marketing to BLOGGERS, and do they not know how easy it is to SCREW THAT UP?” Snip:
Short version: this is a warning to my fellow adult bloggers about a very dubious pitch you may have received recently. Etology.com is sending out spammy emails to adult bloggers in which the company feigns an interest in buying ads, only to abandon that pretense once you answer the email. Without further ado, having confirmed your interest in selling ads, they begin giving the hard sell for ad brokerage services — not buying any ads at all, but rather, offering your ad space to their network of potential advertisers. Classic bait-and-switch: first the false offer (the bait) to get your attention, then the switch to the real offer. Illegal in some jurisdictions, scummy everywhere. (…)
(…) Writing that email forced me to figure out why I care as much about this as I do. We live in an attention economy these days, and prioritizing our attention is vital to business success. I (well, me and my filters) sort four or five thousand emails a day, most of them spam and most of the rest, bacn. Sorting out the tiny but significant fraction of business email from people who actually want to send me money? That’s a vital business function that takes a lot of time and effort. Lying to me in an effort to subvert my vital business functions? Way to piss me off.
Lying for attention is theft of attention, and it’s not just a minor offense. Time is money, and stealing one is as bad as stealing the other. If the corporate culture at Etology.com is honestly supportive of this type of deception, they are not a company I’d enjoy having to trust for a monthly check. (…read more.)
