I have trust issues – I don’t trust anyone 100% (except my dad).  I don’t care who you are or what you’re selling I’m not going to trust you.  Why?  Because I was one of those naive, idiotic, morons who spent money on all sorts of different work at home scams, miracle diets, look 50 years younger, etc.  For about the first year I was online I approached my husband with at least 5 different ways I could make money – all of them included an initial fee to join.  I don’t need to waste time telling anyone how badly these scams went.  They were pretty much all a big pile of poo.

A couple weeks ago I happened to catch 20/20 when they were running a segment on false advertising.  Although it’s something most people are aware of, I think we all get caught in the trap every once in a while.  I mean, really, it’s hard going around not trusting people all the time.  Here is a bit of what they had to say:

Travel Web sites have taken the place of a trusted travel agent when it comes to shopping for a vacation. But a “20/20″ investigation found that when it comes to the Web, what you see is oftentimes not what you get.

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From hotel to weight-loss ads, photos altered for perfect results.

Visiting Washington, D.C.? The Hyatt Capitol Hill Web site claims it’s “just steps away from the U.S. Capitol.” Online photos appear to confirm this. But when you look at a map — and a more realistic image — you see it’s a lot farther away. Actually, it’s about a third of a mile away.

Elie Seidman, the founder of the hotel review Web site Oyster.com, sees it time and time again: hotels using tricks to make their properties look as desirable as possible. The discrepancy between a hotel’s Internet image and reality is all too widespread, according to Seidman and his staff. “We found that it’s, unfortunately, all too typical,” he said.

Oyster.com is trying to expose marketing tricks that spin reality.

and

Before-and-After Weight Loss Photos Too Good to Be True

Photoshop adjustments and other misleading tactics can go too far — particularly in the diet business. Brook Barth learned that lesson after she lost 65 pounds — but it wasn’t thanks to some miracle diet.

“They are lying. It’s false advertisement, and it’s sad that people are getting sucked into it,” she told “20/20.” Barth did it the hard way — eight grueling months of intense exercise and calorie counting. “It was a lot of hard work,” she said. “I had to completely change my lifestyle.”

Read the rest of these stories here.

I have signed up as an affiliate for a couple of horrible, on the verge of scammy sites.  I even ended up returning money I made selling a product that I found out didn’t work at all.  I’m sure everyone has a story to tell about online scams; people who make money by selling things to others which they don’t need, which don’t do what they are said to do, and which can even waste people’s time or distract them from what they should be focused on – besides being a waste of money in the long run. And the fact is, that is far from the worst of it.

Do you want to earn money by promoting unethical products? Probably not. But are you always fully aware of what you are promoting?

There are a few categories of products which you should probably be aware of when you are deciding what to promote. You might want to think twice before you throw together a website to promote these types of products, or put one of their ads on an existing site.

After all, it’s not all about money. We are also human beings.

There are three types of products which I would never want to promote:

1. Products which are unnecessary, wasting people’s time and/or money

The “Make Money Online” niche is home to some of the worst culprits – including individuals, sales pages, emails, and advertisements which promise you unlimited riches as long as you invest ($47/$97/$5,000 etc.) in whatever it is they are trying to sell.

Whether it is a coaching program on how to earn money online, an amazing new software program which allows you to rake in thousands of dollars with a few minutes of work, a monthly membership, or perhaps just access to an enormous quantity of downloadable information which you don’t need right this second.

Some of these types of products have real value, and only require a reasonable investment. When they are useful, they do pay off in the long run. There are certainly legitimate products and services which help people save money, earn more money, or learn how to do so. I have invested in quite a few myself, and have been happy with a majority of the items I have purchased.

Some products have little-to-no real use or value for the consumer, but use a convincing sales pitch, and cost too much.

In between the two extremes there are various shades of gray.

But this is not what inspired me to write this post. There are other products one can promote, outside of the “Make Money Online” niche, which are just as bad, and even worse.

2. Products which are used to steal money

There are bogus “free trial” offers which latch onto a customers credit card, steal unauthorized recurring payments, and never let go, no matter how hard the customer tries to cancel.

I have seen affiliate programs for such products. In some cases, these offers would have been relevant to one of my websites. Did I choose to promote them? No!

Examples of products which are likely to be promoted in this manner include Acai berry, colon cleanse, teeth-whitening, and stop-smoking products, which often offer a “free trial” requiring a credit card number “for shipping,” and give you “automatic renewals if you don’t cancel.” A bit of research and Googling will often reveal whether there are scams or dishonest tactics involved.

Not every free trial with paid shipping is a scam, but I am definitely careful before signing up for them when I do.

3. Products which harm people

Then there are is another type of products you can promote. You would only promote these products if a) you don’t really know what you are promoting or b) you don’t care about people and money is your only motivation.

These are products which don’t simply waste people’s time and money, but actually harm people.

It takes a bit of confront to look beyond the surface appearance of modern day life and realize that not everything is what it appears to be on the surface.

The sad fact is, that just because an item has been endorsed by an official agency, an “expert,” or a learned authority, (government or otherwise) does not necessarily make that product useful or even safe.

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the worst in this respect. That does not mean that every pharmaceutical medicine is harmful.

But if you were to do some real, unbiased research in the field, you would be amazed at how many well-known and widely used pharmaceutical drugs:

• Have never undergone actual scientific testing as to their results
• Were approved for use by the same groups, individuals, and networks, who are profiting by their sales. (Yes, approval agencies do have ties to the pharmaceutical companies, and yes, the people who approve these drugs and medications for use do make money by approving them.)
• Have known side-effects (known even by the producers and salesmen of the drugs, but not promoted by them) which range from health problems, to death, to suicide, to murder.
• As an added benefit there are ties to the media, which is sometimes (but not always) used to attack any group which begins to expose what is occurring. Which leads people to disbelieve organizations that do so.

If you look into it, you will find that almost every school shooter, loving-family-member-turned family-murderer, or sudden unexplained suicide, involved someone who was taking one of these drugs. Common examples are Zoloft, Paxil (Seroxat), and Prozac, to name a few.

Furthermore the same doctors who were involved in the creation of these drugs can be found openly admitting that the diseases and disorders which the drugs were designed to cure do not exist. These diseases were not found by blood tests or any other form of testing. They are invented by “majority vote”.

But they make a lot of money. Billions per year. So hey, why kill a booming business?

In a previous profession I had first-hand experience with individuals who were the victims of these drugs, sometimes as young as the age of three, and had the heart-wrenching experience of seeing the damage that was done. In some cases I was able to help undo the damage, by getting these individuals onto detoxification programs or other remedies. But, sadly, the effects of legal, approved, and even common-place pharmaceutical drugs were often more harmful, and harder to correct, than the effects of any street drug. I still remember the three year-old-girl who had been put on a drug by a doctor. With a bit of research we found out that the drug was actually Speed. We were actually relived that it was Speed instead of something worse, (and yes I helped the little girl).

Sound difficult to believe? It is. So is war, needless killing of civilians, Chinese killer-cat food, genocide, kid-napping, human-trafficking, and a host of other insanities which occur on a daily basis, inside and outside of the US.

The fact is that it is a crazy world.

In American middle-class society it is very easy to forget that there is something beyond the glossed-over existence we see in front of us, where all appears so happy and regulated.

The purpose of this article is not to depress you about the state of the Earth. The purpose of this article is to communicate to affiliate marketers and online entrepreneurs about what they can do to stem the tides of damage. Or, at least what they can not do.

Because, sadly, I often see affiliate marketers blithely promoting the same products and drugs, which harm people, children, and lives on a regular basis!

When something is too incredible to be believed, we have a tendency to disbelieve it. When we don’t believe it, we don’t do much about it. History is full of incidents which we would never have believed could have happened, but happened.

Okay. My point – just because you do some keyword research and find a niche does not mean its all hunky-dory to promote that item. I have spoken of bogus Make-Money-Online products, free trials, and pharmaceutical drugs. But that’s definitely not the only thing.

Craigslist has been prosecuted for promoting prostitution and contributing to devastating effects on women and children.

A few days ago I saw a banner ad on an Internet Marketing side. It said “Pimping has never been this easy.” I hoped it was a joke and was curious, so I clicked on it. It then went on to say how you could earn $500 per day just placing these ads … in the sidebar I saw a string of prostitution ads. They weren’t joking at all.

The upshot – think before you promote. Most people care about others and want to help people. Only a few are truly money-motivated, and even those are basically good – way, down deep.

There is nothing wrong with making money online as long as you always remember to put ethics, honesty, honor, and integrity first.