Maybe it’s a bit of both.
One of our clients (Ozzie Off-Road) builds great quality camper trailers and caravans at a reasonable price.
Kerry is the owner and very proud of his wonderful reputation for building brilliant stuff.
But Kerry is very annoyed at the moment because he has a competitor who looks to be trying to mislead people into thinking his business is Ozzie Off-Road.
Is Someone Misleading At The Moment?
Well, decide for yourself.
At the moment (11.41. am on Thursday 10 December 2009) if you go to Google and search for “Ozzie Off Road” this is what you’ll see.
Is this a misleading ad?
The very first result is an ad with the heading “Ozzie Off Road”.
- It’s an ad placed by a NSW based camper trailer company
- It’s an ad that leads to their web site.
To bid on the exact phrase “Ozzie Off Road” and then show your ad to people with the heading “Ozzie Off Road” could be seen to be trying real hard to mislead people.
Remember, this is purposely and deliberately done through a paid “sponsored link” to try to make you, wrongly, believe that you are contacting the company of your choice.
Is This Fair?
Does this seem to be morally fair and open? I’ll leave you to judge that.
If that’s how they do business, fine, but here’s what Kerry has done so far:
- Contacted the company concerned to let them know he’s aware of what they are doing,
- Alerted his customers that, despite this other company advertising on his business name and showing ads that make it look like they’re Ozzie off-Road, they’re not.
- Lodged a complaint with Google to see if misleading advertising is an accepted part of advertising on Google AdWords. You’d hope not (seems like they do a bit fighting scams).
- Lodged a complaint with the NSW Office of Fair Trading.
Is It Right?
But when a competitor tries to mislead people into confusing their business with Ozzie Off-Road, to benefit from the hard work and great products he builds, that doesn’t seem right to me.
What do you think – is this sort of advertising okay?
Is it all fair in love and war?
Cheers
Brendon
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Brendon, I absolutely agree with you. Google’s shareholders may not. I will be very interested in the other advertiser’s response.
Naturally, I’m also interested in your course of action. You seem to be handling it very professionally, I might add, giving them every opportunity to cease and desist. At least they are showing their URL instead of your customers. Maybe that will indicate that they are a bit more scrupulous than those guys who stole your plug-in!
This is the price you pay for being the best! Pale imitators siphon off your efforts.
In the end, it is still the readers who will decide whether to click or not.