The title of this column does not mean I’m going to be singing scat or bebop. Rest assured, you need not fear that I will break out in an Ella Fitzgerald impression.

Instead, what is going to happen is a commentary on a type of confidence game that eventually shows up in everyone’s mailbox or online in-box. It’s nothing more than an “ego scam,” as one of my clients called it, but it can be very effective and very profitable. (It’s just not going to be profitable for you.)

We are going to examine a scheme that’s as old as time itself. It’s a fake-out that plays on the easily-held belief that each of us is a very special and important person if only someone would notice. It takes advantage of an inner desire to be thought of as exceptional in some magnificent and perhaps indefinable way, just like mom used to tell us.

Because everyone feels a little like this once in a while, it is possible for the unscrupulous to create a dodge or swindle that begins with flattery while absolutely dripping with deceit. And the deception will, of course, encourage you to part with some of your money.

The pitch can be made quite easily by sending you a letter, either using snail mail or e-mail. Let’s try it, shall we?

You Are Invited

Dear Mark Chumpe:

In recognition of your contributions within your community, it is our great pleasure to inform you of an exciting opportunity! Because of the extraordinary nature of your role, you are now under consideration by the prestigious Leadership Archive Memorial Enterprise for possible inclusion in the forthcoming edition of the Federal Archive Keepsake Edition of one of our most highly-respected quarterly publications. There is no cost to participate.

A Select Few of You!

Let us assure you that this great tribute is only offered to a very select few people! In fact, the roster of invitees is expressly limited to the exact number of names in our database, which, in turn, resides in the finite and limited list of people maintained by the United States Postal Service, an officially sanctioned entity of the U.S. Government.

Once acknowledged and accepted by you, the recognition and affiliation with our organization also entitles you to the vaunted Society Collegial Unique Membership (if you are a European resident) or the equally prominent Society Conservatory Altruistic Membership (if you reside in the United States of America). In either case, there is no cost to participate.

Additional Accolades

Naturally, all members, once certified, will also enjoy the privileges and honors that result from our many partnerships and relationships with highly respected societies, which include the Official Historic National Organization as well as the Committee Recognizing Advanced Professionals. Not to be overlooked is this distinction: you will further be promoted and recommended for possible inclusion in the Professionals Honors Edition Workbook. Once again, let us assure you that there is no cost to begin your participation.

Revel in the Honor

In view of your election, the forthcoming edition of the archive will include a professionally written biography of the highlights of your life and it will join the biographies of the world’s most accomplished individuals. This level of recognition is an accolade that is only shared by those executives and professionals throughout the world who have made the decision to join in the inclusion in these hallowed halls. We can truly say that this is one of the single highest marks of achievement.

Upon final confirmation, and with no cost to participate, you will be listed among other gifted personages in the Official Approbation Foundation, a truly notable compliment that cannot be expressed in mere words including the words in this very sentence!

Future Generations

To further ratify and codify your place among the list of those awarded praises in such a manner as are currently being offered to you, the fully bound volume containing your biographical details will be carefully sealed and entrusted to future generations. How is this possible?

By being placed in the keystone of the next new building constructed in the city that holds a rich place in our nation’s history: Vicksburg. Yes, stately Vicksburg, the “Gibraltar of the Confederacy.” There is absolutely no cost to participate. (For those wishing to avoid any association with Mississippi, the Confederacy, or the tortured history of the South, there will be a small fee to refrain from participating in this aspect of the program.)

Other Worlds

To additionally sanction and array your position amidst the honor roll of those being recognized in such a manner as is currently being offered to you, a second copy of a fully bound volume containing your biographical details will be carefully sealed and entrusted to future generations who may not even be of this earth. How is this possible?

By being placed in the next extra-planetary vehicle to be launched by Charter Communications, a highly-known provider of satellite television services. (For those wishing to avoid any association with potential alien life forms, and for those who deny that science and technology have been able to produce orbiting space vehicles, there will be a small fee to refrain from participating in this aspect of the program.)

No Cost to You

While you may have been wondering if there would be any cost associated with these extraordinary acknowledgements, let us assure you there is absolutely no cost to you. Unless, of course, you would like to take advantage of these exciting prospects of moving forward in order to realize all the connections, networking, interaction, camaraderie, affiliation, and relationships included in this opportunity. In that case, the introductory fee of $69.99 is almost too good to be true.

Your Future, Your Decision

It’s entirely up to you, of course, whether to move forward waving a beacon of success that can serve as a rallying cry to others, or to rest on one’s laurels without taking this one small step that can be so influential to one’s peers, distinguished colleagues, and those among the next generation who may even now be wavering in their resolve. Won’t you at least consider making the move toward triumph over adversity and distrust? We believe in you. And we humbly await your reply.

On behalf of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, our highly esteemed Honorary Executive Publisher Emeritus, we wish you continued success!

Sincerely,

Conrad Mann

Regional Executive Director

Regency International Premier Organization, Federal Fiduciary

P.S. If you’ve already received this e-mail from us, please feel free to respond again.

Acronym Inventory

Leadership Archive Memorial Enterprise (LAME)

Federal Archive Keepsake Edition (FAKE)

Society Collegial Unique Membership (SCUM)

Society Conservatory Altruistic Membership (SCAM)

Official Historic National Organization (OH NO)

Committee Recognizing Advanced Professionals (CRAP)

Professionals Honors Edition Workbook (PHEW)

Official Approbation Foundation (OAF)

Article is Copr. © 2012 by John Scott G (aka “The G-Man”) and originally published on AdvertisingIndustryNewswire.com – all commercial and reprint rights reserved.

Some people get quite excited by the yearly media event called the Stupor Bowl. Wait, that’s not right. Super Bowl. And there are people who say the event attracts a few viewers because of the commercials. That’s true in the same way a car accident attracts a few viewers because of the traffic jams.

My goal in this article was to pay attention as soon as one of the encrusted-by-make-up announcers said “Hello Suckers.” Wait, no, that’s Texas Guinan’s line; I meant as soon as they said “Welcome to Super Bowl Sunday.”

Then, I was going to keep watching until the post-game clips of cretins burning cars in the streets of the winning and losing cities. But I just couldn’t do it. Sorry, apologies, mea culpa, etc. Look, other than a superb Chrysler commercial that was uplifting for the company and for America, there were just too many horrible ad moments for one human being to handle. Therefore, here are the heights of the depths. . .

Audi

Consider this concept: The headlights of the Audi are so similar to the sun that they kill vampires. Seriously? Wow. Well, considering how dim-witted Americans seem to be (have you been watching the presidential debates lately?), maybe this idea will work. Because, after all, who wouldn’t select a luxury automobile based on the strength of its headlamps? The song on the commercial’s soundtrack is “The Killing Moon” by Echo and the Bunnymen. Within the idiotic premise of the spot, the track is a pretty good choice. Since I see this as a comedic spot, I would have found “Flashlight” by Parliament more fun, but I admit that the cool angst of E&TB fits well with the fake-teeth-and-incense ambience.

Budweiser

About eleventeen spots in the broadcast. Did any of them give you a reason to purchase their products? Not really. The most interesting marketing development involves their “new” brew, something called Bud Light Platinum, which has six percent alcohol (didn’t see this mentioned in any of the spots), meaning they’re going after the Beer Blotto Brigade (obviously a dumb demographic considering that distilled spirits will get you there much faster without forcing you to urinate as often). But back to the POWer beer with the odd name. Using the word “platinum” in the beer category fits a trend discussed by Tiffany Hsu in an excellent Los Angeles Times article on people leaning toward specialty or micro-brews. What Anheiser-Busch InBev doesn’t seem to realize is that “Budweiser” is never, ever, ever going to fit in with words like platinum, high-end, upscale, specialty, etc. They’ll have to fake-out the public with a phony micro-brew name like “Blue Moon.” Oh wait, that’s the spurious concoction of MillerCoors. And I seem to have really gotten away from the topic of Budweiser. Probably because I’ve been sipping too much Absinthe to get through this assignment. Anyway, they also had an incredibly well produced/directed spot that appeared to tell the history of America through beer. I think. Anyway, it had those ugly horses that Bud always uses. Disagreeable-looking animals named Clyde something. Hmm, where’s the Absinthe? Must. Distract. Self.

Cadillac

Respect. Seriously, let’s give it up for ad guys who figured out how to improve the image of a car company long known for selling clunky boats-on-wheels. I have lived my whole life knowing that there’s nothing attractive about Cadillacs but this spot actually makes the ATS Sport Sedan look decent. And let’s face it, “sport” is not a word you’d normally associate with Caddy. The strong music track helps.

Carsdotcom

Eeeuuuwwwwwww! This is the commercial where an alien growth sprouts from a guy’s shoulder blade and on the end of the spronging protuberance is a smaller version of the man’s head. As if that isn’t gross enough, the miniature noggin performs a piss-poor parody of what the commercial makers call “soul music.” This piece of drivel is a top contender for the Gross-Out Trophy, which should be shaped to look just like the quivering superfluous neck-and-cranium. Rarely has the term “head” had such an evil connotation.

Chevrolet

Silverado pick-up trucks and their owners are the only survivors of the end-of-the-world. It’s unclear how this storyline ties-in with a not-too-highly-regarded truck, but at least the script is humorous and demographically on-target (every truck owner thinks his vehicle is tough enough to withstand the apocalypse). And using Barry Manilow on the soundtrack is a hoot. In their Sonic spot, the car is turned into a prop for some extreme sports publicity stunts. OK Go music works okay. For the whole campaign, ya gotta admit that Tim Allen gives good voiceover. He adds a touch of quiet, assured dignity (which probably dissipates the moment you realize “Hey, that’s Tim Allen talking!”)

Chrysler

Amazing spot that makes you want to shout to the heavens and salute the flag. This is two minutes of understated but ultimately explosive power. Uplifting, inspirational, and patriotic, the narrative grabs you and makes you think how you can join in the new march into the future of our nation. The commercial also touches on the good side of capitalism, something that we have not been seeing much lately. Wonderful work.

Coca-Cola

In Part One: The Blandness, badly-animated polar bears watch the game. In Part Two: The Pointless, they juggle bottles of Coke. In Part Three: The Lameness, they make reference to the score of the game. The spots are worthless except as bathroom breaks. The only winners here are the hacks who got paid to work on these pieces of tripe. I’m not much of a soft-drink user but this would sure make me consider Pepsi.

Doritos

Not sure which one of the consumer-generated ideas was the winner but I enjoyed the one featuring a snotty kid taunting a wheelchair-bound woman and a little kid in a sling. It’s silly, but funny. And since it plays on the intense desire of fat Americans for salty snacks, it actually has marketing logic, something that appears to be missing from most other advertising these days. Nice choice of music (an instrumental version of “La donna e mobile” from Verdi’s “Rigoletto”). There also was one with a dog killing a cat and bribing the witness with a bag of chips. And another with a girl covering herself with chips to entice her boyfriend to, well, we don’t get to see but I can tell you from experience that it’s really messy and not much fun after the first couple of bites.

General Electric

In one spot, slack-jawed yokels are working on assembly-lines. What’s odd is that the idea of people working in a noisy warehouse is presented as something miraculous, as if Henry Ford had risen from the grave to re-invent his idea just for the suits at G-E to go out and use it for the benefit of all mankind. Soundtrack is hilarious: a kind of “Deliverance” instrumental that should send people screaming into the night. In a second spot, slightly-less slack-jawed yokels are building turbine engines. Terrific cinematography and a nice soundtrack, but halfway through, the script does a freak-out and we’re suddenly in a bar where G-E workers are taking credit for beer because their turbine engines were used in the brewing process. Which may be true, I suppose, but this is a very big “So What” moment.

Honda

In the Stupid Sweepstakes, we have several front-runners, including Honda with a CR-V spot starring a bored and out-of-it Matthew Broderick. He’s clearly only collecting a paycheck, but what’s the production company’s excuse? Their work is a limp, by-the-numbers “homage” to John Hughes’ “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Perfunctory images, slack timing, bad jokes, insulting script. For the soundtrack, they went with Yello’s “Oh Yeah.” Yup, the boring choice. Just think, they could have used “Love Missile F1-11″ (Sigue Sigue Sputnik), “Bad” (Big Audio Dynamite), “Taking the Day Off” (General Public), “Radio People” (Zapp), and, of course, “Twist and Shout” (that group Paul McCartney was in before Wings). The fact that the auto isn’t shown much in the commercial may tell us more about the product than they intended.

Hyundai

Among their half-ton of ads was one with some hysterically funny Roadrunner cartoon-style mayhem involving a cheetah and the Veloster. “Trust us, it’s fast,” says Jeff Bridges. Only an extended version of the spot would give enough time to view the vehicle properly, but what there was of it looked good. Maybe the slight glimpse is okay considering that this is part of what seems to be a nine thousand commercial campaign for the vehicle (and considering it’s called a Veloster, a huge campaign is a necessity). Unfortunately, another of their spots has their employees singing and it is embarrassing. Another, for the Genesis Coupe R-Spec, is as puerile as the car’s name.

Kia

Wow! Rock music, beautiful babe, explosions, martial arts, romance novel cover designs brought to life, and more! On the soundtrack are The Chordettes’ “Mr. Sandman” and a Motley Crue song. The production is amazing! Oh, and all this for some little plastic-looking dork car. Rule of thumb: the bigger the production, the less valuable the automobile.

Pepsi

In a medieval setting, Melanie Amaro and Elton John made me grin. And at the end of the spot, when Elton is in the dungeon with Flavor Flav, I cracked up. Thanks, guys, I needed that. (Even more amazing, I actually chuckled at the other spot they made, too. That’s the one with, gulp, Regis. Just goes to show ya, great timing in directing and editing can bring off miracles.)

Samsung

Sure, we’d all like nothing better than to have some company kick Apple’s butt now that it’s known what a greedy evil cabal they are, but unfortunately the silly marketing for Samsung isn’t going to help the situation. While it’s fun to hear Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” on the soundtrack, you still have to wonder why the spot shows us nothing but a line of boring people. Although there is a half-hearted attempt at a teaser at the end, the sum total of the ad is “enh.” All I can do is grudgingly admire the con job the agency pulled on the client in getting them to fund this piece of compost. Ironically, it’s well-photographed and directed, but like so much of today’s advertising, the lack of a marketing concept means the filmmakers are putting a spit-shine on a turd. But wait, that was the “preview” spot. The “real” spot for the new Galaxy is the exact opposite in approach: big, ugly, bombastic, silly, and boneheaded. C’mon, Samsung, stop making crap commercials. Don’t you know we’re rooting for you?

Suzuki

When you think “4-wheel drive,” you just naturally think of rap music, right? If so, the use of 50 Cent on the new spot for the Kizashi makes perfect sense. Either way, this is a nicely-made product demo. Basically, we’re out in the barren wasteland (See the ice! See the snow! See the nothingness!) and the Fizzozshee or whatever has no trouble roaring around as if it’s on a test track, which it probably was before the CGI crews got hold of the footage. The entertainment aspect is actually kind of neat: a sled dog team is being given a ride by their owner. A word on that: the owner is an obese Eskimo (or perhaps it was a Sumo wrestler? it’s hard for us ‘Murikuns to know). Whatever, it was cliche casting.

Toyota

Their spot for the “reinvented” Camry was, um, calm. However, I’m not believing anything they say about the car ’cause THEY ARE NOT SHOWING ME THE CAR. Still, the spot was entertaining. Drapes made of pizza, rain that makes you slim, a baby that doesn’t poop; all good. (And props for using “poop” in the script.) But poor Richard Strauss, having the opening to his “Also Sprach Zarathustra” used for the umpteenth time in a commercial. Just shows how terrific a music supervisor Stanley Kubrick was for putting this track into his “2001: A Space Odyssey” way back in 1968. Another spot, with memories that people associate with the Camry, was a tear-jerker. Effective as a story, silly as an ad for a car THEY DON’T SHOW.

Volkswagen

Spot #1: Dogs. Dogs barking. Dogs barking forever. Dogs barking forever in the vain hope that eventually it will seem clever. “I mean, you can’t lose with cute animals in your commercial, right?” Certainly, someone at the ad agency and/or the car maker’s marketing department made that statement. Unfortunately, they were wrong. The take-away message from this spot is: VW makes poor decisions. Which makes you wonder if they made that kind of poor decision in the auto designs, manufacturing practices, safety features, etc. Just asking. Glad you guys made me consider this, come to think of it. Who owns VW now, anyway, Monsanto? Spot #2: A fat dog gets into shape as we hear James Brown getting down on “Get Up Offa That Thing.” Fun! Plus, it’s two commercials in one as the twist ending puts us in the dive bar of “Star Wars.” How can one agency make such a nifty spot as this and that other one which is such a, well, dog?

Short Takes

1and1dotcom Product demo ad for a site that provides web hosting, site design, etc. A competitor to GoDaddy. Obviously not as eye-catching as babes but more convincing and more business-like.

Act of Valor Movie trailer for a 100-minute commercial for a video game.

Acura Jerry Seinfeld, in the lead role, has great comedy timing. Jay Leno, in a cameo, does not. Entertaining despite Leno. Didn’t show the NSX much, which is a shame ’cause it looks terrific.

The Avengers Movie trailer for a 100-minute commercial for a video game.

Battleship Movie trailer for a 100-minute commercial for a video game.

BMW Seems to tout the car’s ability to deliver text and e-mail while you drive. I prefer it if people concentrated on their driving. “The Ultimate Texting Machine?” Come on, people.

Bridgestone Their spots make me think buying their tires would lead to death or dismemberment on the highway.

BelVita Some sort of parody spot for an obviously fake “breakfast cheese” item. Funny idea, poorly executed. Besides, who would be stupid enough and gastronomically-challenged enough to buy hogslop like this? Oh, wait. Americans.

CareerBuilders This is the campaign with monkeys screwing up in the workplace. Yes, coworkers are jerks and assholes, but why will it be different when you change jobs? That’s why I freelance, where the only jerk around my office is me.

Century 21 What’s that? You say you don’t know how to market a service industry? No problem! Just use a dumb-ass concept and hire some second-tier celebs! Easy!

Dannon Overly cutesy boy/girl tease leads to violence. It’s for something called Oikos Greek yogurt. One of the two saccharine actors is a rapper named Stay Moes. (Okay, it’s John Stamos.)

The Dictator Movie trailer for the next film from Sasha Baron Cohen and Larry Charles. They seem to be the only people who can make social commentary hysterically funny.

Downy Mean Joe Green and Amy Sedaris “spoof” a great ad from yesteryear. This virtually defines inanity. (Ad agency guy: “Hey, since we don’t have a marketing platform, let’s just do a comedy spot without any comedy! It’ll be ironic!”)

E*Trade Talking baby campaign. You either like it or you don’t. I find it amusing, but it makes me stay far away from E*Trade. Not sure how it plays with the hoi polloi.

Fiat Car as sex object. Hate to admit it, but the ad actually works.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation Movie trailer with Bruce Willis and The Rock in a 100-minute commercial for a video game. If this is the sort of thing you like, then you will like this sort of thing.

GoDaddydotcom Good old-fashioned “sex sells” approach. No subtlety whatsoever. Babes (Danica Patrick and the Pussycat Dolls) in tight costumes. Gotta love it, right?

H&M Homo-eroticism using David Beckham’s tattoo-defiled body. If the cinematographer of this spot was hired by GoDaddy, we’d be on to something! Interesting oldie for the music: “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by The Animals. H&M consistently uses great music.

Hulu Nicely-produced but insignificant spot starring Will somebody-or-other who totally believes he’s funny. Which is kind of funny, I guess.

The Hunger Games Exciting movie trailer for a film that shows what the world will be like if republicans are elected.

Infinity Uninspiring. Check out the Chrysler spot to see how it should be done.

John Carter Movie trailer for a 100-minute commercial for a video game.

Lexus Great art direction but not much auto in the ad. They’re calling the car the “2013″ GS model. More proof that auto marketers think we’re morons.

The Lorax Movie trailer for a kiddie cartoon. And yes, it will probably be a video game.

M&Ms I never know what to say about this campaign. Sure, it’s aimed at six-year-olds, but that’s how old we feel when thinking about M&Ms, so maybe they’re brilliant at marketing.

MetLife Cartoon characters (lots from Loony Toons) are milling around, doin’ stuff, and, um, I don’t know why.

Sketchers I like the Sketchers shoes I own. This spot (bulldog outraces greyhounds because of his running shoes) didn’t make me too embarrassed to admit that. So, okay then.

Star Wars Episode One The Phantom Menace Now Re-Released in 3D to Get More of Your Money Title tells all.

Swamp People Trailer for TV show on the History channel. Settle back and feel yourself losing I.Q. points every single second you watch. Ahhh, ignorance is bliss. (Or, as these people would put it: “Shoot, ig’nance is, uh, sumthin; I reckon.”)

TaxAct A kid has to pee. And this helps sell a tax preparation service how?

Teleflora Adriana Lima, stockings, pumps, little black dress, come-hither make-up. Tagline: Happy Valentine’s Night. I’m sold. Wonder what women think of the spot? Aw forget that; no I don’t.

The Voice Celebs battle each other before everybody meets in Betty White’s hotel room for some sexy talk. Sure, it’s injudicious, but it’s funny.

Video: Teleflora with Adriana Lima:

 
Article is Copr. © 2012 by John Scott G (“the G-Man”), and originally published on AdvertisingIndustryNewswire.com – all commercial rights reserved.

Please take a second to let that fully sink in…

That’s right. Online reviews posted by total strangers are nearly twice as effective at influencing what a person decides to buy than whatever you’re saying in your ad campaigns.

While it may be a bitter pill to swallow, it’s high time companies come to grips with the fact consumers aren’t listening to you like they once did – they’re listening to each other.

The disruptive shifts in consumer behavior that have occurred over the last 15 years have clearly put them in control. Companies are under tremendous pressure trying to understand what happened to their profit margins due to pricing transparency, how to handle the damage control from negative online reviews, and leverage the upside from positive online reviews. The viral nature of these product reviews ‘go global’ instantaneously and a problem in Moline can fan the flames in Milan overnight. A positive review posted in Toledo one day can cause an unexpected spike in product sales in Tokyo the next.

That’s why an absolutely rock solid social media strategy is so important.

Even with this fact in mind, most organizations press on without a strategy and approach social media with an “if we build it they will come” mentality, and then are surprised and disappointed when ‘they’ didn’t show up at all.

Prior to launching a social media presence, companies must have a clear understanding of why they’re developing their presence in the first place. For instance, what’s the objective? Is it to generate more leads? Convert existing leads into sales? Measure a marketing campaign? Track brand loyalty? Keep a close eye the competition? Engage customers in meaningful dialogues? Perform market research to determine the feasibility of extending a product line or opening a new distribution center? Has the organization experienced a crisis that requires careful management?

These are just a few examples of questions that executives should have already addressed before they launched into social. If not, then there’s no time like the present to reassess their current social situation and get back to the proverbial drawing board to align social media initiatives with the organization’s strategies and objectives. There should be a social media component for each of the organizational goals.

The realization that consumers don’t want to be interrupted and are paying more attention to online reviews posted by John and Jane Doe than to clever and expensive ad campaigns is likely to bruise some creative director’s egos. But there’s no time for that while business is charging ahead at warp speed. Since consumers are listening to each other more than they’re listening to your ads, are you listening to the consumers?

They’re clearly making themselves heard, but are you really listening?

You need to be listening very closely because consumers are readily sharing what they like, what they don’t like, what they want, what they don’t want; and most importantly, what they value.

Knowing what consumers value is crucial!

That’s why it’s imperative to incorporate the best social media monitoring, data collection and mining into the strategy so companies can obtain relevant data from the social web that provides clear insights to make knowledge-driven decisions for creating value.

The enormity of the very real issues in the first few paragraphs of this article are such that companies can no longer rely on gut instinct to make decisions. Nor can they afford to take the time for ‘old school’ market research that includes developing questionnaires, waiting for the (inherently biased) data to come back, and then analyzed. By the time results from that data reach an organization’s decision makers, the very issues being researched are no longer germane. That model is too slow for the speed of today’s business.

There are huge benefits to using social media monitoring / listening platforms to collect and analyze data into relevant information. Provided the strategies are in place, having such pertinent information at the ready enables organizations to take immediate action wherever necessary.

Armed with an well planned, effective social media strategy, and data collection and mining tools, companies can obtain priceless insights to make knowledge-driven decisions that lead to value creation, competitive advantages, growth, increased revenue and earnings.

Content with your organization’s current ROI?

Now is the time to evolve and leverage the insightful knowledge you need to succeed.

Article is Copr. © by Stephen Monaco and originally published on AdvertisingIndustryNewswire.com. All rights reserved.

However this bastard calls people whose phones are on the national do not call registry which implies he’s either out of the country, scamming Americans with “make a payment now” rip-offs, to get your credit card info, or is a law-breaker who doesn’t understand how to operate a business within the confines of the U.S. legal system. Namely, calling me at home, during dinner, on a number on the do not call registry is enough to get him put on the target practice list of anybody who wants to take down his server and at least complain to his ISP.

So, the number we keep getting calls from is listed as (614) 670-5395, which appears to be in Columbus, Ohio, however that might be wrong as scammers and crooks rarely let you easily locate their hideouts, cribs and caves of evil.

When you actually go to the site (which I did in maximum security mode in IE9 with multiple protection modes on for cookie/malware blocking), the site promotes “Little Ticket to Wealth,” and a sponsor “Referred by: J. Baker, 614-352-2533.”

Here is some of the B.S. Glengarry Glen Ross sales marketing crap on the home page:

Thursday, 11:17 p.m.
From: Hilton Newark Airport Hotel, New Jersey, Room 1122

Dear Future Renegade / Top Doer / Big Gun…
It’s simple. If you’re serious about taking your income to the next level, regardless of whether it’s $1k a month, $10K a month or $100K a month, then you need a steady, predictable flow of new leads each month to present your opportunity, products and services too. If you question this undeniable FACT, then go ask ANY top earner in ANY home based business if they could continue to thrive without a FRESH, PREDICTABLE flow of high quality leads each month.

High quality “leads?” You mean harrass and scam fools and cretins you can steal from? Yeah right.

A 24 hour recorded message can be found at 1-800-645-1891 x101, which might be worth tracking down the phone provider to that service to file a complaint, although he lists a cell phone number (below). Maybe you should fire up your own robo-dialers to hit that number NOW!

When you do a reverse lookup on the domain, you see all the data is hidden, since they don’t want you to know who you’re actually doing “business” with in your MLM or make money at home scam. But here’s the data. Appears to be registered at ENOM, so perhaps send them a complaint, not that they will do anything about it.

Domain Name: GENERATEMONEYNOW .BIZ
Domain ID: D26146176-BIZ
Sponsoring Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 48
Registrar URL (registration services): whois .enom .com
Domain Status: ok
Registrant ID: 229D8644D9C
Registrant Name: WhoisGuard Protected
Registrant Organization: WhoisGuard
Registrant Address1: 8939 S. Sepulveda Blvd. #110 -
Registrant City: Westchester
Registrant State/Province: CA
Registrant Postal Code: 90045
Registrant Country: United States
Registrant Country Code: US
Registrant Phone Number: +1.6613102107

Name Server: DNS1.REGISTRAR-SERVERS .COM
Name Server: DNS2.REGISTRAR-SERVERS .COM
Name Server: DNS3.REGISTRAR-SERVERS .COM
Created by Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Last Updated by Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Domain Registration Date: Sat Jul 19 00:30:58 GMT 2008
Domain Expiration Date: Mon Jul 18 23:59:59 GMT 2011
Domain Last Updated Date: Mon Jul 12 15:18:49 GMT 2010.

On the home page, however, an address is listed as Little Ticket To Wealth, 2789 E. State St. Ste 185, Salem, Ohio, 44460. Email is listed as “littletickettowealth @ gmail.com.” The person listed on the “about us” page is “Tim Berger.” His cell phone is listed as “330.881.3026/cell” – so feel free to call him back and tell him to fu** off for breaking the law.

His hilarious signature line on the site says “Lets fight for Prosperity, Abundance and Freedom together.” Yeah, my freedom has been repeatedly violated by you asshole. Suck it.

So, to file a complaint with the national do not call registry next time you hear from these scum-bags, go here: https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx?panel=2 .

Simply put in the phone number (614) 670-5395, time called, and company “GenerateMoneyNow .BIZ” and call is recording, with no option to opt-out. They will call again, and again unless you complain. And even then they might just move on to a new domain. Crooks like to keep scams going once they get shut down so beware.

MAKE MONEY AT HOME OFFERS ARE SCAMS … AVOID DOING BUSINESS WITH ANYBODY WHO BREAKS THE LAW TO CALL YOU AT HOME PROMOTING ANY SUCH OFFERING, OR WHO ASK YOU TO VISIT THEIR WEBSITE TO PROVIDE ANY PERSONAL INFO, OR WHO ROBO-CALL YOU. LAW BREAKERS WILL BREAK MORE THAN ONE LAW. Don’t be scammed!

Disclaimer: while we don’t know for sure the person, company, website, phone and emails listed in the above are crooks, they have violated my privacy, the laws of the U.S. and California, repeatedly, and this means you should exercise extreme caution in doing business with them. The information listed is from their website, and is publicly visible and may be researched yourself if you want to risk it.

A simple example would be if a small publishing website, for example my own AscoliBooks.com, decides to increase its traffic by secretly inserting Amazon.com into its key words / phrases list. This list is hidden. But it might seriously increase the little publisher’s ranking. Amazon takes a dim view of this practice, as well it should.

Why? Because it infers an affiliation or a relationship between the sites that does not, in fact, exist. It also may be violative of copyright and trademark protection.

That’s an easy example. The true pirates do a lot more than that. Our site received an email from someone who had their site “featured” in the hidden keywords of another site. It was an e-greeting card company from Australia that complained. Someone had used their name, along with the trade name “Hallmark” and other similar or household card names in their keyword list.

Here’s what the CEO sent to me recently: I have added “xxx” to delete identifying information.

I am the legal compliance officer and CEO of E-Info XXX XXX the owner and operator of e-xxxx.xxx.xx

Please remove e-xxx.xxx.xx from your keywords otherwise we will instruct our lawyers to commence legal action- passing off is a breach of ALL commercial practices codes of conduct.

I would also suggest that you remove the other “trademarks and Copyright labels in your keywords as you are only inviting extensive and costly legal action

The matter will be reported to ICANN and WIPO- If you can’t do business ethically and with principle then don’t do it!

I also notice that you use exxxxx.com in your domain header / description – Unless you have their permission I would suggest you remove their name from your key words

That sort of got right to it.

I try to get the point across to readers that “fairness” should be your ultimate test. It’s amazing how often “legal” fits inside fairness.

TOO CLEVER BY HALF is an expression that we use in the southern U.S. I don’t know if it has gone transnational yet. Clearly it means that some clever person who thought he was a genius only got it half right – and is usually in deep trouble.

The greeting card company may have actually trademarked their website name. It’s unusual to do this but big companies should do it as soon as they know they are going to be big. I hope that’s you someday. There is some copyright protection in so far as your website should have a copyright notice on it. For example “(c) 2010 greengiantplastics.xyz”. Copyright infringement practice is not my stock in trade so I’m not going to go too far out on a limb here. But, as a general rule, titles are not copyrightable. However, there is a common practice and belief that a domain name is the sole property some person or entity. It is not quite a brand name but it certainly carries some status of ownership and the right to use with it and an identification that carries value. No one is allowed to trade off the value that my trade name or domain name associated with it.

Further, the basis of most trademark infringement litigation is based not just on legal registration but on the fact that a customer can become confused if someone else uses a name that belongs to or was first used in commerce by someone else. It’s fair and it’s the law.

Now as to our latest genius who stacked the deck in his favor using a lot of other folk’s domain names with the hope it will increase his traffic rankings – and thus making more money. These keywords are usually “hidden” and are written for the search engine spiders to find. Therefore you’d never know if someone were bootstrapping their business on the back of your hard work to give their domain name higher ranking.

Lesson: it never hurts to have a look sometimes at competitive sights that may use your domain name in hidden key words. This is not my area of expertise, but running a search on your domain name from time to time may find interesting websites attached to your domain name for no apparent reason. You or your web designer can get behind the html code and have a look at the “keywords” of which yours is one, on strange websites.

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), late last year, published rules mandating that websites and bloggers disclose relationships that are not readily apparent. That means that if I pay a blogger to “promote” my site, I have to disclose this on the blog and on my website. I wish I could afford a great paid blogger that I’d have to disclose but it’s usually me, late at night, who is writing to give folks information with hopes of getting traffic for my site. And that’s what you should be doing too. And I always disclose the relationship between me and the website.

As I have discussed in other reports, this just makes sense. Some folks feel it’s a bad thing to disclose relationships. I say the FTC mandated free advertising for me to shamelessly promote myself and link it to the website. The glass half full or half empty.

Back to fraudulent keywords. Clearly a casual visitor does not see the keywords. Yet their presence may have digitally drawn them to a site that had rankings that it only got by fraud or trickery. I think there is a logical belief that the FTC disclosure requirement of relationships unknown to visitors is applicable here. In addition to whatever copyright and trademark rights are involved.

A visible cousin is cyber squatting and so-called typo-squatting. Both of dubious legality but oftentimes quite lucrative.

The tank also appears in the June 2010 issue of Playboy magazine, being worn by super-hottie and Playmate of the Year, Hope Dworaczyk (she also wears the “Fangbanger” apparel in the same story and says if she were a shape shifter she would obviously shift into a “bunny” – hah hah ha).

The “V I L F” tank sells for $19.99 at the HBO online store. Other fan gear is available with phrases like “Real Blood is for Suckers.” Mugs can be had with “welcome to Bon Temps,” and “Fangtasia” pint glasses. The usual cheesy “I Love Sookie” T-shirts, and junk with the images of the cast.

I tried the bottled “true blood” soda, but didn’t particularly care for it. A bit too syrupy and too many ingredients to be good for any long term substitute for the “real thing.” If you want to really mess with people at your next PTA meeting, the “American Vampire League” T-shirt might be a good choice.

HBO has also posted a preview trailer teaser for True Blood Season 3. The show is awesome, and the vampire craze shows no sign of waning anytime soon.

You can see the VILF tank here:
http://store.hbo.com/detail.php?p=262694&v=hbo_shows_true-blood .

Promo video follows:

If you look on YouTube there is all kinds of “Mandura” marketing crap, and funnily enough they’re using “scam” videos to try to get you to look at whether it’s a scam, but then try to convince you to get on board the fruit juice gold digger train. (Really?) What’s funny, too, is if you type in “mandura juice scam” in Google the first five pages of results are all about the supposed scam, where the MLM folks are making up pages of junk sites content to get you to go there to find out if it’s a scam. Junk PR sites, junk article sites, etc. — but don’t be fooled. And if you want to get involved with law breakers, then you get what you deserve.

Basically, if you’ve seen all the spam for Mangosteen juice, for Acai Berry, and related junk, this is the latest thing.

The 501-691-3245 phone number has been reported to the FTC for violating my privacy rights, and my phone number being on the national do not call list. Also sent a note off to the California state attorneys general office about the violation of both the robocalling law and privacy law violations on “Chris Hogan’s” various sites. He “appears” to be in Arkansas. I’ll have to look up the State AG in Arkansas to file complaint.

TO REPORT A ROBOCALLER TO THE FTC for calling your home number on the do-not-call registry, go here:
https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx?panel=2 .

The site being pushed in the robo-call is “StormofWealth(.com)” which redirects to “StormofWealth(.net)” – as in “storm of wealth.” Suuuuuuure. Want to buy this bridge I have out back? It’s a keeper, and you can make internet millions and all the honeys will love you with that big bridge in your back yard. Aw, c’mon, it’s a multi-level bridge. Double decker, even.

What cracks me up is using this tagline on one of the sites, “presented by Rev. Chris & Angelique Hogan” ((chogan.mandurarep(.com))… as if being a Reverend means anything good in the world of questionable MLM. When you break the law, being a “Rev” doesn’t mean God absolves you of your evil doing, brother, and accept this gilt edged invitation to hell. Or, H E double hockey sticks, pal.

Here is the WHOIS record for “StormofWealth(.net)”:

Registration Service Provided By: 1COMS .COM
Contact: +44.7773590344

Status:ACTIVE.

The server seems to land at a Mumbai, India hosting company, mydosty(.com), with an IP of 75.127.68.101. What’s funny is if you type in the IP for hostluck(.com), listed as the name servers, it comes up with an “this account has been suspended” message. So, you can see there is a bit of jiggery pokery going on behind the scenes with the companies hosting these sites. And, of course, since it’s in India, we can’t really complain about the site owner (Mr/Mrs Hogan) violating US/California laws. They don’t care. Thank you India for making robo-calling such a money maker for your companies and fracking off so many US citizens.

The Storm of Wealth site appears to be living as a shared IP at 75.127.68.98. For those of you wanting to block the IP range in your firewall(s), you can likely block the 75.127.68.1/24 IP range and be happy keeping the scum out of your mailbox, too.

As always, worth noting that the mandura rep site is in violation of various privacy laws including California’s privacy law. The ManduraRep site seems to be an MLM powered by the upstream www.mlmteamsites(.com). With “MLM” in the domain name, you know it’s “gotta be good.” And that site seems to be owned by MLMpublicity(.com) is a division of TenBrink International (a one man company, apparently, aka “Ryan Tenbrink” in Carrolton, TX; one BBB complaint).

So, Rev. Chris Hogan, thank jesus as today you are this week’s award winner for official robo-calling scum of the week. Congratulations.

In going to the website being promoted by the illicit robo-caller, we find (big surprise) what looks to be a come-on to make money using a “secret marketing breakthrough!” The site proclaims they have “discovered a secret so powerful it literally ‘POURS’ Cash Directly Into Your Pocket Automatically!!” (capitalized words and double exclamation points from the site).

Besides the fact the site is collecting name, email and phone information (personal information), and does not display a legally required or California law compliant privacy statement, it claims there is “no MLM or Network Marketing.”

From the looks of it, I might suspect it’s one of the wide ranging “cash gifting” scams going around, and which have been widely covered on the TV news here in California.

Since there is only a one-page site (a sure sign of a money making scam, for anybody who has seen these before), the HTML title tag shows “Ez1up Cash System” and the sign-up form is being loaded from aweber(.com), a site offering “email marketing campaign” services, auto-responders, and other bric-a-brac often used by evil-doers on the Web.

I sent a query off to “AWber Communications” which claims to be in Huntingdon Valley, PA, informing of the mis-use of their services. We’ll see if we get a reply.

In looking up what info we could on the domain, the registrant appears to be somebody called “Bo Small” in New York, based on the domain record:

Whois Record Search

Registrant Search:”Bo Small” owns about 58 other domains Email Search: is associated with about 106 domains

Registrar History:1 registrar with 1 drop. NS History:8 changes on 6 unique name servers over 4 years. IP History:4 changes on 3 unique name servers over 4 years. Whois History:6 records have been archived since 2009-12-29 .

Registrant:
Bo Small
300 W St
Buffalo, New York 14201
United States

Domain Name: TURBOATM .COM
Created on: 28-Dec-09
Expires on: 28-Dec-10
Last Updated on: 28-Dec-09

The domain servers, seem to be (apparently owned by GoDaddy)
NS27.DOMAINCONTROL .COM
NS28.DOMAINCONTROL .COM

The reverse domain lookup seems to lead to the IP 64.202.189.170, which is owned by GoDaddy (*to clarify: it means GoDaddy hosts the site for the believed scammers/robo-caller, it does NOT mean GoDaddy has anything to do with the site! GoDaddy is a good company.). Complaints can be sent to the hosting provider, which is GoDaddy at: abuse@godaddy.com.

An entry has been made at “whocalled.us” for the offending originating phone number where the calls originated (http://whocalled.us/lookup/2063509029).

Remember – it’s against the law to call phone numbers on the national “do not call” registry. Robo-calling is against the law in certain locales, like California. Companies that robo-call any of our staff, family, employees, or companies will be glorified with this dubious award of distinction.

So, congratulations “TurboATM-COM” – you’re this week’s winner of the scumbag robocaller of the week award.

Next week we apparently have some signage show in Vegas calling with free pass info. Hooo boy. Lookout! More robo-calling scum to feature. Stay tuned, party people.

There are other grounds for everyone to hate us. Hell, after seeing most of these ads, I hate us. What is more to the point, I am ashamed to admit that I have anything to do with the advertising profession. Other than making money from it, of course.

Okay, on to the ads.

Rogaine Hair Growth Scam Foam
The procession of hype got off to a tacky start with a cheesy bit of sleaze. This spot made everyone in the room say “eeauw.”

Callaway Golf Clubs
Nifty production with nice graphics and lots of fast cuts. The whole thing screams “high tech” but there’s no way to tell what the hell is going on. Why is the golf club good? Why should anyone care? Around here, we believe everyone who plays golf should be quickly killed (except for those who feel their death should be as slow as possible) so it’s difficult to give this ad the benefit of the doubt.

Hyundai Sonata
The Korean carmaker bought a whole fleet of commercials, all featuring cool and assured voiceover work from Jeff Bridges. The first spot offered some nice sheet metal shots. No big deal, but the car looked great. Another ad showed part of the automaker’s painting process. It made the Sonata look like it had about three inches of coating and convinced me to go see the car up close. In a wonderful change-up, one of their spots showed Brett Favre’s acceptance speech for the 2020 MVP award. As we were chuckling, Mr. Bridges gently reminded us that we cannot know about ten years in the future except for the fact that Hyundai’s 10-year warranty will still be in effect. Wonderful.

Bud Light, Budweiser, Michelob
Also purchasing a passel of promo announcements was Anheuser-Busch, the beer-making giant (nearly 50% of the U.S. market with 100 different brands). One of their Bud Light spots featured a house constructed out of the product, which probably made some folks laugh, in the same way that some people still laugh at SNL sketches. Another spot was a parody of “Lost,” which might be entertaining for those who watch “Lost.” One commercial was pretty cool, with party-goers’ voices filtered through an Antares Auto-Tune. A Michelob Light ad showcased Lance Armstrong and, well, I don’t know what the hell was going on in the ad (or I just was so unimpressed that I can’t recall any of it). One Budweiser spot seemed to suggest cross-species dating between a horse and bull; not certain what this has to do with beer. Another spot for Budweiser had people forming a human bridge to allow a Bud delivery truck to cross a stream. Why? How? Can you say “listen to the sound of crickets” while we wait for the nervous laughter? I mean, seriously, guys, WTF? People, why do you purchase products made by firms that hold you in such contempt? (And BTW, what’s with using Elmer Bernstein’s score for “Stripes” on the spot? It’s brilliant music, but for the licensing fee you could have hired an up-and-coming composer to create something new.)

Snickers
The idea of Betty White and Abe Vigoda playing on tackle football teams in the park is humorous. The idea. But not the script, direction, editing, or acting. Snickers left a bad taste in one’s mouth.

Pam and Tim Tebow
Here’s the controversial spot for anti-family-planning that rightwingnuts at CBS approved for some reason. Best line from the party when this spot finished: “If only Pam had been aborted we wouldn’t have to endure this.” (Image from spot, shown at left.)

Boost Mobile
Wow, talk about stupid ads. If ever there was a way to tell people you are an antiquated, out-of-date, know-nothing firm, it would be to use a nursery rhyme rap with irrelevant spokespeople like half-dead ex-Chicago Bears football players.

Robin Hood
Hey, look, they’re re-releasing the Kevin Costner movie! No? Oh, that must mean the Mel Brooks “Men in Tights” spoof is coming back with a portentous soundtrack. No? Well, it couldn’t be that Ridley Scott has now descended even lower than when he made a “Silence of the Lambs” sequel and is now doing a . . . dare I say it? . . . remake! How the mighty have fallen.

Doritos
Several spots, all snarky, but some got laughs, such as the one where a little kid slaps a would-be suitor to his mom. Others, such as a guy eating while inside a coffin, had the effect of equating Doritos with the urge to vomit.

GoDaddy.com
I like cheesecake, pretty girls, and double entendres as much as the next guy, but most of the GoDaddy.com spots are just so-so. They work at getting your attention, but they tell you little about the company. However, I use GoDaddy.com for my web site hosting and since they provide superb customer service every time I call with a question, I am going to give them a pass. (Now, if they could only get THAT point across in one of their commercials.)

Bridgestone Tires
These folks are a puzzle to me. They have a product that interests me and almost every guy who drives a car or truck. They spend a ton of money producing their commercials. Yet they never show their tires or demonstrate any product benefit. What’s up with that? A speeding truck skids and spins to a halt. A speeding car safely stops on a slick highway. Yeah, so? Unless you tell me why a Bridgestone tire does this more efficiently, effectively, more safely, or for less money, I’m going to buy Goodyear or Michelin or Continental or Pirelli or anybody that tells me something about tread, traction, handling, etc.

Cars.com
Ultra-successful guy’s life is shown but it turns out he’s nervous about buying a car. So Cars.com is his choice to resolve that problem. It made me smile and it showed how their service might help me in the future. Of course, since it doesn’t feature people acting stupidly, it won’t win any audience polls. But it will HELP SELL THE PRODUCT, which some people in this industry seem to have overlooked.

Careerbuilder.com
We are as grossed out as the spot’s narrator as he tries to avoid looking too closely at the work force showing up in underwear for “casual day.” So I’d try to find another job, too. But how does this demonstrate that Careerbuilder.com is the place for the job search? Hey, maybe he landed this bad job through that site.

Dockers
Immediately following the underwear brigade was the “I wear no pants” patrol. It’s like when you open the newspaper movie section and see ads for “Legion” and “Tooth Fairy” and they both feature a guy with large white wings.

Dove for Men
YGTBFKM. This abomination appears designed to drive men away from the products. Perhaps the idea is to convince women they should buy this crap for their husbands and boyfriends.

Dodge
Oh wait, now YGTBFKM. Really, this must be seen to be believed. The message of the commercial is: whipped guys drive Dodge.

Acura ZDX
Great music track and nice shots of the vehicle. Okay, it’s not award-winning and won’t score high in the polls. But it will make me check out the car. Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought that was the point of doing a commercial.

Living Spaces and Carl’s Jr.
Ahh, local dreck bringing everything down a notch with their cheapo craptacular approach to advertising.

Carmax
Wait, here’s a national spot that is confusing and stupid. Something about animals watching auto sales on television? The marketing team was combining Jim Beam with lysergic acid diethylamide.

Monster.com
Okay, there’s this violin-playing beaver. It’s funny already, right? Yeah, so, he plays for tips in the street and then uses Monster.com to move up in the world, until he plays Carnegie Hall and ends up cavorting in a hot tub with a predatory blonde.

Wrap Up:
There were several million more commercials in the broadcast, but they made me so sick to my stomach that I stopped watching. Anyone who endures that much crap is a moron or owns stock in one of the advertising firms. Ain’t that America.

An article from A.P. in BusinessWeek (among other places, http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9DGTGVG3.htm ), points to a story titled “Blue Cross agrees to pay $95K on illegal robocalls.” According to the story from Jan. 28, 2010, “North Carolina’s largest health insurer agreed to pay $95,000 to resolve a dispute with the state over 100,000 ‘robocalls’ pushing the company’s views on the national health care debate, officials for the state and the company said Thursday.”

So, looks like California will need to hunt them down next. Evil evil evil. Basically these companies should learn that nobody will do business with a “robocaller,” whether it’s pushing a political agenda, promoting a scumbag local business offering chiropractic services (I got about 100 of those last year before the new law took hold), or from any international company promoting lower insurance rates, or credit card refinancing (yeah, like I’m going to do business with a middle east company asking for my credit card and personal info).

I won’t vote for ANY political campaign that robo-calls me, and will never do business with any company doing robo-dialing. Frack you Blue Cross, and the horse your CEO rode in on.

According to the AP story, “Blue Cross spokesman Lew Borman said the company on Wednesday paid the $95,000 penalty, which will go to the public schools, according to the settlement. The agreement also requires the company to create written guidelines for its employees and vendors to ensure they comply with the robocall rules.”

Hey, did you know we have laws in California governing your crappy marketing? Check out this PDF on the cpuc.ca.gov website: http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/51D7DD5B-9902-4C3B-9EB3-B75F56CBB4C2/0/080129_RobocallADAD_FAQ.pdf .

According to the above document:
When can robocalls (ADADs) be used? What companies or agencies can use them?
Robocalls are only legal when introduced by a live person unless:
1) You are a member or a client of a company or organization that uses them to deliver messages (such as an announcement about a sale) or; 2) The police, fire or emergency service agency uses them to contact you about an emergency.

According tor the CPUC:
What can I do if I receive a robocall that I think is illegal?
1) Call your local telephone company to file a complaint. You must give them the name of who called and if possible the telephone number of the robocaller (it may be provided in the message.)
2) Your telephone company will then tell the business that it is not following the law and may give it some time to correct the problem.
3) If the business does not correct the use of the robocaller by the time given by the telephone company, the telephone company can disconnect the phone line.
4) If you are not satisfied with the telephone company’s response to your robocall complaint, you may contact the CPUC’s Consumer Affairs Branch by filing a complaint online at http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/forms/Complaints/ or by telephone at 1-800-649-7570 or in writing to:
California Public Utilities Commission Consumer Affairs Branch 505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102-3298.

Check your local state government website for similar laws. It’s a good idea to look at your caller ID and write down each phone number, especially if it’s an 866 (toll free), or an out of area (sometimes doesn’t show number). Keep pen and pad by the phone, and write down the number on your ID. Get in the habit. This will allow you to file complaints against these scumbag companies and eventually your state may go after them, if applicable. Of course, you can’t do anything about the calls coming from India (etc.), but many of these robo-callers think they have the right to harass you.

And bozos like Anthem use a system which will keep calling you EVERY DAY until you listen to their stupid message, and sit through the verbal feedback system to identify 1) the person calling is not available (they then ask to leave message), then 2) identify they have called the wrong number.

If you’re a customer, call their support number and ask them how to remove your phone number from ALL sales calls. If they fail to help you, ask how to cancel your policy.

Yeah, get in gear asshole. You (Anthem Blue Cross) just won our award for biggest scumbag robo-calling corporate prick of the month. Congratulations.