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Amazon is Inserting Sponsored Products Into Baby Registries

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday November 29 2018, @04:23PM   
from the another-brick-in-the-wall dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Parents putting together baby registries on Amazon have begun to notice a pesky problem, one that has resulted in parents receiving items they neither listed nor wanted. The online retailer has been placing sponsored products in baby registries, the Wall Street Journal reports, but because the ads look so similar to other registry items, people are purchasing them, unaware that the items weren't added to the registry by parents. Like added items, the sponsored products include an image, rating, price and a "0 of 1 Purchased" tag. The only thing that distinguishes them is a small, gray "Sponsored" label situated just above the item name.

[...] One new dad told the Wall Street Journal that he only realized Amazon had placed sponsored products in his baby registry when the Aveeno bath-time set arrived at his home. He said the ads were "blatantly trying to trick you." "Worst part is a friend spent money on something we didn't want. And Amazon profited," he added. While users can remove these ads from their registries, Amazon reportedly told advertisers that around 60 percent were left in place.

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/11/28/amazon-inserting-sponsored-products-baby-registries/

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Original Submission

• Fraud is the problem! (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday November 30 2018, @02:08AM

  by khallow (3766) on Friday November 30 2018, @02:08AM (#768105) Journal

  It's not advertising, it's fraud just like if one faxes to a business advertising disguised as an invoice. On that latter activity, you can read an amazing story about one such case, "Anatomy of A Scam" [popehat.com]. From Chapter One [popehat.com], we have this interesting observation:

  But first, let me anticipate the scammers' defense and the devil's-advocate arguments I may draw: how can it be fraudulent if the invoice says right on it "Thank you for your business. This is not a statement for services rendered but for preventative maintenance"?
  
  Simple: fraud law doesn't work like that.
  
  Whether a communication is fraudulent — for the purposes of criminal law, torts, or consumer protection law — depends upon communications as a whole. Scammers cannot insulate themselves with fine print, hidden disclosures, or contradictory disclaimers when the entire solicitation is intended to defraud and is misleading to a reasonable person. Now I go all lawyery on your ass: See, e.g., Federal Trade Commission v. Cyberspace.com LLC, 453 F.3d 1196 (9th Cir. 2006) (apparent "refund check" that, if cashed, signed up recipient for monthly fee was deceptive even if back had disclaimer that would have informed customers if pointed out to them).
  
  Here are the reasons why the UST Development, Inc. "invoice", taken as a whole, is fraudulent:
  
  1. It's made to look exactly like an invoice for services rendered.
  
  2. UST Development will argue that it's only a solicitation for business, but nothing on the invoices advertises or describes the type of services UST Development offers, or why a consumer should choose them, making it appear even more like an invoice rather than a solicitation. (See Cyberspace.com, supra (“[t]he receipt of a check, the perusal of which would reveal no obvious mention of an offer for services, no product information, and no indication that a contract is in the offing, coupled with an invoice that has no advertising or solicitation purpose, creates an overall impression that the check resolves some small, out-standing debt.") What honest and competent advertiser would try to solicit business with a document that describes the services offered only as "preventative maintenance," without offering any indication whatsoever of what type of maintenance is involved or why the recipient should choose this particular business to provide it?

  There are more points which were specific to faxed/mailed advertising which looks like invoices. But consider those first two points with respect to the Amazon ads. The ads are made to look just like any other item on the baby registry and nothing aside from an ambiguous "sponsored" is present to indicate that it is an ad. My view is that Amazon better shut it down and lawyer up fast. Amazon's clients who put ads on these registries may want to do that as well.

  Parent