pulse360 – in their own words “The Leader in Content Targeted Sponsored Links on the Web’s Best Sites – is a leading provider of links that lead to web sites with blatantly fabricated content. See below a few references I found on the Internet.
For the love of god, I don’t want whiter teeth
Note: Interesting article, especially since msnbc.com and pulse360 are business partners… The same ads, the reporter is complaining about, appear on the same web page as his article.
And so we come to the networks, the most irresponsible and hypocritical of our cast. Let’s take Pulse360, the ad network that serves up many of TBM’s scam ads, as another case study. I talked to Jaan Janes, the CEO of Pulse360, for an infuriating 45 minutes. My objective: figure out whether these kinds of ads comply with Pulse360’s ad guidelines. Janes repeatedly said that every ad and its corresponding site is hand-screened at Pulse360, primarily to ensure that contact information is visible on the site. But they do not call every phone number to see whether anybody actually picks up the line. (They say they do spot checks.) Logic implies that if the ads are personally screened and then end up in the network, they comply with the guidelines.
As found on msnbc.com…
Q: How do you stop a pulse 360 ad from popping up?
A: Some Pulse ads are downright fake. There’s a weight loss one that lists the woman as from my home town “Susi from xxx lost 40 pounds!!”, but when I was out of state, I noticed the same ad listing the woman from the town I was now in..
It just gets the city your IP is from and inserts that into the ad. Deception makes me want to buy!!!
I clicked the ad and it’s totally bogus. They even use Rachael Ray’s likeness but spell her name wrong.
In the about us page, it even say’s “We know we mis-spelled Rachael’s name, but it was too late to fix it.” To late to fix it, but not too late to write text right underneath it saying it was too late to fix it????!!!!
Nice integrity!
As found on wiki.answers.com.
Are Alexa.com Ads by Pulse360-Kanoodle Violating FTC Truth in Advertising?
A few months ago, the web information company Alexa redesigned their website and since then I’ve been noticing these incredibly distasteful advertisements pitching weight loss products, wrinkle removers and suspicious get rich quick schemes. While these type of advertisments are nothing new on the internet, what stood out to me was each advertisement appears to be placed by a person who is located in the same city as myself.
If you look up any of these blogs in Google, there are numerous bloggers warning that these flogs (as Jay Weintraub calls them)are blatant by scum of the earth affiliate marketers (Lincoln Adams’s affectionate term for the unethical blackhat set) scams.
Read more…
Pulse360 – how to get rid off it?
Note: The following is a forum inquiry. I, personally, suspect that pulse360 is (or has been) actively using some kind of malware to promote their ads. Many references I found on the Internet point into that direction.
Recently, I started to get Pulse360 pop up window. My pop-up blocker is on, I removed Pulse360 from the Registry, deleted cookie, but the next day it was back… How to get rid of Pulse360?
See the full inquiry…
Ads by Pulse 360
Does Pulse 360 do anything other than advertise for a miracle substance that “gets you ripped” in 4 weeks? The only other thing I have EVER seen there is a very disreputable looking “miracle” teeth whitener. It seems like this “ad network” is composed of nothing but disreputable crap. I guess this is nothing new, just the second (or 3rd, 4th, 5th…) coming of the Thighmaster style product.
I’m actually seeing this advertising on major sites like NBC sports. Everyone but the most gullible of us knows you can’t “get ripped” in 4 weeks unless you are already very low % body fat. If you click the ad and go to the landing page it is your typical “scammy” web site, it even brings up a pop-up window that asks if you are sure you want to leave when you try to navigate away. I actually read the page and this stuff is flat out GARBAGE. It literally tells people not to “waste time” working out.
Read the full reference…
How can I stop Pulse360 (sponsored listings) from popping up when I open up msnbc.com – I have Adblock Plus installed but no luck
Note: The following confirms my suspicion that pulse360 is in some way promoted by malware.
Q: Pulse360 only “pops up” when I open an article on the msnbc.com website while in Firefox. I use AdBlock Plus and I have searched the “blockable items” list to try to block it but nothing shows up for Pulse360. When it opens it shows it is “sponsored listings” for the site. Please help – this keeps me from going to msnbc when I really would like to view some of their articles. Thanks.
A: Your list of installed plugins shows that you have the My Web Search Plugininstalled, well-known malware which you should remove.
Read the full reference…
Inactivity charges Pulse360?
One of the smaller PPC services we have tested is called Pulse360. (Purposely not linking to them). We made a small $100 deposit to do some testing, and ended up pausing the campaigns after so so results. Like every other service I have ever used, I expected the balance to remain there until I was ready for more testing. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from them stating that they had removed $10 from my account for “inactivity charges”. I have to say this is a totally lame and cheap way to squeeze money from an already paying customer. You could have gotten tons of money from me by just serving up good traffic, but this little stunt has sealed it for me. I’ll be closing my account before the rest of the balance is charged away by you guys.
Read the full reference…
Pulse360
Pulse 360 is bad ad source to use. They irritate me more than anything. I see popunders all the time when I visit websites that use them and have received warnigns of spyware and adware from their ads. They are a horrible source for ads and lack security to protect anyone who carries their ads for them. My antivirus program gave warnings of spyware when their ads popped up.
Read the full reference…
Advertisement
Vampire Ascending
by Lorelei Bell Sabrina Strong is a Touch Clairvoyant who knows a secret. She knows her mother was turned into a vampire when Sabrina was ten. Now that she is grown up, a powerful magnate in the Chicago business world hires her to reveal the identity of who relentlessly murders vampires in his ultra-modern stronghold of a hotel. [Read More...] – Including an excerpt of the first chapter.
Vampire Ascending is now available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.
[
[
Hi, terrific site you’ve got here. I genuinely benefited from skimming throught your post. I stumbled across it today and soon found that it was enjoyable, so it inspired me to drop a comment. I have a feeling several others will pretty much have the same view concerning this matter. So, I’ll return soon when I make extra time to look at more. This is strange, but I was just calling my friend concerning this subject, so this read was just what I needed. I will favorite this site and get the rss as well. Thanks again.
Hi Judith,
I just wanted to thank you for your kind comment. Feedbacks like yours get me going…;-)
- Wilfried
How do you do! I discovered your article by sheer luck, I was browsing the net for green tea benefits when I came upon your webpage. I’m happy I found it. Just what I was browsing for. Bookmarked your page, be back in a day or two
I totally agree with everything written.As of right now I will not even bother with pulse360 they are extremely difficult to use.
Pulse360 is one of many ad networks which is raking in the money by accepting ads for scams. Ironically Pulse 360 is also a finalist in the Red Herring 100 Awards!
http://www.herring100.com/RHNA2010/2010finalists/2010finalists.html
“The Red Herring 100 are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria — such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries. This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company”
Just below Pulse360 on the list is Quibids who also appear to be ethically dubious: http://bit.ly/adJtmt
Check this out people: http://www.ianfernando.com/2010/a-visit-to-pulse-360-office-in-ny/
Its from a individual that works in the online marketing business, CPA, CPL and such. The link mentions Meetup202, an event for people involved in internet marketing, and mentions pulse360 as well. Even has a picture of people in their office, most likely those in charge, and says: “I went up to their office, which is one street down form the Hilton where Affiliate Summit NYC is going to be located this year (2010). So it was an easy walk. I met the team of Pulse 360 and got a mini tour of their office. I had a good talk with the CEO and talked about Facebook advertising. So if anyone ever wants to go up to them directly, now you have a better idea of who they are and where to find them. There’s even a video at the bottom showing what they do for fun.
Does anybody have an actual solution to the Pulse 360 problem, other then switching software and installing someone’s preferred AV or Popup/Ad software?
Filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission is one of the best things which can be done! The FTC is going after high profile cases of False-advertising to send the message to all businesses and marketers that Truth-in-advertising will be enforced. Filing complaints, by phone 1-877-382-4357 builds the database for detecting patterns and providing evidence that they can use to take legal action on the consumer’s behalf.
Since Pulse360 is blatantly serving up ads with false statements, obnoxious pop-ups, and fake “investigative reports,” filing complaints with the FTC and BBB seems like a good place to start the official call for accountability. Have there been any REAL investigative reports done on Pulse360′s questionable approach? Worth noting is the recent press-release showing how serious they do take consumer fraud even on the wave of “Debt Relief” scams:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/01/hermosa.shtm