DazzleSmile Sues Epic Advertising + Jesse Willms
This is just from a couple days ago, but DazzleSmile is suing Epic Advertising (Azoogle) and Jesse Willms (Just Think) for basically abusing their brand. Read the PR Here.
In a nutshell (from what I believe and have heard), DazzleSmile was already a teeth whitening company that nobody has heard of really. Just Think comes along and makes DazzleSmile Pro, the rebill offer. Azoogle is one of the many affiliate networks that pushed Dazzle.
As you can imagine, when you brand something with a shady rebill you’re almost guaranteed to destroy it’s brand in some way. People will be pissed off, they’ll report it to scam alert and ripoffreport and that ranks high in Google. I’d be pretty pissed too if I had a brand I built and someone came along and basically ruined it. Don’t quote me on this as it may be rumors and what not, but I did hear that jail time is going to be involved in this.
If you want to check out the legal jargon, check this link out.
EDIT : Just read through that entire PDF. Pretty intense but an entertaining story to say the least. Seemed like an internet marketing version of Law & Order lol. Some major charges going on in there though.
It’s a good thing I didn’t name my product Hydroxycut Pro like I was planning on.
very funny .. i dont know if some1 can sue other just like this. :)
Got about halfway through the document and if what they sat is true then this is super shady. So I see epic were getting $43 CPA – any idea what they were paying publishers?
Uber
Update your dennis yu post with a photo of you guys at cheesecake factory
http://www.jonathanvolk.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/168-smaller-300×225.jpg
:D
Maybe I’m wrong, but personally I can’t see how this would go through. The fact being that unless they were a TRADEMARKED company, where as nobody could legally use the name, or even a registered business, how can they sue?
I’m no legal junkie but IDK, something doesn’t sound right. Why would they just now take action when it sounds to me this program has been going for a while.
Would suck to have your brand ruined and oversold. Keep us up to date.
DId you read the complaint? The real DazzleSmile got over 10,000 complaint calls AFTER they terminated their relationship with Epic/Willms. They used an extremely similar name and destroyed the real brand with it.
Love and toothepast, Love and toothe paste …you cannot have the one with out the other!! What about intermediate(s) and brand …you do your job or die sucker!
Dazzle isn’t the best anyways
Smile is what that adds up the beauty…. If it is by tooth paste..that will be a curios one.. smile is noticed only by the beauty of teeth..
you must get invited to a lot of parties
Wow, these guys were one of my top earners. I had no idea they were using such shady tactics. In my opinion they were one of the best converting oral hygiene products available in the CPA world. It’s a shame they couldn’t keep their act clean. I hope they come back and restructure themselves properly. Does anyone know how much azoogle was paying per lead?
Wow, this show how IM / CPA advertising can be dangerous game… I wonder who will win and what will happen in this story about “Dazzle Smile”… but I can understand how the brand can be a bit pissed off…
Nice article…it’s easy to sue the culprit…strong evidence must be produced though…
it’s often very difficult to build up the brand. It’s certainly much easier to ruin it. I’ve recently read an article about BMW-Sauber F1 team. It was about the way they treated their fans (they ripped them off). I wonder how it will affect the BMW brand.
ahhh the power of Azoogle
I don’t know why they thought they would get away with rebranding something as DazzleSmile Pro. That is just stupidity. They were just asking to get sued. I bet they weren’t expected potential jail time though.
did i post that right?
I never heard of dazzle smile, but I’ve fallen for those rebill offers. I hate them with a vengeance.
That is why I try to avoid free trials on the internet.
As for azoogle, Nice one on ruining a brand that noone’s heard of?
people are actually getting burns from the knockoff, thinking it’s dazzle,.. ohh man.
definite grounds to sue, and possible fines from multiple governing conusmer agencies.
selling something that BURNS people lol….~!
Hi mate,
Just thought I’d let you know that I’m browsing your site on a teeny-weeny netbook screen (using flock browser) and your site looks a bit weird. The Ads are sticking out of the modules. I’m sure it’s just because of the small screen but a lot of people are browsing with netbooks these days so perhaps you should look into it.
Sorry if I’ve ruined your Saturday evening!
Ps.It’s just the adverts at the top of the page, the ads are sticking out of the boxes.
Ouch! About time that somebody got put behind bars for online naughtiness of this nature. This was as effective in damaging the perception of a brand as taking a sledgehammer to their reception area would’ve been in damaging their first impression to a walk-in customer.
Noe the next question is if there is actually any value to be had from these teeth whitening offers, or is it just snake-oil bait used to lure people into signing up to get rebilled?
Such cases are not so very rare. Some people think that they can use other brands to advertise themselves and that is not the way. Only politicians during the campaign can do that ;)
people work extremely hard to build a brand…the web has made it much easier to have your brand exploited by others.
I think that is good advertisement. It is visible what the product does and seems to be reliable. So I think that it couldn’t have been done better.
Great post! These CPA offers are almost always bad. The re-billing is a nightmare to get out of if you are a consumer. Just another black eye for the internet regarding advertising.
Some day their will be better regulation, but for now it’s up to us to weed out the good from the bad by reading the fine print!
thanks for sharing a great article,informative and useful.keep it up !
Nice article! :)
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This article gives the light in which we can observe the reality. this is very nice one and gives indepth information. thanks for this nice article.
hahaha!.. this “Dustin” is obviously the owner of this cheap knockoff. His name is Jesse Willms .. Google it. He’s a scam artist and a fraud. You can email him directly at his hilarious “marketing” site justthinkmedia.com
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Ha. Ha. Man if its not tea it is toothpaste or peeny auctions. This “Dazzlewhite” case apparently has been settled from what I have read. I wonder if Jesse will get sued into the ground on new ventures? Only time will tell. CTV has put another story out on Willms and his various ventures. Here it is:
http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100320/EDM_w5investigation_100320/20100320/?hub=EdmontonHome