As most of you know, I do attend high school like other kids my age. Although i do act like a kid; hang out with friends, text message, and talk in class I still keep my eye out for anything noticeable when it comes to my fields of expertise.
Yesterday at lunch i was sitting at a Mexican restaurant (we can leave for lunch :D) when i heard a kid in the booth behind me and my friend Nick talking about ring tones. He was really angry because he signed up for this ring tone plan thinking he would get free ring tones (which turned out to be false). His mother got the T-mobile bill and saw 22.00 in ring tone charges and his mother made him pay the $22.00. Personally i would just pay the $22.00 because a complaining mother is like a flailing whale (It will hit you). But, some people do consider $22.00 a lot of money and they refuse to pay it. These ring tone companies are trying to become sneaker and sneaker when inserting their terms of service. Now a days they are always sure to insert a “< small >” tag before they insert their legal jargon.
I have never had much success in the ring tone industry and i think that all those offers are simply a scam. Sure they pay high, but high payouts are not always the most important thing. Regardless of how you market ring tone offers there is an ethical factor in my book. Personally i feel unethical marketing ring tones through Adwords because teenagers search the internet for free ring tones ALL THE TIME. People tend to make stereo-types about my age group and they have every right in the world to do this. Teenagers need to learn to read the fine print and not fall for Scams which say “Totally Free” in the header and Automatically check the terms of service.
I know i rambled on and on about the ring tone scams in the industry but all i am really trying to say is Kids my age have no clue what they are doing on the internet. If its signing up to win a “free i-phone” or signing up for “free ring tones” they do not know how to read simple TOS’s and AUP’s on these landing pages. Most ring tone marketers who market offers through SEM probably do not care but personally i feel that it is unethical to market these ring tone offers which use the word “complimentary” but not “free” etc etc.
Post your thoughts,
Harrison