After posting The Marketing Syndicate and the Business Cycle of the Seduction Industry, Part I, one of my facebook friends commented on the note, informing me about a recent book release of Real Social Dynamics. The title in question is called "Physical Game Book", written by their instructor Ozzie, and available for the hefty price of $29.95. While far from the amounts required to purchase DVD sets, it's still far above what you'd usually expect to pay for books.
But what's wrong with trying to sell a book, you might ask.
Nothing, would it not be the case that they use "forced continuity", which is one of the shadiest marketing techniques in the scammy corners of the Internet, which is where the Seduction industry usually gathers. Forced continuity means that you click to buy a cheap front-end product and during one of the check-out phases, the software automatically adds a subscription based service which you have to opt out. It's shady and misleading, and it is laudable that companies such as VISA and Mastercard have started to go after companies that employ "free trials" and forced continuity programmes.
But, on to RSD and what is called by Mastercard a "negative option enrollment", meaning that you have to opt-out, otherwise you will be billed. RSD apparently didn't get the news and I hope they'll get their just rewards sooner rather than later.
On their sales page, the book is $29.95, and they speak of free bonuses:
But look what you get once you click on the prominently placed "by now" links:
You might ask yourself, "Gosh, what's wrong with the sum here?"
I did so too, then I looked up and saw this:
....and only if you disable the box, the price reverts back to $29.95. It doesn't stop here, by the way.
If you click on "learn more", you will learn that you actually pay a shipping fee of $5. Have a look:
And this concludes today's case study on the dishonesty and scammy nature of the Seduction industry on the example of Real Social Dynamics, which also brings me back to Ron Burgundy. Please substitute San Diego for "Real Social Dynamics" in the following clip:
It's really a joke at this point. I was at the RSD free seminar awhile back and Tyler himself was poking fun at it, so whatevs.
ReplyDeleteJT,
ReplyDeleteyou are asking, "So, whatever?" but are you even aware of the implications?
You basically say that Tyler went up on stage and communicated something like "You know, we think our customers are complete idiots and not only that, we also give a sh*t about business ethics, that's why we use those fraudulent techniques. Isn't that totally cool?"
...and then the crowd cheers and thinks Tyler is a genius. One Asberger's patient might even say to his neighbour, "Oh, gee, I wish I were as unstifled as Tyler."
Take a look at the shipping costs, too.
ReplyDeletehttp://i53.tinypic.com/2n9wdmq.jpg
Seriously, RSD? It costs you $56 to ship a book to Europe in any sort of decent time frame?
Yeah..
Thanks for digging this up! It seems to pay off to "go deep into the rabbit hole". :P
ReplyDelete