Ethically speaking...

Nope, you are totally right.

Remember the thousands of tourists who took the first plane to South East Asia after the big tsunamis there which killed thousands?

They were just going by boat and filming the thousands of dead bodies in the water, then selling the tapes.

It was simply disgusting...

How some of the biggest and most profitable companies in the world are selling sickness and diseases:

Amazon.com: Selling Sickness: How the World's...

Getting healthy people to buy drugs they don't need, which won't cure what they don't have, and potentially have unpleasant to dire side effects, sounds like such a crazy premise, even Hollywood wouldn't buy it.

Yet that's just what's happened, as Moynihan and Cassels document in their book "Selling Sickness". The 500 billion dollar pharmaceutical industry has plenty of money to spend convincing us that our ordinary travails mask mental illnesses, and common aches and pains need treatment.

Americans represent five percent of the world's population, but we consume fifty percent of prescription drugs.

Millions of healthy people have asked their doctor about that purple pill they saw on television, or been given drugs pushed by the army of 80,000 drug salesmen who've influenced your doctor with free lunches and far more.

Many people now take drugs that may have harmful side effects and won't make much of a difference in improving their health. Hormone replacement therapy turned out to increase the chance of heart attacks for women, one of the blockbuster cholesterol lowering drugs was withdrawn from the market because it was implicated in causing deaths.

The FDA isn't looking out for you either

There are a lot of things I wouldn't sell, and I would refund the money for that article. To me, it's in extremely bad taste. But that's me ... you have to do what is right for you. I wouldn't presume to know what that is.

Hey thedog,

I'm with you buddy. Exploit the suffering of the people to make money is of extremely bad taste.

Well,now,if you decided to not write the article simply shoot them a message and tell them CLEARLY your reasons.

You will not receive a negative feedback if you decided not write the article.( in the case he/she/they will send you a negative feedback,send an email to the "Fiverr department" and tell them that you have received a fake feedback)

You can refund them by reversing the gig.To do this you have to find a button somewhere on Fiverr( i don't remember exactly) so that you can refund the $5 automatically.

That's it.

I think and hope that still most people feel the same

It's true (and a little sad too), but EMOTIONS are a huge factor in marketing.

If you're a marketer you would have a tough time to ignore this...the question is where is the limit and what do you still consider "ethical" yourself.

If there wouldn't be emotions (hate, fear, anger, outrage, love, jealousy, joy etc..etc)...a LOT of companies would be out of business and people would hardly read any news..or buy products.

I'm very wary of what CPA products I market. Their Terms and conditions can be sketchy even at the best of times, but I stay away from products that take money even if the consumer cancels before the allotted time in a free trial. However, it really isn't my responsibility to make sure they all read the terms and conditions when they order the product. It's amazing how many people feel they have been "ripped off" just because they failed to adhere to the T&C of their free trials.

I think you're doing the right thing by donating the $4 to charity. It's good to hear that you really thought this through, too. I am just starting out as a writer so I haven't come across anything yet that I won't write for, but I'm sure I will.

There are some things more important than money, that is for sure.

That's a tough one. There are always going to be people who try to prosper off of other people's suffering - that's on the buyer, not on you, although I like your plan to give the money to charity.

As for me, the most objectionable content I've ever been hired to write some ultra-derogatory PUA content written from a man's point of view. Very tough to do, and not my favorite topic to write on, but ultimately, not my place to judge the marketer's projects.

As a marketer, though, I won't touch **** berry or other scam offers like that.

Inform Fiverr about it and tell them that you do not wish to do the Gig.
They will take care of it.

CNN in my local area has been airing commercials about "sexual impotence" and "erectile dysfunction" right after breaking news footage of the Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Reactors exploding lately. I find it to be disgusting, perverted, and unethical. I never had a lot of respect for CNN in the first place, but now I won't even watch it as a news source anymore.

I wouldn't say you're overreacting at all.

You should just contact them and explain it and send refund via Paypal or whatever they say. I would not touch disaster marketing or anything that involves in profiting from pain and suffering. I'd rather sleep well at night also.

I've only ever turned down one marketing job, and that's because it was for a firearms manufacturer.

They were one of the largest US-based manufacturers of firearms and I had no problem with that, I actually found it really intriguing and though it would be a big challenge.

However during the interview they asked me a lot of questions along the lines of how I feel about gangs and organized crime and various other areas, and I got the strong impression that they were selling their products on the black market. That just rubbed me the wrong way so I walked away (and yes, I was offered the job with a stupidly high salary, we're talking 6 figure income).