Is this unethical?

You're the one that has to live with your decision.

Yeah. Thats up to you. I don't write but I would not let my writers say something that wasnt there either.

I write articles all of the time for other people. Sometimes I am an overweight person who lost weight. Sometimes I write from the perspective of a single woman who was beaten and battered by her ex-husband. Sometimes I write as If I spent 2 years working at a fast food restaurant.

In short, I write what my clients want. I do not think it is immoral. I do however draw the line at offering pseudoscience medical advice that could actually harm somebody such as if you get breast cancer rub this cream on your chest and you do not have to go to a Doctor.

I'm not sure if there is a standard for the definition of the word overweight. It is a term that is somewhat in the eyes of the beholder.

I know of a person (who happened to be anorexic) and at 120 pounds she thought that she was overweight. Clearly she was not by everyone else's standards. She also had to go through counseling before she realized that she was not overweight.

Just another perspective.

The ethical question you posed - that is for you to answer.

What you do when you aren't afraid of people finding out defines the type of person you are. If you want to mislead people, no one will ever know the difference. You will. It's up to you to decide whether or not it's ethical.

If you have never been overweight, do you know someone that has been? Get them to relate their feelings to you and tell their story to your reader.

My close friend was overweight and felt...

Re's
Rob Whisonant

If the article is used to promote a weight loss product you claim to have used to lose the "excess," it's illegal. I believe the technical term is "fraud."


Paul

............................................________

I think you are the only one who knows whatever you write is ethical or not.

I think it's not unethical. If the article contains any unique or new idea on how to lose weight, and your article can help people, then it's okay. If you lie to people, then it's unethical.

Whether something is ethical or not is probably something that you're going to decide for yourself

That being said, the fact that there are a lot of others doing something, doesn't change it from being ethical or not. You have to decide whether it's ethical based on the principle.

If you're saying that you were overweight out of empathy... you have to think about it from the reader's point of view. Would the reader really appreciate that empathy if they knew that it was fake?

What if, the only reason why the reader listened to the advice in the article, was because they knew it came from someone in their position... only problem is, that it's not from someone in their position.

So, I think you'd have to be very careful if you're giving advice in your article. You could be misleading the reader into thinking that the advice works, because it came from someone who was overweight and no is no longer overweight.

Instead of saying that you were overweight when you weren't, you could rather focus on the feelings or emotions that someone who is overweight could be feeling, and then relate that to something that you have experienced. In other words, you can understand where they are coming from, because you've experienced similar feelings.

Or, you could empathize with them, based on what you have seen. If you have or had someone close to you who was overweight, then you could recall what that was like and what you have witnessed them go through.

So, you don't need to say you were overweight went you weren't, because there are ways for you to genuinely empathize with the reader. But, the choice is really yours. In the end, you have to be comfortable with what you write.

I would feel very uneasy pretending to be someone I am not.

But, here is something you may want to think about.

I learned from my doctor that based on the standard health metrics, I am OBESE! I never thought about myself as obese, perhaps SLIGHTLY overweight. I don't look obese at all.

The thing is you might actually be overweight or perhaps even obese, by medical standards, and you even don't realize that.

Heck, just a thought.

Yes it is unethical to do so.


Zul

I mean, it is sales, so I would imagine that most customers take what they read with a grain of salt, and understand that artistic license has been taken with the copy.

That's how I read most sales copy anyway, I suppose there would be someone out there who would feel that they were lied to if that was not the 100% truth

Granny always said "If you have to ask if the shirt is wrinkled .. don't waste your and my time .. just get out the iron."

As Paul mentioned, it is illegal. The FTC has been very active in taking action against sites making false claims and fake testimonials, which is what your statement of weight loss amounts to.

Federal Trade Commission Resources for Reporters

It is called lying, stating a falsehood, building your house on a foundation of sand. There are thousands of prisons filled with individuals who asked themselves the same question and answered: "Sure why not?"

Why not instead build your business on providing a valuable product or service, digital or otherwise based on quality and truth?

Wouldn't that make more sense?

Do you like it when people lie to you and try to scam you with worthless info and junk products? Do you want others to hustle you and pick your pockets? If the answer is yes, then go ahead and lie.

I don't do it, but I know people who tell others to do it, I think it's not good. But when you look at most people who is true, very few from what I can see.

Overweight is a sensitive topic and a very touchy subject for those who are experiencing this. If you wanted to reach out to your readers by writing a similar experience to them, it is best that you just ask someone, who really experienced such, to relate his/her story. This is better than creating your own experience.

You already know the answer. Yet, I think you want to do it anyway, and you want someone to pat you on the head and tell you it's okay.

Not going to play that game.

Lie or don't lie. Your choice, your conscience, your karma...

By saying you "used to be overweight" and you were in fact, not overweight, is a lie. That is misleading and yes indeed unethical.

It is better to find someone who was indeed overweight and lost weight with this product, then talk about that person and telling the truth.

You will find that by telling the truth, you will sell more and build up a bigger and better reputation.

-- Reno

Lying is unethical. You can use other words to encourage your reader to trust your article.
If you want to live with your lying empathy, just do it.

Honesty is always the best policy.

So for me, it is unethical. You're lying to your own self and to your target audience.

Business weeds out nonsense like this anyway. How popular / big can you get based on lies? I'm sure it can happen but it's much harder.

I would say it is not advisable, and it is unethical. You're just fooling yourself AND your future customers. It's like giving out help and advices even though you don't know anything and has never experienced it. Just because almost everyone is doing a certain wrong, doesn't mean it becomes right. What is wrong is wrong, at least to a certain point in human ethics.
I have an idea, though. Why don't you go overweight so everything'll be all legal now? (kidding)

Why are you seeking validation from others? Do your thing and care less what others think. Besides, the people you're getting opinions from are probably doing worse things than you're worrying about.

Hi JL8,

I don't know how to prove it but people have some sort of instincts to tell if facts are bluff.. It's the same as with the products you promote.. They somehow feel that you're just trying to sell them

I think you have to decide yourself if you write that you were previously overweight or not

If you think about it, nearly ALL the people on tv advertisements for the 'ab swing' , 'weight watchers' etc are all fake. Before and after photos are photoshopped and people say what they are being paid to say. Most of them, if not all of them, havent even used the products they are being paid to advertised. People on steroids are used on display advertising some cheap machine. There are many more examples i can use, but i think you get the point

At least your honest and deserve a medal for your honesty.

I've read 10 sales pages today on different niches and the bull I've read makes me cry. They actually spill out the bull on 4 pages and as IMers, we are fully aware of the tactics e.g. I was reading a sales page on an IM niche where the person had lost everything, was severely depressed, got divorced but now making thousands online using some unknown software. It might fool the layman out there but not us.

The standards for 'right' and 'wrong' are NOT in the eyes of the beholder. Truthfulness is established by God. And, according to His standard telling someone something that is not true is WRONG (a.k.a., a lie)

Nonetheless, you can always write a WSO and sell it here ... after all, other people don't seem to have trouble selling 'trash' and 'photoshopping' Clickbank earning statements.

Your character should be more important than your next sale. Is it?

From the way you wrote the post and the concern you have showed, i appreciate your honesty in asking public opinion and would like to recommend you to use the way you mentioned but not with "I used to be..." but maybe "A colleague of mine" or "any third party/friend etc". That's what most of the people are doing.

Because there's always a friend of everyone who has suffered from overweight (and all known issues of life).

If you have to think about it, then there's your answer.

If you're building up a long term brand and it can become something big, then I wouldn't lie about anything because the truth can easily be uncovered

Honestly, that decision is up to you and what type of mind you have. Some people may have no problem with that. Go with what you think is best.

The fact is that a lot of the sold items CAN work, so you never know if they are 100% fake. Because of the way you feel about this, I would say STAY AWAY! Besides, suppose everyone did what you suggest. It is STILL illegal! You talk like you don't even have the FIRST idea of how a person may gain weight or how hard it may be to lose it, etc... And people that want to lose weight don't so easily trust ads ANYWAY because so many under state the problem or overstate the effectiveness of the proposed solution.

What you COULD do is give it to 20 plus people for free, with a sound diet, and have them try it for 2 months or more. If they ALL lose weight and the MEN lose an average of .5-1pound(1.1-2.2KG)/day, with the women losing at about half the rate, BOTH with no decline in mood or health, ****THEN**** you can talk!

You can say your results, be totally truthful, and you will have the gold standard! I didn't pick those numbers out of a hat. Doctors agree that is about the quickest rate you can safely lose. And 2 months is probably enough time to start seeing ill effects if it is bad. It ALSO means that a man could lose 60 pounds and a woman could lose 30 pounds. That is respectable.

And Sorry if this sounds sexist, but testosterone speeds up weight lose, and estrogen helps store fat and a woman's endocrine syste can be messed up by losing weight too quickly, so that is just the way it is. Both COULD lose twice as much as I stated, but then some doctors start disagreeing about how safe it is.

Steve

yes this is unethical

I think it's not unethical as long as your product or course provides true value.

If u have to ask, then you already have your answer.

Honest salesman go hungry. I don't get why everyone is so against "lying" to achieve sales. That's what salesman do... that's how businesses work...

*sigh* I'm done trying to explain that point.

Yes you would be lying. Get yourself a couple far people who have lost the weight with your method and make the product with their experience and maybe give them a percentage of sales.

Good luck!

Gengis

ALSO, look at http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...nuary-2nd.html , if it is still there. Clickbank is obviously tired of dishonest marketers. at least they managed to strike the balance between affiliates and marketers. If an affiliate lies trying to sell a decent product, THEY get punished. If a good affiliate sells a bad vendors product, the vendor is punished.

Steve