I have this website project in mind for some time now. The basic idea is to make an affiliate site, presented by a fictional character, which storytells his fictious life including the use of various services I try to sell. The products sold are rather controversial. Can I be accused of fraud if someonew does a background check and finds out the whole site is an oversized fake testimonial? Thanks in advance. Regards, George
Is this like what tv advertisement does where it tells story of how some people use the products to promote them ? Well, if the fictious character is only incidental to the story then probably it might be okay but if the credibility of the services that you sell depends on that fictious character then maybe that is another story.
It is nothing like an infomercial. The words buy, best, great will never be used. The fictitious character will be biased, arrogant and self sufficient. I'm trying to build a character everyone loves to hate. The background checks will not be a matter of "if", but rather of when. And yes the services are integrated in the story. Regards, George
just add a disclaimer or something similar that explains that the story is made up and presented that way to make it more amussing and add entertainment value to the website. Then consult a lawyer.
I would do it the other way around! You might need one for sure if you do it that way, lol. You shouldn't have a problem if the character is obviously not a real person, e.g. a cartoon character. That is commonly done as is the disclaimer provided above but make sure it's noticeable. You may also prefer to "puff" than to represent. I'm sure doing a search on google about "puffing" and "advertising" and "law" will yield some good results. Puffing is inflating your claim as an exageration but not outright factitious testimonials like you are doing. If you present real life testimonials that are false, then of course you have your answer. I like to use the common sense rule of law - if you are doing something that you think is dishonest and wouldn't want people to do to you, chances are it isn't lawful. Laws vary between jurisdiction but I'm sure there is some false advertising statute that will cover the situation if it's egregious enough.
I don't think you understand the nature of my concern. The copy of the site will be the kind that we'll keep your eyes very close to the monitor and afterwards make some people either want to send marriage proposals or death threat letters. I'm aiming for controversy and emotional response. As part of this hate movement some may actually try to physically hurt this fictitious character, if I do it right at least. What I'm worrying about are potential lawsuits coming from these people. Can a simple disclaimer take care of this issue? Regards, George
I think he means a whois guard or purchase a domain via the service domains by proxy http://domainsbyproxy.com/. basically if your aiming to get threats etc... you better keep your information annonymous for obvious reasons.