Tiny belly' ads part of big, fat scheme, FTC says

Ryan

Meeeeeoooow
Nov 4, 2006
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Victoria BC
www.linkbuildr.com
WASHINGTON — It might be the ad that ate the Internet.
"1 Tip for a Tiny Belly" reads the headline, rendered in fake hand-lettered type and positioned above a crudely animated drawing of a woman's bare midriff. Try as you might to concentrate on something else, the midriff distracts your eye by shrinking and reinflating - flabby to flat, flat to flabby.
"Cut down a bit of your belly everyday by following this 1 weird old tip," it reads. The "weird old tip" is revealed only after you click on the ad.
For months, versions of the ad have been just about everywhere, including such popular websites as Facebook, Weather.com and About.com. They have also shown up on the home pages of news organizations such as the Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, the Washington Post and the Guardian newspaper in Britain.