The most stupid thing in all of this is I am possibly one of the few bloggers who would have been quite willing to in some ways defend his marketing strategy, though I wouldn’t defend ignoring the ASA.

The J Letter technique has been around for years and there are tons of companies that specialize in creating the marketing materials.
I don’t know whether Halbert originated it (as you suggested in the comments on Salty’s post), though it was certainly covered in his teaching.

In all the samples I have seen they in some way disclose that it is an advert. In some examples it is quite cleverly done using other fake adverts on the page, though those get complaints from readers and adverts pulled by magazines and newspapers looking to please their readers.

It is also where all the fake news blogs originated from used for pimping scammy weight-loss CPA offers, though those haven’t yet fully mastered all the subtle techniques used by offline marketers with personalization.
Direct mail pieces can use tons of personal data that just isn’t yet available onine when marketing to an “anonymous” visitor.

The difference between using an advertorial in a newspaper/magazine & using a J Letter with a tear sheet is editorial control and accountability.

Even on the web if you create a bad experience for users, the advertising platforms are likely to get a little upset, as seems happened with Adwords last year.

I suppose that is where the ASA comes in with direct mail

My favorite line from this post: “Bad news / Negative press tends to fill the gap in the SERPs a bit like a hydra.” Excellent observation.

Ryan

The short version

1. I have nothing to gain from it other than a few links – I know a few people who have leveraged being taken to court into something positive but there is risk.
2. It is a business distraction I really don’t need at the moment
3. WsMD – Weapons of Social Media Destruction – some of the ideas I have for internet memes would be highly destructive to [name withheld] and his business, the problem is they would cause a level of brand destruction similar to the cleanup job BP currently have to face – despite teaching some stuff about SEO, he isn’t really a SEO expert thus I am assuming at this time he is geting some poor advice. Once you let the Djinni out of the bottle it is hard to put it back inside.
4. There are multiple people in the ring with an interest… Dan Kennedy & Bill Glazer seem to have lent him a hand in defending this – there is at least one other marketer who I respect who has a PPC module from [name withheld] within his core package. The branding by association game is a 2 way street and some of the intersections in relationships could leave permanent scars.
5. Whilst a few people have taken material offline, the new wave isn’t at all positive and is much harder to defend against. The Register for instance isn’t going to remove their content
6. As explained, I did include a number of images and whilst I believe I would have a reasonably strong case in court if it came to it, images are funny things, just look at the drama about that iconic Obama poster.

If “Name Withheld” wanted to deal with copyright issues, you’re easy to reach. This is nothing more, and nothing less than an attempt to intimidate you and stifle free expression.

I appreciate your reluctance to name and shame, but if someone ever sends me one o’ those, they’ll have a VERY short window to apologize and throw their lawyers under a large bus.

I don’t have to agree with everyone’s opinions all the time (Hi, Salty Droid) but they damned sure have a right to say what’s on their minds.

Grace

It’s called “Fair Use” in the USA, and that attorney KNOWS you have great latitude because of it. I consider it all posturing and intimidation, and personally, I would not be swayed. In fact, I would have named names, but I appreciate why you did not.

Trying to intimidate you via legal threats which would probably easily be thrown out if defended…that’s not particularly wise. Especially since on the internet, word tends to get around (and support mustered up) when someone attempts to silence a blogger.

Stand firm.

I’d really love to see a non-redacted copy of this letter. This is the sort of situation in which I like to insert myself. Shoot me an email if that’s possible.

In my opinion … you should put your post back up and tell this hack lawyer to go to hell. My guess is that there is almost no chance of any action other than hollow and poorly reasoned threats.

Now I’m curious as to who this is … Andy, what does his name rhyme with?

And don’t say “plucking flanker” – that’s just childish ;)

Cheers

Nick :)