# Weird trick that makes you click my ad **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trick-that-makes-you-click-my-ad/683967 "2014-03-17T23:47:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trick-that-makes-you-click-my-ad/683967/1 "2014-03-17T23:47:41Z")
What the heck is up with all these ads lately that stick “weird trick” into the opening? “Weird trick” will get you girls, money or let you learn a foreign language! Did somebody do a study that shows it works or is it some specific web ad company that has got a tonne of extra business lately? ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trick-that-makes-you-click-my-ad/683967/2 "2014-03-17T23:54:51Z")
How about those shared links that I see all the time on Facebook? “You won’t believe what Ellen did on her show!” Clicking the link will take you to the story of Ellen interviewing Beyonce or something. “You won’t believe what this mother did IN PUBLIC!” She took her child to the park to play. Annoying hype. I did a google on “weird trick” a couple of weeks ago, and it led me to a discussion here at the Dope from around 2008 or so. I’m not where I can search so I can’t provide a link. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trick-that-makes-you-click-my-ad/683967/3 "2014-03-18T00:29:16Z")
The guy responsible for the “secret to weight loss _they_ don’t want you to know” ads just got sentenced to 10 years. > **[TV infomercial star Kevin Trudeau sentenced to 10 years in criminal contempt...](https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/tv-infomercial-star-kevin-trudeau-sentenced-10-years-article-1.1724871)** > > Trudeau, whose sentence follows his defiance of paying a $37 million fine, was slammed as "deceitful to the core" by U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman in Chicago Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trick-that-makes-you-click-my-ad/683967/4 "2014-03-18T00:30:29Z")
This article in Slate explains it pretty well: [Prepare to Be Shocked!](http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/07/how_one_weird_trick_conquered_the_internet_what_happens_when_you_click_on.1.html) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trick-that-makes-you-click-my-ad/683967/5 "2014-03-18T03:16:25Z")
Anyone else pay special attention to their status bar before clicking those links above? I mean, we were talking about clickbaiting here. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trick-that-makes-you-click-my-ad/683967/6 "2014-03-18T08:25:07Z")
I endorse Alley Dweller’s link. These internet scams have, broadly speaking, 3 players. One company runs the warehouse. The next company makes the brands - there’s no reason why a seller of acai needs to know anything about acai or how to produce it; they don’t even have to handle to shipping and handling. What they do is sell the product for $20 and pay their ad affiliates $40 per sale. They make up the difference by signing the mark up for multiple recurring payments, each of which requires a phone call to cancel. Or you can just cancel the credit card. The third group are “affiliates” who do the web advertising. These consist of hundreds (thousands?) of typically one man shops. Highly competitive. Lots of experimentation. So basically we have a stadium full of monkeys banging away at typewriters. As it turns out, the result isn’t Shakespeare, it’s “One weird trick.” Cite: [Jesse Willms, the Dark Lord of the Internet - The Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/01/the-dark-lord-of-the-internet/355726/) ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trick-that-makes-you-click-my-ad/683967/7 "2014-03-18T10:54:06Z")
There’s a new generation of “See why this interview was banned from TV!!” stuff out there, too. I guess the one weird tip for tooth whitening and the one weird food for weight loss were getting lonely. It’s hard, being weird. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trick-that-makes-you-click-my-ad/683967/8 "2014-03-18T11:29:44Z")
I clicked on one of those “One weird trick for a huge penis!” links because I thought “Hey, _I’ve_ got a huge penis and it’d be neat to teach it a trick”. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trick-that-makes-you-click-my-ad/683967/9 "2014-03-18T11:48:42Z")
What happens next will make you cry. I hate clickbait link titles and my respect for friends who link to them lessens each time they post one. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trick-that-makes-you-click-my-ad/683967/10 "2014-03-18T14:48:44Z")
Better yet, Obama wants you to apply for government assistance that you’re not entitled to. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trick-that-makes-you-click-my-ad/683967/11 "2014-03-18T15:19:44Z")
What made me laugh is that there’s a radio ad that promises “This one weird trick to getting an extra $220 in your Social Security check” (or something very similar). It’s as though the advertising people were afraid that there’s people out there who could get suckered in by the hook but who unfortunately weren’t on the internet.