FTD Google Adwords Scam

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CHR

CHR

Design matters
Nov 28, 2002
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FTD Google Adwords Scam (please take a look at the blog post and leave a comment)

Want to look like an official, authoritative local florist while sitting behind your desk thousands of miles away? Just add the federal registered trademark symbol - ® - to your Google Adwords ad titles and viola! you can be local without bothering with rent, employees or any of that other costly local stuff.

Just in time from Valentine's Day, FlowersUSA.com, a web site owned and operated by FTD, has begun running ads targeting local searches for florists in communities across the US. The ads claim the company holds federal registered trademarks for an array of local names:

Today, a Google search for "Irvine Florist" shows:
FlowersUSA-Irvine.jpg






A search for "Tempe florist" displays:

FlowersUSA-Tempe.jpg







and a search for "Anaheim florist" includes:

Flowers-USA-Anaheim.jpg







All flower orders sold through that site are processed by FTD and are either drop-shipped via common courier or transferred to real local florists, less $13 - $15 services fees and 27% commissions.

According to the USPTO, neither FTD nor FlowersUSA.com holds registered trademarks for Irvine Flowers, Tempe Flowers or Anaheim Flowers. In fact, we couldn't even find trademark applications having ever been filed for such businesses.

It's unclear what if any legal implications arise from falsely using a federal registered trademark symbol in the course of geographic misrepresentation. At any rate, it's yet another look at the seedy side of 'online florist' flower marketing.

Let's hope Google's TOS make FTD/FlowersUSA.com pull all the ads with the phony trademark disignations before Valentine's Day flowers searchers get fooled into paying more and getting less than they would from real local florists.
Click to expand...
If you are an Adwords advertiser, please login to your account and file a complaint. This is about the lowest FTD has sunk - in public. Jeez!
 
Florists Must Speak Out

Florists are generally very nice, kind, trusting people. We have been turning the other cheek far more than the 70 X 7. Now it is time to defend ourselves.

Since I have been a member of Flower Chat, we have been talking, talking; blaming, blaming; screeming, screeming and just recently, maybe just since the beginning of 2008 have we started to take some action.

Florist Detective was a step forward, but I am surprised when I ask florists if they have read Florist Detective, most respond with "What's that?"

When there are definitive actions that are important to take, I suggest that there be a "How To Save Your Florist Business" place where florists can be referred to for easy steps spelled out on what they can do.

A great big Thank You, CHR for all you do. You and many others amaze me with your knowledge and skills. I will not mention other names lest I miss some very important, dedicated FC participants.

Is there a need for money? If so, who do we make a check out to? Where do we send it? I FEEL THAT WE ARE AT THE DOORSTEP OF RECLAIMING OUR LEGITIMATE POSITION IN THIS INDUSTRY. AMERICA NEEDS FULL SERVICE FLORISTS. If monies are needed, let it be known. I want to send some money, tell me where.

There should be a grass roots development of a Local Florists' Alliance. Florists have to come together. It is an oxymoron that florists are so willing to help one another but so hard to get organized. Tom Carlson
 
Where are the comments ?

CHR said:
FTD Google Adwords Scam (please take a look at the blog post and leave a comment)

If you are an Adwords advertiser, please login to your account and file a complaint. This is about the lowest FTD has sunk - in public. Jeez!
Click to expand...


Went to the blog post expecting to see an hours worth of comments.
Even went so far as to set up an Adwords account.

Where are the posts ?
When I got there there was one,
( Thanks Tracie ) !

Hoping that by tomorrow when we're back to business as usual everyone will take the time to support this !
The way I see it, we all have the time to sign in and peruse through FC, discuss, debate and of course complain, so I'm sure we can all get together, support Cathy's hard work, and comment/complaint the heck out of this.

Thank you Cathy
You don't have to have a star in Hollywood to be our shining star !:ned
 
As much as I'd love to get upset about this - I can't seem to get those results at all, even with those same search terms.

The only trademark signs I see are 800's and FTD's.
 
The ads disappeared shortly after the post went up.

It was most likely due to a timing issue since some companies only display ads during specific hours. After noon on most Sundays would have a low conversion rate since 'same day' deliveries can't be accommodated.

I have the original screen shots. Here's the one from Tempe:
 

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  • FlowersUSA-Tempe-lg.jpg
    FlowersUSA-Tempe-lg.jpg
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So,...........was this a harmless mistake or was it an effort to get something past watchful eyes ?
 
I recieved this email from Google Adwords.

Hello Eric,

Thank you for your email. I understand that you want to know if ads using the trademark symbol are allowed on Google.com although there may not be any Trademark Fillings with USPTO. Please note that an advertiser is allowed to use the trademark symbol if he/she is the trademark owner. If you feel that these advertisers are using the trademark fraudulently, follow the trademark complaint steps outlined athttp://www.google.com/tm_complaint_adwords.html.

Our terms and conditions with advertisers prohibit intellectual property infringement by advertisers and make it clear that advertisers are responsible for both the keywords they choose to generate advertisements and the text that they choose to use in those advertisements on Google.

Trademarks and our search results:
Our trademark complaint procedure applies only to the use of trademarks in ads, which are clearly marked as sponsored links on our results pages. We do not take action on objections to the use of trademarks in sites that appear in our search results. For any such objections, please contact the site owner directly.

Additionally, please note that advertisers are responsible for the keywords and ad text they choose for their campaigns. If you disagree with an advertiser's use of a particular keyword, you may contact the advertiser directly. Advertisers are free to change their keyword matching options to refine the targeting of their keywords, including the use of negative keywords in their campaign to prevent their ad from showing on a particular query.

You can find more information on keyword matching options at https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6324&query=broad+matching&topic=&type=f.

If you have additional questions, please visit our Help Center at https://adwords.google.com/support to find answers to many frequently asked questions. Or, try our Learning Center at http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/ for self-paced lessons that cover the scope of AdWords.

We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available.

Sincerely,

Khushboo
The Google AdWords Team
Click to expand...

I am submiting the form. However I also have noticed the ads have disappeared. I would of responded last night but the board was running real slow all day!!
 
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Even though the ads have " vanished ", the captures still exist.
If something wrong was in fact done, there is still justification for an investigation.
 
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