Archives for April 2005

I met Bob Debbas back in 2003 at the final Affiliate Force cruise conference. I recall being impressed by the passion he had for his homeland of Lebanon, and empathized with his frustration in having Syria occupy the country.

Back then, I knew Bob as the CEO of We Are Logos. But now he’s blazing a trail with a new site called LebaneseShop.com.

According to a press release about the new site, “In support of Lebanese independence, LebaneseShop.com announces the launch of its pro-Lebanon website at www.lebaneseshop.com, featuring T-shirts, flags, bumper stickers and similar items. A portion of sales from the T-shirts will go to benefit the opposition, regardless of political party or religious affiliation.”

Bob is paying affiliates 10% of the sales they refer through the affiliate program for the LebaneseShop.com affiliate program.

As a little background for the origin of the site, here’s what Bob wrote in the About Us section:

“I decided to make this site in solidarity to those who demonstrated on that historical day February 14th 2005. The tshirts that are being sold are printed in the U.S to help support the Lebanese who are demonstrating in Lebanon. 20 Percent of the profits will go the demonstrators and in support of the whole opposition regardless of the political parties that they are a part of or religious affiliation.

The Lebanese wanted to know the TRUTH about who killed the former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri on Valentine’s Day at 12:55 PM Beirut time. They wanted a Lebanon free from ALL FOREIGN FORCES. The Lebanese that were demonstrating came in unison from the North, West, South, and East. They were Christians and Muslims . They were old, and young, fit and handicapable. They were rich and poor. They were rural and urban . They were farmers and business people. They were women and men, children and grandparents. Most importantly they were 100% LEBANESE.

The war in Lebanon which lasted from that fateful day on April 13th 1975 has cost the lives of more than 200,000 people which is around 7 percent of the Lebanese population. In comparison that would be around 18 MILLION AMERICANS dead in 30 years. It is my hope like millions of Lebanese, Lebanese – Americans and friends of Lebanon that Lebanon can live at peace with its neighbors. It is in this spirit that this endeavour has been started. Long Live a Free Lebanon.”

It’s nice to see affiliate marketing being fused with a good cause – let’s hope more of this sort of venture blossoms in the future.

Back in March, Wayne Porter challenged 180solutions to answer a series of questions on their business practices and such.

In Wayne’s blog, Cory Magnus of 180solutions protests that “The notion that many of our users came from improper installs is an urban legend started in the anti-spyware community.”

Do urban legends about spyware actually exist? I do think some anti-spyware apps are overboard in what they detect and remove, namely affiliate cookies, but it rings as a little silly that people are ganging up on a clean, innocent piece of software.

One of my favorite answers was to Porter’s question, “180 is getting a lot of flak right now, and perhaps this flak is well deserved giving the issue of stealth installs. Why do you feel anyone should trust 180 Solutions after all the things that happened before?”

The response from 180solutions seemed to have been to the question, “Why would somebody want to work for 180solutions”?

I’m not sure how their office having “a bright, vibrant community of talented people” makes them trustworthy, but it does sound nice.

180solutions cites things such as being “recognized as one of the fastest growing private companies in Washington and in the U.S.” as well as being “a best company to work for in Washington” to bolster their claims of being trustworthy.

So they’ve got a lot of smart people and a nice work environment – that is great for their employees, but um… why should I trust them?

Of course, they are just like any other media company, or so they say. According to 180solutions, “Just like NBC we are in the business of connecting advertisers to consumers… clearly NBC is in the business of showing advertisements that sponsor content. 180 does the same thing.”

I suppose you could make a comparison in a VERY broad sense. Some things are starkly different. For instance, if you search for NBC on Google, you see a bunch of sites related to NBC.

However, a search for 180solutions on Google yields a bevy of natural and paid results geared towards educating consumers in the operation and removal of 180solutions.

So many products geared towards the removal of 180solutions just to reinforce some urban legend? Come on now!

One of the higher ranking natural results is an interesting bit of research, “The Effect of 180solutions on Affiliate Commissions and Merchants,” by respected urban legend debunker, Ben Edelman.

If it’s writ, we must acquit? Thanks, but no.