Free For All Friday: The Dream Scheme - The Fake Doctor Is In

The day of writing about anything I want. ***** Shout out to Canada’s own Marketplace and exposing this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbyfhGHX0Vg

If you read the comments you might see that people seem to be confused.

They can’t tell the difference between an actor and a liar.

Sure, in this case there are similarities between an actor and someone who gives fake testimonials. They both get scripts. They both say they are people that they really aren’t. They both pretend to be someone they’re not.

But the difference is important.

An actor doesn’t hide the fact that they are an actor. An actor tells everyone. They tell their friends, their family, the corner grocer, the people they meet walking their dogs, and if they’re famous enough they go on talk shows and say “look at me in this,” and then they pull out a clip of their latest movie or tv show. Usually this type of behavior can get really annoying but we tend to forgive them for this because we all understand that it’s part of the business to have to say “look at me.”

Everyone knows when they’re watching a tv show that the doctors on the show are not doctors. We all know they are actors playing doctors. For one thing you’re not going to find that many good looking doctors in one place. And I think most of us know that not every doctor and nurse spends time together in the linen closet in between telling people that they have incurable diseases unless they can bring in that world famous specialist from his vacation in Fiji. It’s not hidden that this is a tv show that writers made up and actors portray the characters and there’s a director and lighting and make-up and fake sets and at the end of the day the patients get up from their beds and go home. And we all know there really isn’t a Sam and Dean fighting real demons and other world monsters (although I’m suspecting that there’s something in the White House that isn’t human). Even hard core fans know this because Sam and Dean who are really Jared and Jenson don’t hide the fact that they are actors. In fact they even tell us in their own TV show. Like that episode where Jared and Jenson play Sam and Dean playing Jared and Jenson playing Sam and Dean – very badly. Believe me, it exists and it’s hilarious. And here’s another fun fact. Game of Thrones is not historical. I know there are fans out there that think it is, and they’ll complain that rituals that George R.R. Martin created aren’t historically accurate, but although possibly dragons once existed and dinosaur bones are really dragon bones, I’m pretty sure there were never ice zombies. And I only think that dragons may have existed because that’s just the weird writer in me that also wants to believe in fairies.

Even with commercials we know that the people on commercials are not really plumbers and headache doctors. That Maytag repair man was also Arthur Carlson the owner of a radio station on WKRP in Cincinnati. I don’t think that after he worked all day acting Gordon Jump went to people’s homes to fix their Maytag washers or sat around crying because he wasn’t getting work as a repairman. Nor did he ever own a radio station called WKRP where people threw live turkeys out of helicopters.

We know this. We're not stupid. We call this entertainment.

Testimonials and reviews are supposed to be a different thing altogether. The point of a testimonial or review is for the buyer to be able to get someone’s honest opinion on a product and how it worked for them. Okay, maybe with a testimonial the point is to give some weight to a product in order to sell it. But still, we’re supposed to be able to trust a testimonial. When someone says “I’m a doctor and I recommend this product,” we are supposed to be able to think that this is a real doctor. Although I do question whether Dr. Oz is a real doctor since he recommends everything. Well, actually he is a real doctor with an impressive background but now instead of saving lives he sells his soul shilling every bit of quackery that will pay him.

When we see before and after pictures, we’re supposed to be able to believe it. I’m looking at you Rodan and Fields.

As an author I want to see reviews on my books. It does a couple of things. The more reviews I get the more visible my book becomes. Plus a good review encourages readers who aren’t sure if they’ll like it to get an idea if they will. If someone else liked it then maybe they will too.

I have never, ever, solicited reviews on my books. Except for one person, all my reviews have been by people I have never met and don’t know. I have never told anyone to give me a positive review. My reviews are all 4 and 5 star reviews.

Ironically, those glowing reviews puts the reviews in jeopardy. Because now people don’t trust those reviews. Some people won’t even pay attention to them because they are suspicious that I have paid for them. I think the only reason Amazon hasn’t removed them is because my books haven’t been noticed enough to warrant taking them down.

On the other side of the coin, some authors get bad reviews not because they deserve them (and there are a lot that do), but because there are despicable authors out there (likely the same ones who pay for positive reviews) who will purposely give bad reviews to authors without ever reading their books in an effort to sabotage someone else’s success. Not every author does this. But enough do that it hurts honest authors. If you are a real writer, you neither pay for positive reviews nor do you undermine someone else. If you participate in underhand practices, then go away and stop pretending and let people with honesty and talent alone.

False advertising hurts everyone. It hurts the consumer and it hurts the honest businesses and creative people.

Doing a commercial is one thing. There is nothing wrong with doing a commercial because everyone understands it’s a commercial and you aren’t hiding that you are an actor. Same with voice overs. There is nothing wrong with doing a voice over extolling the virtues of the product because people understand that it’s part of the commercial. We know commercials employ actors to tell a story whether we see the actor or not.

But when people are looking for real help with their health and you come on as a testimonial saying that a product worked for you, or worse that you are a doctor and you recommend this product, then unless the company explicitly says that you are a paid actor, you are a liar and no different than if you went door to door claiming you’re a doctor with a magic elixir or standing on a corner claiming you are a representative of xyz charity and please donate to help the cause. So if you are doing this. Stop it. Move out of the way and let people with talent succeed and stop hurting the innocent consumer. Because if you really had talent, you would respect it, and you wouldn’t be doing this. And to the consumer - now you know. Those testimonials are fake. Never trust a company that hires people to give testimonials.