AdViewGlobal, AdGateWorld Brands Leveraged To Sell Cash-Gifting, Other Programs; Pitches Also Use Tony Robbins’ Name

It’s hard to imagine that motivational speaker Anthony Robbins would be pleased to learn his carefully cultivated brand name is being leveraged to sell highly questionable online-income opportunities such as cash-gifting programs.

Robbins, however, has company — and it’s the sort of company that adds an extra layer of dubiousness to the drip-drop dilution of the Robbins’ brand: The brands of AdGateWorld and AdViewGlobal also are being used to harvest traffic to “opportunities” that appear to have nothing to do with the autosurf companies.

AdGateWorld and AdViewGlobal are autosurf companies that surfaced in the wake of the alleged $100 million AdSurfDaily autosurf Ponzi scheme. The U.S. government takes a dim view of the autosurf business model, saying it’s a back-door way of selling securities without a license — while using money from new investors to pay redemptions requested by earlier investors: the classic Ponzi set-up.

At the same time, the government also cautions against participating in cash-gifting programs, many of which use an illegal pyramid model and trade on get-rich-quick dreams.

This is one of those bizarre things that happens only online. Autosurfs have been under public scrutiny in the aftermath of the well-publicized August seizure of ASD’s assets.

Promoters of cash-gifting and MLM-style programs now appear to be trading on ASD’s pain — and the names of new autosurfs that have surfaced since the ASD asset seizure  — to harvest traffic and route dollars to their own questionable opportunities.

Last night and this morning we noticed that some promoters of cash-gifting and other questionable programs have been using keywords such as “Ad View Global” and “Ad Gate World” to drive traffic to their video presentations. The autosurf names appear in headlines on the video sites, but the videos themselves don’t talk about the autosurfs.

People who anticipate viewing an autosurf pitch instead are greeted with a cash-gifting pitch or a pitch for another MLM-style program.

Robbins’ name also is being used in an apparent bid to siphon traffic that originates with autosurf- or business-opportunity-related keywords, and, in at least one case, is being used in an actual video ad for a cash-gifting program. We also noticed Robbins’ likeness in video stills whose headlines suggested the videos were about autosurfs.

This morning we viewed a video with a headline of “Ad Gate World Create[s] the 4 Hour Work Week.” The video was about a cash-gifting program, not the Ad Gate World autosurf program. Robbins’ name was scrolled in the opening frames of the video.

A woman who appeared in the video declared she’d found her nirvana through cash-gifting:

“Cash-gifting is the way to go — hands down,” she told viewers. “This is what I want to do, like forever, now.”

Like him or not, Tony Robbins has worked hard to cultivate a unique brand identity. Last year he sued Stephen Pierce, an Internet Marketer, amid allegations that Pierce was leveraging the Robbins’ brand without authorization.

Read about the Robbins/Pierce lawsuit on TMZ.com.

“[Robbins] carefully limits and vigorously protects and defends the good will and value of Robbins’ name, reputation and image,” Robbins said in the lawsuit.

Some promoters of highly questionable programs are really pushing things by associating Robbins’ brand with their “opportunities.” This is one of the reasons large segments of the public view Internet Marketing as a cesspool.

It’s painful to watch.

About the Author

8 Responses to “AdViewGlobal, AdGateWorld Brands Leveraged To Sell Cash-Gifting, Other Programs; Pitches Also Use Tony Robbins’ Name”

  1. Yes, I’ve seen this before. The “Add Legitimacy By Association With a Celebrity” trick. Last year I saw a ponzi-HYIP using the image of Mick Jagger (the picture & site was removed eventually). Also there was one that was using the intersecting rings Olympic flag, something the International Olympic Committee takes very seriously.

    Closely related is the “Add Legitimacy By Stealing The Identity of Another Company” trick. This is where the ponzi scam uses a web site with similar name to that of a real company. I saw one using the name of a Baltic transport company, and another one a few years back was using a UK furniture manufacturer.

    Ponzi-HYIPs and Auto surfs are fraud, and so are criminal activity. ID theft and brand theft are just tools for them.

  2. Hi Tony,

    Appreciate the note. I’ve read that the International Olympic Committee zealously guards its brand, a good thing indeed. Robbins, too, likely will be livid to see his name associated with cash-gifting and autosurfs.

    This is just another classic case of self-indulgent promoters adhering to the ruinous “anything goes” in marketing mantra.

    AdGateWorld, for example, already has had problems with promoters promising prospects protection from the SEC and IRS.

    Now AdGateWorld finds itself a player in a drama in which its brand is being mixed and matched with the Robbins’ brand — all so an Internet Marketer can recruit people into — of all things — a gifting program.

    It’s a preposterous notion, if you walk it back: AdGateWorld + Robbins = Gifting Success.

    I can’t imagine Robbins’ being happy about having his name associated with AdGateWorld or gifting.

    And given the fact that AdGateWorld promoters early on promised protection from the IRS and the SEC, the new association with Robbins — though likely without the knowledge of AdGateWorld — is a potential hornet’s nest.

    Part of AdSurfDaily’s problem was overzealous promoters, people who said and did outrageous things and helped put the company on federal radar screens.

    Now Robbins’ name has been injected into the mix. Why? So someone can build a gifting organization by bleeding traffic from autosurfs and sanitizing the opportunity by appropriating the Robbins’ brand.

    It’s disgusting at multiple levels.

    Patrick

  3. You missed the ultimate irony completely. A very high percentage of the individuals participating in your alleged scams were “motivated” to achieve great financial goals by Mr Robbins and others. He could possibly benefit from his “new found brand exposure” among this group.

  4. Hi Jake,

    It’s indeed possible that I missed the ultimate irony. :-)

    But I can’t see how Mr. Robbins’ possibly could benefit from his name being associated with autosurfs and cash-gifting programs.

    It’s true some purveyors of those programs are motivated to achieve great financial goals — and Tony Robbins could be an inspirational figure to them.

    Some might even be willing to pay (or have paid) a fee to hear him speak or to pick his brain.

    At the end of the day, however, he’ll still be Tony Robbins — and still will have his brand and life’s work to protect. And the very motivated individuals still will be cherrypicking his brand to create the appearance they have an “in” with him or that he recommends the program they’re hawking.

    There surely are a lot of upsides to being Tony Robbins, but the predisposition of highly motivated individuals to adopt his brand as their own surely is one of the downsides.

    It’s almost like claiming the boss achieved an award from the White House for lifetime business achievement when no such award was bestowed — one of the things that put AdSurfDaily on the Feds’ radar screens.

    Regards,

    Patrick

  5. While indeed prominent figures like Tony Robbins, Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield,…etc,..etc,..can be the inspiration behind helping someone reach for the stars,…they don’t teach them to STEAL them! *lol*

    A Mentor/Teacher/Guru can help you gain knowledge, insight and enlightenment, how you use it, is all about personal responsibility.

    If there is anything truly SAD about the various “scams” that have emerged since the ASD fiasco, it is that you will find not only many of the same “Winners” promoting them,..but many of the same “losers” joining them.

    There is no stopping such SCAMS,..until people stop volunteering to be victims.

  6. I agree with Kath Danch. if people would ignore these so called scams, there would be no cash gifting,auto surf, and many more of the these types of programs out there.as long as there are people to join ,there will be no shortage of cash gifting,auto surf,and more programs for them to join.I am not saying that I believe in these programs, and I most certainly do not think it is right to use Mr Robbin’s name to promote these programs,without his consent.

  7. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Ben.

    Some people believe any approach a person takes in IM is valid — as long as it makes money.

    In the autosurf world, people are taking advantage of the free Ning.com sites to set up funnels for the Ponzis. They’re also registering .info domains — exact names or names that closely resemble the autosurf’s .com address — to gain a presumptive SEO advantage.

    And now they’re even using Tony Robbins’ name to sanitize the “opportunities.”

    His lawyers could crush them like a bug at any moment the lawyers choose.

    Patrick

  8. Patrick,

    I know my comment here is rather untimely, given the original timestamp of this article, but you’re spot on with these reckless promoters using other peoples “good name” to embellish a scam.

    There’s an international scam known as Palinure Invest, and a new tragic testimony of a victim still surfaces every month or so. They used a similar series of false endorsements.

    But, just as you implied, what’s a little defamation or misrepresentation to someone running a massive illegal ponzi scheme? They could care less.

    It’s unfortunate, indeed.

    – Mr. Ryz