You have to wonder why marketers are frequently so surprised (and hurt) by the fact that consumers don’t trust them — especially their advertising.

When you see a new ad campaign like the one running right now for FreeCreditScore.com, you just have to scratch your head and say, "don’t these guys get it?!" Apparently not.

FreeCreditScore.com is the evil twin of the similarly vile and patently misleading site, FreeCreditReport.com. Both are prime examples of what I call "Scamertising."

Both sites are stunning examples of why more and more consumers don’t trust marketers, or business in general. In fact, my own profession — marketing and communications — is frequently ranked by consumers as one of the lowest in terms of integrity and believability. PR professionals are accorded even lowlier status. I believe only politicians and car salesmen rank below marketing and PR types!

It’s thus no wonder that marketers are so mistrusted. Take the FreeCreditScore/Report.com sites. Both are run by the credit bureau giant Experian. The FreeCreditReport ads became quite famous because of that cute little boy-band singing the very catchy and hummable FreeCreditReport song. Indeed, the lead singer of the fictional Experian band has become quite a Web sensation. He looks a lot like an American Idol performer. Too bad he is blind to the web scam he is perpetrating.

Those ads promote that benefits of regularly checking your credit score, and doing so "free" at FreeCreditReport.com, and now FreeCreditScore.com. Of course, the ads did not mention the fact that when you sign up for your "free" score, you will be billed $14.95 per month for service, as long as you don’t opt out of the program.

That is a typical Internet scam. I wrote about it in a blog post a few years ago that underscored what I characterized as the "Spider’s Web of Opt-Out Marketing." Needless to say, a lot of unsuspecting consumers are lured by FreeCreditReport’s humorous ads that promise a "free" score just for registering with your credit card with the Experian service.

Eventually, the government woke up to the scam and pounced. So did a bunch of attorneys general around the country. But, all Experian did was inflate the size of the mouse type, indicating that you will get charged every month for the "free" service, and make that statement more prominent on their websites. The FreeCreditReport.com ads continue to run and the website is just as visible as ever.

Experian recently launched the same service under a slightly different name, FreeCreditScore.com. The ads for this identical and equally scammy service feature the formerly funny and supposedly droll Ben Stein (he of the original "Ferris Bueller" fame). The D-Lister Stein has been living off of the Bueller celebrity ever since that 80’s movie icon. That even includes a stint as a business section commentator in the Sunday New York Times. (Full disclosure: I even used Ben Steiner as a financial literacy "spokes-comedian" when I was chief communications officer of E*TRADE, back in the day.)

Ben Stein should be ashamed of himself. Talk about shilling for a terrible cause. The type of consumers who are targeted by the Experian "free" credit score scams tend to be ones who are probably vulnerable financially (and who isn’t these days), and also lack the financial literacy to really understand what they are getting into with this supposedly free credit score service.

Marketers and their ad agencies need to wise up and fly straight. Every time they produce scamertising like Experian has done with its "Free" credit score ads, they further diminish the trust that consumers have in their claims.

This problem has become particularly acute in the Wild, Wild West of Internet business models. Another web high flier that recently was tagged for these kinds of scammy practices was Zynga, the hugely successful — and morally questionable — online gaming company that has polluted Facebook with stupid diversions like Mafia Wars.

I am probably more disappointed with my ad agency colleagues who should know better when they produce clever, but unquestionably, deceptive advertising like the FreeCreditReport/Score.com spots. In my naive view, we marketing professionals have a duty to our clients, the public overall, and ourselves, to maintain truth and integrity in the work we put out there.

Yep, that really is a naive statement, but it is what I believe in. And, it’s how I work.

Forget the scamertising and do the right thing. It always pays dividends in the long run.

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