When is a scam not a scam?

So AMI are the 'Australian Medical Institute' and run hundreds of adverts on all local and national radio stations in Australia encouraging men to call in and discuss the problems they may have with premature ejaculation and not being able to perform long enough in bed.

They invest literally $100,000s into their campaigns, all of which change style, content and approach frequently and all of which continue the same theme - that men who can't perform longer than a few seconds, aren't really men at all. The scare tactics and generally belittling of guys pulls on the strings on inadequacy and convinces men to make that call to AMI.

According to previous AMI adverts, 1000s of men call them a day (which as a side note would have meant the entire male population of Australia being impotent in about 20 years time) and improve their performance with the fantastic 'nasal delivery technology'. You sniff something and your cock gets rock hard for hours. Sounds simple, and obviously quite exciting for all concerned.

Except its not quite like that. Whilst I might point out that this problem doesn't occur with me, I suspect everyone will nod and say 'yeah, right' under their breath. I actually got this information from someone in the radio industry who had found out how AMI generate their money.

Apparently, when you visit an AMI consultant they do various tests to work out what the problem is, which of course, reveal that the basic and cheap course of medication won't achieve any results for you, and what you need is the longer and far more expensive course of treatment that will inevitably cost you $1000s.

Now don't get me wrong, this sort of 'condition' is obviously very worrying for men - we've all be on the receiving end of a bodily part that refuses to co-operate when the time is right - but when is a scam not a scam? When it appears on a national radio campaign? When it has a glossy website? When it has 'Australian' and 'Medical' in it's name?

Playing on people's basic weakness is an age old way of selling something - insurance companies base their entire livelihood on general human fear; Nigerian 419 scams prey on greed to do the same - but where do we draw a line? Scientology has built a worldwide religion on exactly the same scheme as AMI. Bring someone in at the bottom level, tell them they need to spend a lot of money and time to improve themselves and keep adding goals for them to stretch further and further to, whilst keeping the ultimate goal - if there is even one - well out of sight. It is the basic premise of many modern day businesses and institutions.

The answer is transparency. If we actually saw what was waiting for us at the end of these schemes, would we be so willing to throw our money at them? Or course not. But this may cause more problems that it solves. Some people LIKE the idea of Scientology and AMI telling them they have a long term problem that needs expensive help. Some people need a 'professional' to tell them what to do and where to do. The vast majority of the global population are sheep, and sheep need rounding up. If they didn't spend their money on expensive placebos, they'd be worrying and fretting that something was wrong and they weren't doing anything to fix it.

The sad reality is that people enjoy the sancity of being scammed. They feel safe and warm in feeling wanted and feeling a sense of belonging, even if that safety, warmth and belonging is artificial, over-priced and fraudulent.

Scammers exist because people need them.