Revolt Against Marketing Lies with I Got Duped!

Have you ever bought something because it looked so good on paper only to find out that the actual product didn't measure up? Well you are certainly not alone.

Consumers have been "duped" by misleading advertisements far too many times, and it's high time for people to start speaking up. Good thing some consumers already have, thanks to a new mobile app called "I Got Duped." Launched by a company called Fusion Room last month, the app aims to "revolt against marketing lies" by allowing users to post photos of advertised products together with images of the real products and share the images with the I Got Duped Community. Consumers will also have to express their emotions towards the products through emoticons. They can react anywhere from "Pleased", "Meh", "Upset", or "Angry", depending on how true the product is to its ad.

PointCom caught up with Fusion Room CEO Farhan Muhammad, and asked him a few questions about I Got Duped. Check out the interview below:

PointCom: When and how did you come up with the idea for I got Duped?

Farhan Muhammad: The idea has been brewing in my head for a few years but the final straw was reached during a family vacation at Myrtle Beach during Spring 2011. It seems like nothing looked like the advertised picture whether it was our hotel, or restaurant meals, or beach view brochures. That is when I decided to pull a small team together at Fusion Room to build an app for revolting against misleading advertisements. I settled on the name after a brief brainstorming session with my teenage niece.

PC: How does the app work?

FM: It is quite simple, you just have to take a picture of the advertisement and the actual food, tell us how you feel, write a comment if you want, and share with the world. You can also optionally share with your Facebook friends.

The app also provides an easy search for restaurants around you and groups the results into "Matches Advertisement" and "Doesn't Match Advertisement" categories.

PC: Does the app have any social media / sharing features?

FM: The app provides a way to share your Dupe experience with your Facebook friends. We will soon add a feature for sharing on Twitter.

PC: How's the reaction of the public so far? Can you provide examples of some positive and not-so-positive feedback about your app?

FM: The reaction has been overwhelming. Our Facebook page got over 6000 likes during the first week after the app launched for iPhone. The vast majority of feedback has been positive and encouraging. Following are some of the posts on the Facebook page:

Irwan Juanda: I think the idea is fresh and so many people can relate to this, I hope the app is soon gonna be available for android.

Romi Machado: This is awesome; there should be a website for people to upload dupes!

The only negative feedback we received was from a Facebook user who was concerned that we mention restaurant names and location which will reduce their business. Our theory is that the I Got Duped app provides a huge opportunity to restaurants to differentiate themselves and earn more business. All they have to do is to prepare their food the way they advertise.

PC: I noticed that the app is specifically made for restaurants. Why did you decide to focus on food first?

FM: Our plan is to expand the app to a large number of industries. We chose to start with restaurants because they are among the largest culprit.

PC: When can we expect to see features for other items such as cosmetics, hotels, etc.?

FM: The future version of the I Got Duped app will provides features for capturing dupes at hotels, hotels, grocery stores, packaged products, and more. Basically, any industry that thrives on misleading advertisement will be targeted. We are currently seeking venture funding in order to speed up development and marketing. If all goes well then we will be able to release these features by the end of 2012 or early 2013.

PC: What other features can we expect in the future?

FM: We have a long list of exciting features planned for future releases, including search features on the website, integration with Twitter and Pinterest, tablet versions of the app, and much more.

PC: Are you planning to release an Android version?

FM: Yes, we are mostly done developing the Android and Windows Phone versions. We hope to get them tested and launched in about 2-3 months.

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