Man Sued for False Advertising in Personal Ad

Posted by Cynical Sarah on March 22, 2006

A woman filed a lawsuit in New Jersey against a man she met through an online personal ad. In the suit, Doris Wieman alleges that Joseph Peterson used false advertising to get a date with her.

Both parties were registered with an online dating service where they had photos and information listed in profiles. Wieman chose to contact Peterson based on how much she liked his profile.

“With the information he’d given, he seemed like a great match to what I was looking for,” Wieman said. “Plus the picture he posted was adorable with him and his dog.”

The profile included information like hobbies, interests and general personality traits. Wieman said she’d tried to be as accurate as possible while filling out her profile and assumed other members would do the same.

“I sent him an e-mail and we ended up chatting online and then over the phone a few times before we met in person. Up to that point he seemed to be everything he said he was in his profile – kind, attentive, a little zany in a funny way,” Wieman said.

When they met in person though, she got an entirely different impression of Peterson.

“To start with, his profile picture must have been at least 10 years younger than he is now. ‘Athletic’ is a pretty big stretch for a man at least 30 pounds overweight also,” Wieman said. “I probably could have looked past that, but in person the guy was a total stiff. He was like funeral director serious and seemed very stern.”

This was the final straw for Wieman who’d been through disappointment after disappointment in the online dating game.

“I can handle it if it turns out I just don’t like the guy in person, but he was blatantly misleading in his personal ad. That’s false advertising,” Wieman said.

She said she’s not necessarily looking for a large cash settlement from the lawsuit. Wieman just wants to shed a brighter light on online dating services and make people stick a little closer to the truth in their ads.

“I paid a good chunk of money to join this service. I should be able to at least expect truth in advertising when I’m looking at other people’s profiles,” Wieman said.

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