So the FTC has released the final guidelines for those involved in affiliate marketing and already the hysteria is at fever pitch. I’m reminded of the furor surrounding Google’s clampdown on scammy, landing pages.Everyone thought the world had ended then, but as far as I can tell, nothing much has changed except that if you want to spend your money promoting a spammy landing page, then you’ll have to pay more for the privelege.
The big deal mainly centres around a couple of points, and I quote:
Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect.
The problem with this is that ‘typical‘ needs to be clarified. If consumers A, B and C follow your diet plan and all achieve an average weight loss of 10lbs in two weeks, but consumers D through Z don’t bother following the plan and so don’t achieve the same results, which results do you specify as being ‘typical’?
How do you prove that consumers D – Z didn’t follow the plan? Where does the burden of proof lie? By the same token, how are the FTC going to prove it?
As Internet Marketers we are all too aware of the number of people who buy the latest course/software package that comes along, and then are left wondering why they didn’t earn $35,723 the next week. (Duh, because they didn’t bother opening the damn thing and putting the information to use). How do we know this? Because we’ve all been guilty of doing the exact same thing at some point in our online marketing careers.
The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.
Now to those who work in the make money online market, this shouldn’t really be too much of a surprise. You know and I know all about affiliate commissions. The problems come when you step outside of this niche and pretend to be recommending something that you have absolutely no knowledge of. And yes, a lot of affiliate marketers do it. 
The folks buying a product on how to play better golf, how to take better care of their pets, how to get pearly white teeth…. or any one of the zillion other info products being recommended to them, don’t have a clue that you are in fact recommending that product so enthusiastically because you’re going to earn money for doing so, rather than because you really do believe what you’re saying!
Celebrity endorsers also are addressed in the revised Guides. While the 1980 Guides did not explicitly state that endorsers as well as advertisers could be liable under the FTC Act for statements they make in an endorsement, the revised Guides reflect Commission case law and clearly state that both advertisers and endorsers may be liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement – or for failure to disclose material connections between the advertiser and endorsers.
Now for me, this is where it gets pretty interesting. Who decides celebrity status? And is this going to be confined to stars of TV, Radio, Music, Films, etc? Let’s face it we have some pretty cool ‘celebrity gurus’ out there. Some of them in fact have achieved their celebrity status quite simply because they make such a fuss about the fact they’ll get paid if you buy through their affiliate link.
Frank Kern is one of the smartest, most likeable, guys around in the IM niche. And he has no problem at all pointing out his affiliate links. Do folks not bother buying something he’s recommended simply because they don’t want to contribute to his already vast fortune? Of course not, in fact, just the opposite. Frank probably makes more money because he’s so blatant about his affiliate linking. (of course his great copywriting skills mean he can totally take control of your brain so do be careful, lol).
Probably time to put your common sense hat on and consider if this really is the end of affiliate marketing as we know it. Check out CopyBlogger’s take on it. One of the best discussions I’ve seen on the whole shebang.
