Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based advertising where someone is rewarded (typically through an affiliate platform) for each new customer attracted by their marketing efforts (typically measured using ‘click-throughs’ or sales), usually with a pre-agreed percentage of each sale as a commission.
Individuals who provide affiliate links are effectively acting as a secondary advertiser, since they earn money in direct proportion to the interest they generate in a product.
Whilst most affiliate marketing appears in social media, it can appear in any online space under the affiliate’s control, including websites, emails, newsletters and blogs.
It pays to be upfront about advertising
The CAP Code requires that ads are identifiable as such. In some cases, it may be clear from the content and context of the material that the content consists of, or includes, affiliate links. However, in many cases, including social media content by influencers, the content itself is unlikely to adequately identify the content as advertising.
The simplest way to identify content as advertising do this is to clearly label the content using “Ad” or similar. It is worth noting that although the term ‘Aff’ may be an abbreviation of the word ‘affiliate’, consumers are unlikely to be aware that it is denoting ad content. As such, we recommend not using ‘Aff’ in isolation to label content as advertising.
Depending on the nature of the content and the affiliate arrangement, either all of the content will need to be identified as advertising, or in some instances, certain aspects of the content will need to be identified. This CAP Advice explains the circumstances under which different aspects of content which includes affiliate links will need to be identified as advertising.
Brands and affiliate partners
Affiliate links, including those in social media content posted by influencers, are always likely to be considered advertising, irrespective of whether or not the brand had gifted items to the individual or had editorial control over their content.
Marketers (brands) and affiliates (including influencers) should be aware that both parties are jointly responsible under our rules for the content of ads that include an affiliate link. This is even if the brand has no control over the content which contains the link and/or if no products have been gifted to the person who includes the affiliate link.
It should also be noted that if brands use an affiliate partner or a third-party sales platform to direct affiliate traffic to their brand, the ASA will still consider the brand and the affiliate jointly accountable for breaches of the Code. This is likely to be the case even if the brand is not aware that the affiliate/influencer had an affiliate arrangement with that third party or is not aware of the content that is being produced by that affiliate.
ASA affiliate rulings make a lasting impression
In 2024, the ASA published a series of rulings relating to affiliate links involving intermediaries such as Shop LTK, rStyle.me and Amazon Storefront.
Despite the fact that the brands in these cases had typically not gifted any items, or had editorial control on the post, nor, in some cases, had any control or knowledge of the affiliate arrangement in question, the ASA ruled that the influencer and brand were jointly responsible as they could gain financially as a result of the affiliate link in the post. In those cases, the social media posts, stories or reels failed to adequately identify the content as advertising and therefore breached the Code.
The message to brands is clear: when it comes to affiliate advertising you are responsible for ads which promote your brand and should therefore ensure that you have sufficient safeguards in place to ensure they are obviously identifiable as ads, including when working with third party intermediaries.
For fast, free, bespoke advice on non-broadcast ads, our Copy Advice team are happy to help.
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