Affiliate FTC Compliance

Naked Nutrition Affiliate FTC Compliance

Naked Nutrition takes affiliate compliance with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) very seriously. The following rules apply to all affiliates and partners who promote our brand. This includes, but is not limited to written reviews, testimonials, endorsements, and other forms of written, spoken, or visual forms of media. This is not the case for other methods, such as display ads or traditional advertising. 

Why Do The FTC Requirements Matter?

FTC compliance protects both affiliate partners and merchants alike. No matter what stage you are in the affiliate marketing pipeline, your affiliate compliance affects everyone involved. The FTC could take punitive action against affiliates, merchants, and other partners for failure to disclose material connections. This includes, but is not limited to receiving anything from a free product sample, cash, or affiliate commissions paid due to a transaction.

If you are ever unsure whether or not you should disclose a partnership, remember that the FTC only cares about “this for that” relationships where a transaction of value is exchanged in return for a mention.

You can also reach out to us at affiliate@nkdnutrition.com and we will assist you with your disclosure practices so that you remain compliant.

You can also check out thepma.org (Performance Marketing Association) as they stay on top of news related to affiliate marketing and other forms of online advertising related to the FTC.

Disclosure of Material Connections

At Naked Nutrition, transparency is KEY. Knowing about potential connections between an advertiser and a merchant is crucial for customers evaluating the credibility of a product endorsement. Under certain circumstances, the FTC considers a blog that recommends or reviews a brand to be an endorsement. The same can be said for social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or other online communities. If you have a relationship with Naked Nutrition or any other brands, you must make that relationship clear and conspicuous anywhere you make an endorsement. This is what truth in advertising means, and aligns with our brand’s vision.

What is a Clear and Conspicuous Disclosure?

There is no specific language you must use when disclosing affiliate relationships, only that a “reasonable consumer” must be able to fully read and understand the disclosure language without having to perform additional actions.

Clear

Placing the word “disclosure” on a post or page and then linking it to a disclosure page is not clear enough. It also does not satisfy the requirement that consumers should not have to perform additional actions. Using “legalese” is also not a good practice because it fails the clarity test. Using simple and plain language works best when communicating your affiliate partnership disclosures.

Conspicuous

In the past, a well-crafted notice of disclosure placed at the bottom of a blog post or within a website’s footer was common practice. However, even the most well-written disclosure in these locations is not conspicuous. The reason is that consumers may click on a link, leave the page, or navigate to another website before reaching the disclosure language at the end.

Some examples include:

“Naked Nutrition gave me their Naked Pea Protein to review in exchange for my honest opinion.”

“This post may contain affiliate links, which if clicked, may result in us earning a commission. This action does not cost you anything, but helps us continue to provide high quality content to you.”

Both of these examples work well at the top of a post.

You can also disclose your affiliate relationship in shorter posts, like with on social media with something like the following:

“For the last month, I’ve been supplementing my nutrition with Naked Nutrition’s Pea Protein and I think it is great! (disclosure: affiliate link).”

Space Constraints

Even in situations where character limits constrain the amount of information you can present in a single post, like with Twitter’s 280-character limit. Regardless of whether or not you have a 200 or 2000 word post, your disclosures must be clear and conspicuous.

In general, the best way to maintain a clear and conspicuous affiliate disclosure on social media sites like Twitter is to begin the post with hashtags like the following:

• #ad
• #sponsored
• #affiliated

Placing these disclosures at the end of the post may result in the disclosure being unseen, which fails the conspicuous test since it could be overlooked.

For more information, please visit the FTC and read the following articles:

• The FTC’s Endorsement Guidelines
• Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers (2019 update)

Legal Notice

The content on this page is general and is not intended to constitute legal advice. You should do your own due diligence and consult with your own legal counsel before taking or not taking any actions mentioned here. Naked Nutrition makes no representations regarding whether or not the guidance provided here complies with applicable law.