Any affiliate marketers that use the CX Digital Media (incentaclick) network should have noticed a pop-up as they signed in this week. The message is a warning about false celebrity endorsements on their landing pages, ad copy or anything else.
Using a Celebrity to sell a product has been a long-standing and proven method of branding and increasing sales. From big name athletes on sports drinks down to Billy Mayes hawking the newest invention for your home; consumers are drawn to the name/face and assume the product is trustworthy, just like the spokesperson. If Peyton Manning tells us to buy a Sony TV, we are more inclined to take his word than the guy that works at Best Buy (even though Peyton probably doesn’t know much about electronics and the dude at Best Buy works with them everyday!)
So what happens when a company puts a celebrity face on a product without permission? In the most recent high profile case, some idiots used Oprah and friends (Dr. Oz, Rachel Ray) to sell their products without authorization and are getting sewed. Everyone from manufacturers of the products down to affiliates promoting the ads are included.
Oprah’s production company; Harpo Productions has licensing rights to all her intellectual properties which include the Oprah and Dr. Oz names and likenesses. To use either without express written permission is an obvious copyright infringement. To then go ahead and add fake testimonials then crosses over into defamation of character, even if the product does not portray a negative aspect on the subject.
So who gets the blame for the fraud? According to 5staraffiliateprograms.com more than 50 businesses and 500 sites are being targeted by the two lawsuits filed in Illinois and New York. Many of the sites are simple affiliate landing pages that are re-purposing the images and text provided by the merchant. Other affiliates are being charged because of domain squatting around the celebrity names and creating false testimonials.
This scandal is shining a dismal light on our industry, mainly because most people don’t know what we do and of course people trust Oprah. FWM Laboratories is a big producer of many health crazes like Reversatrol and Acai Berry products. The CEO of the company said in a Business Week article that he (his company) did not write the ads, rather that the network of affiliates created the content for the ads. Three such defendants have already been fined $50,000 for the infringement and were ordered to re-pay consumers they scammed with “free trials” that resulted in undisclosed post charges to their credit cards.
This will be an ongoing story but should not affect most marketers directly. Just be careful of the creatives you select and products you endorse. DO NOT make false claims or use unauthorized endorsements. The legal system is looking for ways to slap down our industry. Let’s keep it clean, if you can’t keep it clean, please stay under the radar!
CX Message:
This is an important reminder to all of our affiliates that any landing pages, creative, websites or other advertising content used by affiliates to promote offers through CX Digital Media must comply with our Terms of Service and applicable laws, including but not limited to use of third party images, celebrity endorsements or photographs, testimonials or reviews, or other similar content used to in connection with the offers. By way of example and for illustrative purposes only, websites or landing pages that reference Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Oz, Rachael Ray or other celebrities in connection with the offers will not be tolerated and will result in non-payment for any actions generated using these non-compliant techniques that violate applicable laws, infringe upon third party rights and are deceptive in nature, in addition to risking suspension from our network and substantial liability exposure. To the extent that any affiliates in our network are employing these or similar practices, you must immediately cease such practices.
Additional reading on this topic:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1466931
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32483484/ns/entertainment-celebrities/
