Are there affiliates with good media contacts?

[tobyt]

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I have just read this thread...

http://www.a4uforum.co.uk/showthread...threadid=20092


...and it raises a number of serious questions in respect of scumware, spyware etc that involves every single internet user, and not just those involved in Affiliate Marketing.

An increasing number of individuals are asking questions of the 2 or 3 main Affiliate Networks that are prepared to tolerate associations and working relationshipships with the organisations that are devoted to the spread of this insidious practice, however the appropriate answers do not appear to be forthcoming....in other words heads are being buried in the sand!

So maybe it's about time the media in general should be brought in to present these questions to those Networks - particularly in view of the degree of impact it is, and will continue to have on the average Internet user.

Organisations like the BBC and many of the main newspapers have investigative journalists that work within the Technology sector. And many of them just love stories like this that show the Internet off in a negative light.

***** How many affiliates are there amongst ourselves that have contacts in the media that we should be showing the above thread to?

Maybe we should individually and collectively be bringing this issue out from underground into the light of day by getting the media involved and bring those organisations that remain sitting on the fence into positions of public accountability. Such action is not difficult and only requires us to go to our address books and see who we know. You can rest assured that if more publicity is brought to this issue from a general public viewpoint, that the Comet's, the Argos's and Dixons of this world will very quickly spit the dummy out and will want to quickly and immediately disassociate themselves from any company that could be in anyway involved with their website operations to assist in the spread of anything that is so contrary to the public good.

Maybe we have been gently asking questions from an industry standpoint and not getting the appropriate answers for too long.

Maybe its time to bring this out into the light of day....

Who do we all know in the media?

[seanmcmanus]

Hello. I'm a journalist writing about affiliate marketing, as detailed here:
http://www.a4uforum.co.uk/showthread...threadid=20131

I've spoken to senior people at both Tradedoubler and CJ about this and have comments from them both, but I'm afraid I can't post them until my article has come out (it undermines the value of the work I'm producing for the publication). I'll be pleased to share them here after then.

As an aside, I'd say that your boycott and transfer to what you consider to be ethical networks is more likely to be effective than a media campaign. Firstly, if you move your links, it solves your problem immediately. Secondly, there's so much news in the world that there isn't much space for issues like this in mainstream media.

If you do want to get mainstream attention, the way to do it is to talk about the brands up front. Newspapers and broadcasters don't care about spyware - or even the internet most of the time. But they do care about FTSE 100 companies, high street brands and what impacts them strongly. Be very sure of your ground - I don't think you can accuse anyone of anything illegal and ethics can be very stretchy stuff. Big companies can quickly squash protesters who fall foul of libel laws.

Stories like this quickly become old though for newspapers, so a sustained campaign of doing something practical is more likely to reward your effort.

Sean