How do you morally justify some aff products?

-joe-

-joe-

Britfag
May 6, 2010
4,319
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Just outside London, UK
As the title says. I've recently been looking at e-cigs aff programs, and I was thinking, can I really morally justify selling these? I spoke to one aff network owner who boasted each cartridge is equivalent to "20 cigarettes". Surely there's such a massive possibility there of e-cigs making people actually smoke a lot more than they already do, lowering them further into their addiction?

I mean, even though it seems to be not too bad health-wise, the problem comes if they go back to cigarettes after that, smoking even more, as a result of you or me.

How do you deal with it guys? I wanna get into this, as I think I could make a fair bit, but I can't get over that moral barrier.

Joe
 


-joe- said:
As the title says. I've recently been looking at e-cigs aff programs, and I was thinking, can I really morally justify selling these? I spoke to one aff network owner who boasted each cartridge is equivalent to "20 cigarettes". Surely there's such a massive possibility there of e-cigs making people actually smoke a lot more than they already do, lowering them further into their addiction?

I mean, even though it seems to be not too bad health-wise, the problem comes if they go back to cigarettes after that, smoking even more, as a result of you or me.

How do you deal with it guys? I wanna get into this, as I think I could make a fair bit, but I can't get over that moral barrier.

Joe
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I don't promote e-cigs, or know that much about them, but I've met a number of people who smoked heavily but now credit e-cigs with their ability to stop smoking actual cigarettes. Don't e-cigs simply fill your nicotine craving without the (more) harmful carcinogens found in tobacco-based cigs?

Plus, you're taking away revenue from pharma companies that push smoking cessation products; the pharma-industry is probably 10x more ethically dubious than the affiliate space. This dialogue will probably be moot anyway, since e-cigs will probably be banned by the FDA if GSK or anyone else sees a drop in their Nicorette et al profits.

PS:
NotSureIfSerious.jpg
 
-joe- said:
As the title says. I've recently been looking at e-cigs aff programs, and I was thinking, can I really morally justify selling these? I spoke to one aff network owner who boasted each cartridge is equivalent to "20 cigarettes". Surely there's such a massive possibility there of e-cigs making people actually smoke a lot more than they already do, lowering them further into their addiction?

I mean, even though it seems to be not too bad health-wise, the problem comes if they go back to cigarettes after that, smoking even more, as a result of you or me.

How do you deal with it guys? I wanna get into this, as I think I could make a fair bit, but I can't get over that moral barrier.

Joe
Click to expand...

Its their fucking choice. Would you feel bad about selling mouthwash to a bum knowing he is going to drink it? No.

Weirdo.
 
Asking this question here is just going to get a bunch of guys flaming you because they either have no ethics or don't care or have rationalized their morals away already so not the best place to bring it up. Bottom line if you aren't comfortable promoting something don't do it theres' plenty of legit shit around with affiliate programs to promote more than you could ever run out of.
 
I only promote products that I feel would actually help the person. For instance, workout programs, information that would educate someone, etc.

Granted, sometimes they are in a gray area. If they got some benefit out of the product instead of just wasting money, then I can live with that.

As for your particular e-cig example: did they get off cigarettes for a couple weeks? That's getting them one step closer mentally to making the plunge. Maybe they'll think they are healthier while taking them. Even if they slip, they will have that nagging them in the back of their mind, eventually leading them to fully quitting later.

The point is, you can't expect every product to solve everyone's problem. That's for them to carry out. You can only position the product in front of the person.
 
You aren't selling shit, you're sending traffic to someone's product ordering page. You're really good at wrangling paid/organic/social/popup traffic, and can optimize and direct people where they need to be. If at the end of that path, they pull out their credit cards without reading everything, they're the idiots, not you.

Affiliates are just traffic brokers
 
It`s good to have morals, man. But you`re questioning the morality of something that`s supposed to help them quit smoking harmful cigarettes? Whether the things work some magic or not, you`re indulging people`s desire to quit an unhealthy habit. It`s a good thing. Whether they actually quit or not comes down to their own motivation, so don`t worry about that part.
 
Rexibit said:
I only promote products that I feel would actually help the person. For instance, workout programs, information that would educate someone, etc.

Granted, sometimes they are in a gray area. If they got some benefit out of the product instead of just wasting money, then I can live with that.

As for your particular e-cig example: did they get off cigarettes for a couple weeks? That's getting them one step closer mentally to making the plunge. Maybe they'll think they are healthier while taking them. Even if they slip, they will have that nagging them in the back of their mind, eventually leading them to fully quitting later.

The point is, you can't expect every product to solve everyone's problem. That's for them to carry out. You can only position the product in front of the person.
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Rexibit as always is dead on.

I personally only promote products I believe in and use myself. I know my niche extremely well and give honest information that benefits users - I'll even tell you when you should NOT use the product.

For instance, if it was a workout program, I flat out tell you that there's no magic pill for the lazy, and tell you to leave my site right now if you are not going to put in your share of the work. Coolest thing is I've found that this "tough love" actually helps motivate and convert.

Yeah, I'm not as 'baller' as some of you, and you make better commissions in bigger niches, but at the end of the day, I sleep well, have a real mission statement that gets me out of bed every day, and have no problem justifying my existence to family and friends.

If you have ethical concerns, either do what I do and be satisfied with making less money than you are perhaps capable of.... or go into another business.
 
Smoked Nicotine Dosages
Threshold 0.2 - 0.3 mg
Light 0.3 - 0.8 mg
Common 0.6 - 1.5 mg
Strong 1 - 2 mg
Heavy 2 - 4 mg

E-Cigarette cartridge contents:
Low 11 mg
Med 14 mg
High 18 mg

18 mg (1 e-cig cartridge) / (divided by) .3 mg (one ultralight cigarette) = 60 cigarettes

you are welcome, please feel better about yourself now.

...and if you're thinking that one e-cig cartridge only lasts for the same period of time as one real cigarette, you're obviously not familiar with how they're used. People use one e-cig cartridge for sometimes weeks at a time. It's not like they're sucking down 18 mg of nicotine in 5 minutes.
 
Unarmed Gunman said:
Do you question the morality of McDonald's selling poison to kids one happy meal at a time?
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dchuk said:
Affiliates are just traffic brokers
Click to expand...

Unarmed - Actually, YES, I do.

dchuk - The thing I'm starting to realize is, traffic is POWER. We truly can make ourselves into power brokers if we so desire.

As my network expands, I see an ability to push some of my beliefs. Yes, 99.5% of people will ignore what I'm saying, but if I can convert 0.5% of my traffic to thinking in a new way about things (such as the real reasons why you should stop taking your fat ass kids to McDonalds), then I'd say I'm having a great day.

I think it's a cool and exciting feeling. It even makes me think we should all get a bit more involved in the 2012 elections as well (this has been mentioned here before). Lately we've been doing good working together with case studies, and we all have a LOT of similar beliefs in the political arena.

Collectively, we have more power than we realize. Fuck yeah.
 
Hello friend,

Whole point of affiliate marketing is for scam other for make money. If no scam other no make money.

If want do good maybe should help homeless or work charity free.

Good luck bro
 
Berto said:
Unarmed - Actually, YES, I do.

dchuk - The thing I'm starting to realize is, traffic is POWER. We truly can make ourselves into power brokers if we so desire.

As my network expands, I see an ability to push some of my beliefs. Yes, 99.5% of people will ignore what I'm saying, but if I can convert 0.5% of my traffic to thinking in a new way about things (such as the real reasons why you should stop taking your fat ass kids to McDonalds), then I'd say I'm having a great day.

I think it's a cool and exciting feeling. It even makes me think we should all get a bit more involved in the 2012 elections as well (this has been mentioned here before). Lately we've been doing good working together with case studies, and we all have a LOT of similar beliefs in the political arena.

Collectively, we have more power than we realize. Fuck yeah.
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good post :)
 
have you considered Acai instead? Its a superfood you know - loaded with anti oxidants.

Simple solution - don't promote it. If you are having a hard time with it, move on. There are some many other niches out there. A lot of people get into Aff marketing, see a bunch of flogs, farticles, and rebill offers - and come to the conclusion you have to scam people to make money. Simply not true.

So, lets say you decide you do want to promote ecigs, but are not sure about teh quality of the product, the nicotine content, etc. And you dont want to do a flog / farticle. What to do ?

Note: all theory here, since I dont promote eCig (see first comment about powerful brazilian berries), you could take the Warning / Review approach:

WARNING! Not All eCigs are equal - some may be harmful for your health. Read More...

then, you could do a review site of the various manufactures. If you are really gung ho, call them up directly and ask for some information on their product. Lab results, etc. Some will laugh at you, but a few may bite. Spend the money and buy some direct.

You can smack pictures all over your site about Warning messages, smoking kills, may be bad for you,etc.

If you do the research, you will find some great studies that showed smoking ads with warnings actually triggered a higher response in terms of cravings. Strange creatures we humans are.

Most importantly, open you mind: either find other products that fit your morals, or find ways to pitch products that match with your beliefs.
 
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