WEIGHT LOSS DIRECT AMBASSADOR PROGRAM DISCLOSURES
AMBASSADOR PAY SCHEDULE & TERMS:
Tier 1 (SILVER): 5% (five percent) for 1 year.
- Upon approval of becoming a Weight Loss Direct Ambassador, the Ambassador will enter the SILVER tier and will earn 5% of the sale of products purchased through the Ambassador’s unique link. Upon a purchase, by a new user through the Ambassador link, the new user will be associated with the Ambassador for a period of 1 year. Any subsequent sales, both online and off-line by the associated referred user will earn the Ambassador 5% of the qualified purchase sale.
Tier 2 (GOLD): 7.5% (seven percent) for 1 year.
- The Ambassador is upgraded to the GOLD tier when the Ambassador reaches 5 new qualified weight loss program sales.
Tier 3 (DIAMOND): 7.5% (seven and half percent) for life all products.
- The Ambassador is upgraded to the DIAMOND tier once the Ambassador reaches 10 new qualified weight loss program sales.
Ambassadors will advance to the next tier when new program sales reach a specified number of sales.
To become a Weight Loss Direct Ambassador go to: https://www.weightlossdirect.com/ambassador-program/
By becoming a Weight Loss Direct Ambassador, this means that you have read and agree to the terms of the Weight Loss Direct Ambassador Agreement.
Commissions are paid out via PayPal.
Payouts are made monthly and are available 30 days after the client has started the purchased program. Payouts are made on the 1st business day of the month following the 30-day period.
Payouts are subject to the following restriction:
- Commission payouts are only available when a threshold of the following amount is met: $50 (fifty US dollars).
- 30 (Thirty) days after the client starts the purchased program.
In 2009, the FTC published Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (the “FTC Guidelines”). These FTC Guidelines require companies and individuals who receive compensation for endorsing a product or service to clearly disclose this connection to the consumer.
Any Ambassador who receives compensation for endorsing or promoting products or services whether these are through reviews, rankings, social media, blogs, videos, articles, or other testimonials must clearly and conspicuously disclose this financial incentive.
Weight Loss Direct, LLC requires all of its Ambassadors to comply with the FTC Guidelines. Failure to do so may result in removal from our Ambassador program and the cancellation of all outstanding commissions owed to the Ambassador.
These guidelines may appear to be somewhat burdensome, however, not only is it required by law in the United States, but providing full transparency is in the best interest of all parties involved.
We may reject or cancel your application or participation, in our sole discretion, if we decide your marketing or/and your participation in our Ambassador Program is unsuitable. These may include but are not limited to any of these actions:
- Advertising or / promotion that is noncompliant with FTC or any other regulatory body.
- Any advertising, promotion or communications that are misleading, offensive, defamatory or fraudulent.
- Anything that would cause damage to the Weight Loss Direct brand name.
- Incorporating any materials which infringe any copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights.
- Offering advice that can be construed as diagnosis and treatment for any specific health condition or disease.
- Pop-up advertising
- Spam messaging
AMBASSADOR MARKETING:
The Weight Loss Direct ambassador program can be an amazing and rewarding program. By sharing this program, you will be helping others as you reap the reward of transforming lives, while at the same time being rewarded yourself. As a person interested in health, wellness and weight loss, there is a tendency to want to offer friendly advice.
But as an Ambassador, you cannot offer advice that may be construed as diagnosis and treatment for any specific health condition or disease.
ALWAYS DISCLOSE AMBASSADOR LINKS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
As an Ambassador, you must follow the FTC disclosure rules. You must ALWAYS disclose when you are promoting Ambassador links. When you are promoting a product or Ambassador link you must post a hashtag indicating that it is sponsored or an advertisement. The hashtag must be obvious and cannot be “hidden” in the middle of a long hashtag closing. One of the most popular hashtags for advertising is #ad because of its small character length. Other common hashtags include #sponsored. It should be noted that the FTC concluded that the hashtags #aff and #spon should not be used because most consumers are not aware of their meaning. The FTC has stated that: “The use of “#ambassador” is ambiguous and confusing. Many consumers are unlikely to know what it means. By contrast, “#XYZ_Ambassador” will likely be more understandable (where XYZ is a brand name). However, even if the language is understandable, a disclosure also must be prominent so it will be noticed and read.”
DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS:
An important rule regarding FTC disclosure is that if you receive compensation or have an affiliation to the company, the disclosure must be Clear and Conspicuous. This means that it must be in close proximity to the review. “The closer it is to your recommendation, the better. Putting disclosures in obscure places – for example, buried on an ABOUT US or GENERAL INFO page, behind a poorly labeled hyperlink or in a “terms of service” agreement”
More FTC disclosure information can be found at: .com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising
WEIGHT LOSS ADVERTISING LAWS
Truth-in-advertising laws have been enacted by both the federal and state governments. Even private organizations such as the Better Business Bureau are involved in ensuring that advertisers make truthful claims so that consumers get accurate information and can make informed decisions about the products they buy. Ambassadors are required to use only claims that are truthful and not misleading. Advertisers, including ambassadors must have adequate substantiation or “proof” for all claims before they make them.
TESTIMONIALS
If you use your own testimonial, it must be truthful and well documented, and you cannot imply that the results that you received are the same results that others will receive.
Your testimonial must be specific and truthfully describe your own personal experience.
As described previously, when Ambassadors post on social media, the Ambassador must always indicate that they are an Ambassador or that the post is #sponsored or #ad.
WHAT YOU CAN AND CANNOT SAY:
CANNOT SAY:
Weight Loss Intelligence Analysis determines the precise and exact nutrients and foods that your body requires.
Or that Weight Loss Intelligence determines what vitamins or deficiencies that your bodies need.
WHAT YOU CAN SAY:
Weight Loss Intelligence Analysis correlates and integrates numerous expressions of wellness to create personalized food lists and nutritional supplement lists.
Or:
Weight Loss Intelligence Analysis creates personalized food lists and personalized nutritional supplement lists based on your unique profile.
CANNOT SAY:
Lose X pounds in Y Days with Weight Loss Direct!
WHAT YOU CAN SAY:
I’m currently on day 22 of the Weight Loss Direct program, I’ve followed the program precisely and I’ve lost X pounds so far. #SPONSORED (if that is your actual result – you can give your personal experience, MUST disclose #SPONSOR) But you cannot lead others to believe they will have the same result.
GUIDELINES FOR WEIGHT LOSS ADVERTISING:
The FTC has published guidelines for weight loss advertising (Gut Check : A REFERENCE GUIDE FOR MEDIA ON SPOTTING FALSE WEIGHT LOSS CLAIMS, The Truth Behind Weight Loss Ads)
SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTION FOR AMBASSADORS:
There are many great sites and articles on How Ambassadors can promote using social media.
Some of the most common Social media sites to promote as an Ambassador include:
Facebook – This is still the king of social media promotion due to the amount of time people spend on the platform and how friends get to know and trust you.
Instagram – This is catching up to Facebook and is great for weight loss since a picture can say a thousand words.
YouTube – Videos generate higher views, higher conversions, more shares and tend to do great on search results as well.
LinkedIn – This is not as ideal but can also be a part of a campaign.
SnapChat – This has not been as powerful of a channel for Ambassadors but everyone is different and all of these may be part of an effective social media campaign.
GUIDELINES FOR ENDORSEMENTS:
An excellent source for understanding the guidelines for influencers, endorsements and reviews is THE FTC’S ENDORSEMENT GUIDES: WHAT PEOPLE ARE ASKING.
Here are some selected excerpts, but you should read it yourself for better understanding to assure regulatory compliance.
Do the Endorsement Guides apply to social media?
Yes. Truth in advertising is important in all media, whether they have been around for decades (like, television and magazines) or are relatively new (like, blogs and social media).
What about a platform like Twitter? How can I make a disclosure when my message is limited to 280 characters?
The FTC isn’t mandating the specific wording of disclosures. However, the same general principle – that people get the information they need to evaluate sponsored statements – applies across the board, regardless of the advertising medium. The words “Sponsored” and “Promotion” use only 9 characters. “Paid ad” only uses 7 characters. Starting a tweet with “Ad:” or “#ad” – which takes only 3 characters – would likely be effective.
You just talked about putting “#ad” at the beginning of a social media post. What about “#ad” at or near the end of a post?
We’re not necessarily saying that “#ad” has to be at the beginning of a post. The FTC does not dictate where you have to place the “#ad.” What the FTC will look at is whether it is easily noticed and understood. So, although we aren’t saying it has to be at the beginning, it’s less likely to be effective in the middle or at the end. Indeed, if #ad is mixed in with links or other hashtags at the end, some readers may just skip over all of that stuff.
It’s clear that what’s on my website is a paid advertisement, not my own endorsement or review of the product. Do I still have to disclose that I get a commission if people click through my website to buy the product?
If it’s clear that what’s on your site is a paid advertisement, you don’t have to make additional disclosures. Just remember that what’s clear to you may not be clear to everyone visiting your site, and the FTC evaluates ads from the perspective of reasonable consumers.
How can I make a disclosure on Snapchat or in Instagram Stories?
You can superimpose a disclosure on Snapchat or Instagram Stories just as you can superimpose any other words over the images on those platforms. The disclosure should be easy to notice and read in the time that your followers have to look at the image. In determining whether your disclosure passes muster, factors you should consider include how much time you give your followers to look at the image, how much competing text there is to read, how large the disclosure is, and how well it contrasts against the image. (You might want to have a solid background behind the disclosure.) Keep in mind that if your post includes video and you include an audio disclosure, many users of those platforms watch videos without sound. So they won’t hear an audio-only disclosure. Obviously, other general disclosure guidance would also apply.
I guess I need to make a disclosure that I’ve gotten paid for a video review that I’m uploading to YouTube. When in the review should I make the disclosure? Is it ok if it’s at the end?
It’s more likely that a disclosure at the end of the video will be missed, especially if someone doesn’t watch the whole thing. Having it at the beginning of the review would be better. Having multiple disclosures during the video would be even better. Of course, no one should promote a link to your review that bypasses the beginning of the video and skips over the disclosure. If YouTube has been enabled to run ads during your video, a disclosure that is obscured by ads is not clear and conspicuous.
More information about the FTC Disclosure requirements can be found here:
Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
The FTC’s Revised Endorsement Guides: What People are Asking