It’s normally a good feeling when you see your industry being recognized outside of the regular circles to get exposure, in this case it’s not so appealing thanks to Bloomberg.

The popular news site Bloomberg just released an article that is grouping all affiliates as “ad scammers”, essentially snubbing the entire industry for a few bad apples. Ironically they are piggy-backing all the hype around the recent Facebook privacy issues, showcasing how affiliates use Facebook and their targeting to their advantage. While it is true, Facebook is a great platform for affiliate marketing due to the mass reach and amazing targeting (and re-targeting) options – I don’t think anyone should be shamed for this.

Bloomberg even goes as far to call promoting affiliate campaigns/offers “hustles”, they even called out offers such as “miracle diet pills, instant muscle builders, brain boosters, male enhancers”. Obviously these types of offers are a little “scammy”, I don’t think anyone would deny this, but the affiliate marketing industry is much larger than just these offers.

Ironically the article features Google Adsense ads, which is also closely associated with the Affiliate Marketing industry.

You can read the entire article here – How Facebook Helps Shady Advertisers Pollute the Internet

What do you think? Is the article justified to paint all affiliate marketing as a bunch of “hustles” and “hustlers”? Or is that just a small portion of the industry? Or is Bloomberg just trying to ride the “Facebook privacy” train and use this as clickbait to get more visitors to their site?