There’s lying, and then there’s not disclosing all the details.
When someone straight out makes shit up and/or misrepresents something with purposive falsehoods, that’s obviously lying. But what if someone just doesn’t tell you the whole story? And I’m not talking “you just truly didn’t know” or “you had wrong information that you believed to be correct.” I’m talking leaving out details on purpose.
It’s an interesting question: Is actively leaving out details the same as telling an outright lie?
My guess it that Platinum Puzzy — retired mattress actress and #QueenofBBW — thinks actively leaving out details is absolutely a lie.
The Issue: Undisclosed Affiliate Links
Consider the following (grabs of entire thread follow, link to original tweet is here):
Puzzy wrote: “Found out today that @ModelCentro links their affiliate account with @AMAZON to the wishlist links on our websites. That really pisses me off. THIS IS MY WEBSITE & MY TRAFFIC. How in THEE fuck do you find it ETHICAL to use your affiliate links WITHOUT asking?”
It took me a moment to understand this, as I find links and codes and things of this nature inherently confusing — perhaps by design. But, put simply, if a customer or fan is on platinumpuzzy.xxx, her site via Model Centro… and the customer or fan clicks over to her Amazon wishlist via a link that can be found under the “More” tab on that site… and then that same fan purchases a gift for Puzzy, ModelCentro will receive a percentage of the sale. This is because Model Centro is apparently an Amazon affiliate, and their affiliate code is embedded in the path (link) from platinumpuzzy.xxx to Amazon.com.
She continues:
Interestingly, Model Centro replied:
Hmm.
From what I can tell, the issue is in fact disclosure, just as Puzzy stated. Also, just as she stated, the bot-seeming person who responded to the query is missing the point.
The issue is not the option of having an Amazon wishlist link via Model Centro. You can use that option or not — thanks, Captain Obvious! — and it does not seem at all like Puzzy is referring to the option to link to her list within Model Centro.
Further, if a person makes a purchase for Puzzy via her wishlist, having accessed it via Model Centro, I am not seeing how this is taking money that would have somehow gone to Puzzy. If Model Centro did not have their affiliate code in the Amazon link, then that bit of money would go to the retailer, not to the model. Perhaps, however, Puzzy herself could have her Amazon affiliate code in the link, the one going to her wishlist and coming from Model Centro. Then she would have made a percentage off the sale. This then gets into the issue of traffic — specifically, whose traffic is this in the first place?
Disclosure and the FTC
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires entities to disclose any moneymaking connections they have via referrals or reviews. If you are a beauty blogger, for instance, and you make a percentage of sales coming from your website, you have to disclose that. As such, Model Centro must disclose that they are making money via sales generated through their links.
This then raises a bunch of questions. For instance, is there a disclaimer buried somewhere on Model Centro’s back end that informs models about this? Cuz there prolly definitely should be.
Further, where is the disclosure to consumers? Because though the FTC doesn’t care about sex workers — yes, I’m guessing this, but my guess is based on behaviors exhibited by everyone else in the world who is not a part of the sex industry — they most certainly care about consumers. As such, where is the disclosure between Model Centro and the consumer that they/Model Centro will be making a percentage off an Amazon wishlist sale initiated via their site?
Traffic: Who “owns” it?
This then brings me to the question of the site itself — and back to its traffic specifically. Whose site is platinumpuzzy.xxx? Though Puzzy herself clearly assembled and maintains the site, it exists within Model Centro’s platform/world. Fans come to see her, certainly often due to outreach she does. Thus, the traffic is her’s.
*But* does Model Centro do anything on their end to generate traffic to the site, either traffic in general that may find its way to platinumpuzzy.xxx or specifically? Does being Lord Owners of the Platform mean that they/Model Centro then own everything under its umbrella, including platinumpuzzy.xxx, regardless of the work individual sites do within it? Or, is there some sort of shared balance of ownership and traffic that exists?
Sadly, I don’t know the answer to any of these questions — there’s a lot to think about and investigate here — but regardless, we hope there was a positive resolution to Puzzy’s specific circumstance. It’s really important to consider these issues, and we are grateful to her for calling it out!
☠ https://t.co/zFWqRNR6Fb ☠
✘ https://t.co/9VA7ITzvyt ✘
☢ https://t.co/0omOmyWnpA ☢
☏ https://t.co/Lw2qde1bg4 ☏
✪ https://t.co/y42SZ1woNR ✪
✿ https://t.co/zFjbRskg3i ✿
➳ https://t.co/IOEIs7mtPR ➳
❣ https://t.co/0dSK8kN2Ek ❣ pic.twitter.com/5yL9rY8TlS— ?QueenofBBW.com?? #QUEENOFBBW #PLATINUMPUZZY (@PlatinumPuzzy1) January 3, 2019
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Erika is a sex positive people watcher (and writer). Email her at erika@ynotcam.com.
Nope. No further contact has been made no resolution attempted. In fact, I reached out to them to sign at their booth for Avn and was conveniently back Burberry and given responses like “ We will get back to you.”
As for traffic, they do not send you traffic or so much in the way of helping you generate income from your site.