Exercise: An Ethical Marketing and Affiliate Audit

Build the mental model

Every marketing page makes a case for why someone should buy, subscribe, or click. That case can be built honestly, with real evidence and stated limits, or built on tricks that borrow trust the seller hasn't earned.

This exercise gives you one page to look at with fresh, skeptical eyes: find every problem in it, and separate honest persuasion from manipulation.

Fabrication: inventing evidence that doesn't exist -- a countdown timer that resets on every reload, and testimonials written by an AI tool instead of collected from real customers.
Concealment: hiding or overstating a true fact -- an affiliate link with no disclosure of the commission behind it, and a scarcity claim ("only 3 spots left") with no real inventory behind it.

The fifth problem stands apart: a guaranteed $10,000-in-your-first-month income claim. No honest business can guarantee a financial outcome, because results depend on the buyer's effort, market conditions, and luck -- never on the seller's promise.

How to audit, not just criticize

Auditing means naming each problem specifically, explaining why it misleads rather than merely persuades, and proposing the exact fix -- never "be more honest" in general, but the precise wording or design change that resolves it.

text

THE FLAWED LANDING PAGE (AUDIT TARGET)
--------------------------------------
THE FLAWED LANDING PAGE (AUDIT TARGET)
--------------------------------------

+---------------------------------------+
| COUNTDOWN: 00:04:59                    |
| (resets to 00:05:00 on every reload)   |
+---------------------------------------+
| "$8,432 in my first WEEK!" - Amy       |
| "This changed my life!" - Marcus       |
| (AI-written, no real customers)        |
+---------------------------------------+
| EARN $10,000 IN YOUR FIRST MONTH,      |
| GUARANTEED. No experience needed.      |
+---------------------------------------+
| [ Recommended Tool -> Buy Now ]        |
| (affiliate link, no disclosure)        |
+---------------------------------------+
| Only 3 spots left at this price!       |
| (no real limit behind this claim)      |
+---------------------------------------+

Connect it to a real scenario

Here is how a complete audit of the page reads, so you can compare it against your own work before moving on. Five findings, each paired with a fix.

Fake countdown timer

It resets to 00:05:00 on every reload. Fix: remove it, or tie it to one real, verifiable deadline, such as an actual cart or cohort close time.

Fabricated testimonials

They're AI-generated, not from real customers. Fix: publish only real, permissioned testimonials, and clearly label any hypothetical example as illustrative, never as a real quote.

Guaranteed income claim

It promises $10,000 in month one, guaranteed. Fix: remove the guarantee entirely; replace it with an honest range built from real, labeled outcomes, plus explicit "results vary" language.

Undisclosed affiliate link

No disclosure appears anywhere on the page. Fix: add a plain-language disclosure right next to the link, visible before the reader clicks.

Fake scarcity claim

"Only 3 spots left" has no real basis behind it. Fix: state a real limit if one genuinely exists, tied to actual capacity, or remove the claim entirely.

The pattern behind every fix

Every fix either removes a false claim or replaces it with something true, specific, and verifiable. That is the entire discipline of ethical marketing -- apply it to your own pages before you publish them.

Marketing problems generally fall into two families: fabrication (inventing evidence) and concealment (hiding or overstating a true fact).
A guaranteed income claim is a red flag on its own -- no honest business can promise a buyer a specific financial outcome.
A real audit names the specific problem and proposes a specific fix -- vague discomfort ("this feels off") isn't an audit.

Try the working example

javascript

function auditMarketingClaims(page) {
  const issues = [];

  if (page.hasFakeCountdown) {
    issues.push("Fake countdown timer resets on reload -- the deadline is not real.");
  }
  if (page.hasFakeTestimonials) {
    issues.push("Testimonials are AI-generated, not from real customers.");
  }
  if (page.makesGuaranteedIncomeClaim) {
    issues.push("Guaranteed income claim ($10,000/month) -- no result can be guaranteed.");
  }
  if (page.hasUndisclosedAffiliateLinks) {
    issues.push("Affiliate links are not disclosed to the reader.");
  }
  if (page.hasFakeScarcityClaim) {
    issues.push("\"Only 3 spots left\" scarcity claim has no real basis.");
  }

  return {
    issueCount: issues.length,
    issues,
    verdict: issues.length === 0 ? "No red flags found" : "Fails ethics review -- fix before publishing"
  };
}

const flawedLandingPage = {
  hasFakeCountdown: true,
  hasFakeTestimonials: true,
  makesGuaranteedIncomeClaim: true,
  hasUndisclosedAffiliateLinks: true,
  hasFakeScarcityClaim: true
};

const honestLandingPage = {
  hasFakeCountdown: false,
  hasFakeTestimonials: false,
  makesGuaranteedIncomeClaim: false,
  hasUndisclosedAffiliateLinks: false,
  hasFakeScarcityClaim: false
};

console.log(auditMarketingClaims(flawedLandingPage));
console.log(auditMarketingClaims(honestLandingPage));

You should see

Running the audit on the flawed page logs an object with issueCount: 5, an issues array naming all five problems, and verdict: 'Fails ethics review -- fix before publishing'. Running it on the honest page logs issueCount: 0, an empty issues array, and verdict: 'No red flags found'.

5-minute try-it

Below is a description of a fictional landing page selling an "earn money online" course. Read it carefully, then write down every ethical or marketing problem you can find, and for each one, state specifically what is wrong and what a fair fix would look like.

The page: a countdown timer displays "00:04:59 remaining," but reloading the page resets it back to "00:05:00." Three testimonials appear with photos and names attached, but the quotes were generated by an AI writing tool, not collected from any real customer. The main headline reads: "Earn $10,000 in your first month, guaranteed -- no experience needed." Further down, the page recommends a specific software tool through a "Buy Now" button that is actually an affiliate link earning the page owner a commission; nothing on the page discloses this anywhere. Near the bottom, a banner reads: "Only 3 spots left at this price!" with no explanation of what the limit actually is or why it exists.

List all five problems. For each one, write one sentence identifying the issue and one sentence describing the fix that would make the claim honest.

One important caution

Treating this exercise as a lesson in writing more convincing fake urgency or testimonials -- the goal is spotting and removing these patterns, never building them.

Stopping at "this page seems shady" without naming which specific claim is fabricated, concealed, or unverifiable -- vague criticism isn't an audit.

FTC Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking — Digital Business