Rules and ethics
How ASA CAP Code rulings shape UK affiliate disclosure
ASA CAP Code affiliate disclosure rules bite hardest on undisclosed links, as recent rulings against British publishers show. Here is the wording the ASA expects.
What to take away
- ASA CAP Code affiliate disclosure means labelling paid links clearly before the click, not burying a note below the fold.
- The ASA has ruled against publishers that presented affiliate links as editorial, including Reach plc titles and a Skyscanner-owned site.
- The wording the ASA accepts is plain: "Ad", "Advertisement feature", "Advertorial" or "Affiliate link" placed where the reader sees it first.
- The CAP Code sits alongside the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, enforced by the CMA and Trading Standards.
- Sanctions start with an ad alert and listing on the ASA site, and can escalate to referral to Trading Standards or the CMA.
- Free Copy Advice from the ASA lets you clear disclosure wording before a campaign goes live.
What the CAP Code says about affiliate disclosure in the UK
The CAP Code is the advertising code that applies to affiliate ads in the UK, written by the Committee of Advertising Practice and enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority. It covers paid, promotional content wherever it appears, including publisher pages, comparison tables, email and social posts. See the Advertising codes for the full text.
Two rules do most of the work. Rule 2.1 requires marketing communications to be obviously identifiable as such. Rule 2.3 requires that they are not misrepresented as editorial or independent content. An affiliate link is a marketing communication when the publisher is paid for it, whatever the publisher calls it.
That has a practical consequence for programme managers. You cannot rely on the network's tracking disclosure or on a terms clause in your publisher contract. The disclosure has to be visible to the reader in the place where the link appears.
The CAP Code applies across the UK, so a programme running links through London publishers, Manchester price-comparison sites or Glasgow deal blogs faces the same test. Regional spread does not change the rule.
ASA guidance sets out specific affiliate marketing disclosure requirements for links, widgets and voucher codes. The Online Affiliate Marketing advice page is the shortest route to what the regulator expects in practice.
One point trips up programme teams repeatedly: the disclosure must come before the click, not after it. A footer note about earning commission does not fix a headline that reads as independent journalism.
How ASA rulings treat affiliate links as ads rather than editorial
The ASA's starting position is that commercial intent matters more than format. If money changes hands for a click or a sale, the content is an ad, even when it sits inside a review, a buying guide or a news article.
This is where most breaches begin. A publisher writes a genuine review, adds an affiliate link, and leaves the page looking like editorial. The reader cannot tell that the recommendation carries a commercial incentive. The ASA treats that as a failure of identification, not a technicality.
The regulator also looks at prominence. A label in small grey type at the bottom of a long page does not count. The label has to be noticeable to the average reader at the point where the commercial content begins.
Affiliate widgets create a second problem. Star ratings, "best buy" badges and price tables often sit outside the article body, so publishers assume they are exempt. They are not. If the widget earns commission, it needs its own label.
Programme managers should treat the publisher's page as part of their own compliance surface. Your affiliate marketing advertising rules should say who labels what, and by when.
Social posts follow the same logic. A story, a reel or a pinned post with a swipe-up link needs the label in the post itself, not in a bio or a link tree.
Named ASA rulings and the exact wording the ASA expects
Two rulings show how the ASA applies the rules to performance marketing. Both are published in the ASA rulings database, which is the reference point for anyone drafting disclosure wording.
The first involves Reach plc. The ASA investigated affiliate links placed in articles across Reach titles, including the Manchester Evening News and MyLondon. The links sat inside ordinary news and feature copy with no label identifying them as advertising. The ASA upheld the complaints and found the content was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication.
The second involves Skyscanner. A Skyscanner-owned site ran hotel and travel content with affiliate links to booking partners, presented in an editorial style. The ASA again found the commercial nature of the links was not made clear to readers.
The pattern in both cases is the same: commercial links inside content that reads as independent, with no label the reader would notice.
The wording the ASA expects is short and plain. Acceptable labels include:
- "Ad"
- "Advertisement"
- "Advertisement feature"
- "Advertorial"
- "Affiliate link"
- "Paid partnership"
- "Sponsored"
The label must appear before or alongside the link, in a size and colour a reader can see without hunting. Phrases such as "in association with", "thanks to our partners" or "we may earn a commission" are not substitutes. They describe a relationship without telling the reader the content is advertising.
For teams writing this into contracts, the wording belongs in the brief, not in a style guide nobody opens. Our guide to an affiliate marketing disclosure policy covers how to put the label in the publisher's workflow.
Where affiliate programmes breach the CAP Code on misleading claims
Disclosure is only half the exposure. Affiliate content also carries claims, and those claims must be accurate, substantiated and not misleading.
Price and availability claims are the most common failure. A comparison table that shows an outdated price, or a "cheapest" badge that ignores a rival, breaches the CAP Code even if the disclosure label is perfect.
Savings claims cause trouble too. "Save 40%" needs a genuine, verifiable basis, and the reference price has to be real. Programme managers who supply creative to publishers are often the source of these numbers.
Health, finance and beauty claims attract extra scrutiny. A supplement affiliate post that implies a medical benefit, or a credit affiliate page that understates the cost of borrowing, will draw complaints quickly. Financial promotions may also fall under FCA rules.
Reviews and testimonials need care. A publisher cannot present a paid review as an ordinary customer's view. The ASA has treated undisclosed incentives, free products and commission arrangements as material facts that readers need to know.
Urgency claims are the easiest to get wrong. Countdown timers and "only 3 left" messages must reflect real stock or real deadlines. Invented scarcity is a misleading commercial practice, not just an advertising breach.
Programme teams should audit publisher creative quarterly. Check the price feed, the savings figure, the review source and the label, in that order. A single broken feed can generate hundreds of non-compliant pages across a network.
The role of CMA and consumer protection law alongside ASA sanctions
The ASA is not the only regulator in this space. The Competition and Markets Authority enforces the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which prohibit commercial practices that mislead consumers.
An undisclosed affiliate link can breach both regimes. The ASA handles the advertising code; the CMA handles the underlying commercial practice. The two can act on the same page.
This matters because CMA powers are heavier. The CMA can seek undertakings, launch court action and, under newer consumer powers, impose direct fines on businesses that break consumer law. It has already acted on online endorsement and review practices.
The CMA has also published guidance on hidden advertising, aimed squarely at influencers and the brands that pay them. Affiliate programmes sit inside that scope when a publisher's recommendation is paid for.
Trading Standards sits under the same umbrella. Local authority trading standards services enforce a wide range of consumer protection legislation and can act on referrals from the ASA where advertising breaches suggest a wider consumer detriment.
What does the ASA do first? Its sanctions guidance sets out the ladder. For most breaches the ASA publishes the ruling, naming the advertiser. Persistent or serious non-compliance moves to an ad alert, which warns media owners and networks, then to referral.
Referral routes matter to programme managers. The ASA can refer a non-compliant advertiser to Trading Standards, to the CMA, or to another regulator such as the FCA or the ICO where the issue touches financial promotions or data. A referral is public and slow to shake off.
For a network or retailer, the reputational cost usually arrives before any formal penalty. Publishers drop programmes that generate rulings, and affiliates leave networks whose tracking pages carry ad alerts.
If you are mapping the wider rule set, our summary of affiliate marketing UK rules covers the regulators, the tax position and the data rules in one place.
Building a disclosure policy that survives an ASA challenge
A policy that survives a challenge is short, specific and testable. Write it so a publisher can follow it without asking a lawyer.
- Name the label. Choose one approved phrase, such as "Ad" or "Affiliate link", and require it on every commercial link, widget and social post.
- Set the position. The label goes before or immediately beside the link, above the fold, in body text size or larger.
- Define the scope. Cover articles, reviews, comparison tables, newsletters, video descriptions and social captions.
- Assign responsibility. The publisher labels; the programme manager checks; the network spot-checks a sample each month.
- Record the evidence. Keep screenshots, publish dates and the version of the creative that was live at the time.
- Set a correction path. If a label is missing, the link comes down within a stated number of hours, not weeks.
Worked example. A retailer runs a voucher page with 40 affiliate partners. A publisher embeds a "top 10 deals" table with links to three of them. Under the policy, the table carries an "Ad" label at the top, each partner row carries a disclosure icon, and the page records the date the prices were last checked.
The programme manager samples ten publisher pages a month and logs the result. If a label is missing, the affiliate link is paused until it is fixed.
Two clauses belong in every publisher agreement. First, a warranty that the publisher will comply with the CAP Code and consumer law. Second, a right to suspend payment and remove links where a breach is found. Without the second clause, you have a warranty you cannot enforce.
Keep the policy to two pages. Long policies get skimmed, and the parts that get skimmed are the labels. If your team is scaling quickly, check affiliate marketing rules and ethics before you add new publishers.
Copy Advice and pre-publication checks for British affiliate programmes
The ASA offers Copy Advice, a free and confidential service available before publication. It gives a written opinion on whether a specific piece of advertising is likely to breach the CAP Code, before it runs.
You can use it for affiliate creative, landing pages, email templates and social formats. The Copy Advice service is open to advertisers, agencies and publishers, which means a network can clear a template once and share it.
Turnaround is usually a few working days, so build it into campaign planning. It is not a binding ruling, but it is strong evidence of good faith if a complaint later arrives.
Use it selectively. Send the formats that carry the most risk: comparison tables, savings claims, health and finance copy, and any template that hundreds of publishers will reuse.
Alongside Copy Advice, run your own pre-publication checks. Confirm the label is present and visible, the price data is current, the claims are substantiated and the publisher's page matches the creative you approved.
Keep a simple log. Date, publisher, page URL, label used, reviewer, outcome. If the ASA asks, that log answers most of the questions before they are asked.
Common questions
What wording does the ASA accept for affiliate links? Short, plain labels such as "Ad", "Advertisement feature", "Advertorial", "Affiliate link" or "Sponsored", placed where the reader sees them before clicking. Vague phrases about earning commission are not enough.
Do affiliate links always count as advertising under the CAP Code? Yes, where the publisher is paid for the click or sale and the content promotes a product or service. The format does not matter; the commercial arrangement does.
What happens if an affiliate programme breaches the CAP Code? The ASA publishes a ruling naming the advertiser, may issue an ad alert to media owners and networks, and can refer persistent cases to Trading Standards or the CMA.
Can the CMA act on undisclosed affiliate links? Yes. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 prohibit misleading commercial practices, and the CMA can seek undertakings, go to court or impose fines.
Is Copy Advice binding? No. It is a written opinion on likely compliance, not a ruling. It still carries weight as evidence that the advertiser took reasonable steps.
How often should we audit publisher pages? Monthly sampling is a workable baseline for most programmes. Increase it when you add publishers, change creative or run seasonal price campaigns.