In order to explore the question I asked last week, I think some personal context might be useful. I never understood the world of ‘affiliate marketing’…until…I got hired for a project management/front end software engineering role at the beginning of 2015 at a company called…let’s call it…‘WhimsyWhirl.’
In title, I was a ‘software engineer’, but I did a lot of other things. I was employee number 5 at this startup so I did all kinds of random things, but, when it came to the actual software engineering part, I was more of pixel pusher…and the pixels that I pushed had my mind blown as to the ignorance I perpetuated BEFORE I pushed those pixels. I thought the internet existed for us to spread and share and honor information and knowledge…and…although that’s largely true, the wisdom often gets left out in favor of aesthetics. What I came to find in my entirely unscientifc study…is that 89% of the internet as we know it is actually really propped up on people and companies trying to get us to buy as much shit as possible. We’re being fed the information that they want us to consume because THEY get paid for what we consume. We’re using ‘free’ platforms because those ‘free’ platforms benefit greatly from our use. And this is really just the tip of the iceberg…And none of it really matters unless we click their links…Fashion blogs exist not for us to know more about the product - they exist so we click on their link.
Some of you might be shaking your heads right now - some of you probably already know that this is how it works…but some of you don’t. And it’s fascinating. The money machine behind these blogs and influencers is ROLLING in.
For example, at WhimsyWhirl, I knew of a normal, non-descript, middle-aged woman who used our services: she would go to upscale stores…try on normal (ie: not revealing) clothes in the dressing room…she’d snap a few pics…upload them to her ‘blog’…and add one of our ‘tracking pixels’ to her post. She’d create a link on her blog that her followers would click on and every time one of her followers bought something on the site she was advertising - she’d get a kickback. She didn’t even have to buy anything. She’d take a couple hours a week and just try a bunch of shit on and clear a public school teachers yearly salary EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR. And this was nearly 10 years ago. I can’t imagine how much some of these bloggers are making at this point in time…
Bringing it back towards sneakers. Y’all know this is how some of your favorite sneaker accounts work…right? Joe schmo on IG posts a ‘deal’ and says ‘use my link!’ and Joe ends up getting kickbacks on WHATEVER YOU BUY ON THAT SITE FOR UP TO THIRTY DAYS AFTER YOU CLICK ON HIS LINK. Sometimes - these kickbacks are through ‘affiliate marketplaces’. Sometimes - they’re from a retailer. And other times, they’re directly from the brands themselves. That’s right, sometimes Nike pays your favorite influencer thousands upon thousands of dollars to simply post a pic of this weeks sales.
So now, instead of just a couple of people or companies making a few dollars per pair, the money machine and the economics behind a single pair of shoes includes:
raw materials (where did the leather and rubber come from?)
production (who assembled the shoe?)
transportation (how did it get from the factory to the first point of contact?)
government agencies (how did it get from overseas to stateside distributors?)
the company (Nike’s distribution center)
the retailer (Footlocker’s shelves)
And now…
the influencer (the person who told you it was ok to buy)…who appears to be making A BUTTLOAD OF MONEY.
I’m not here to shit on anyone who is making a living doing that - providing links for their peers. I think it’s a good way to supplement a hobby (or an addiction). I think it’s dope that someone can make a living doing that (and I kinda wish it were me), but I am here to ask why we don’t demand more from the major publications in the space…I mean…shouldn’t they provide more?
