Affiliate marketing is a risky scheme, and anybody that uses it to advertise their company is reckless and ill informed. Right? No, not right.

But you'd be inclined to believe just that if you took seriously the frequent hatchet jobs on affiliate marketing by folks with a vested interest in CPM and search.

Peter Figueredo wrote an entertaining piece on ReveNews recently," EXTRA EXTRA: Online Ad Displayed Next To Inappropriate Content - BUT ITS AN AD BUY - NOT AN AFFILIATE."

In the post, Peter points out a story about brands being represented in an embarrassing spot. "This article describes Apple and AT&T ads appearing on an upskirt website through an ad network buy."

This is news, because the "watchdogs", who are so quick to condemn affiliate marketing at every turn, never mention the considerably frequent times this sort of thing happens elsewhere.

I see it all the time - contextual ads from search engines and banner ads from networks paying on CPM that are placed on sites that are inappropriate at best.

This whole situation reminds me of the book, Bias, by Bernard Goldberg - a treatise that documented the lack of objectivity in the "mainstream" media. Thanks Peter!