Updated 17 September 2024
Oman Wanderlust is a personal blog written and edited by me, Claire Hall. I accept forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions and other forms of compensation such as affiliate links to products and brands I believe in. I will always give my honest opinions regardless of compensation.
What this means on the Oman Wanderlust website , videos and social media
I’m legally required to disclose where I have been paid or received a product, holiday or experience in exchange for an advertorial feature on my website, in videos or on social media. Read more about the Advertising Standards Agency’s guidance for bloggers and digital influencers which was released on 28 September 2018 to clarify this complex area of advertising law.
I want to make it clear that I’m not always paid for advertising and promoting the brands I work with, and they don’t always have control over what I write or produce. However, the law states that I must describe these posts as *Advertorial features* or tag them with ‘AD’ or ‘#ad’ regardless. Some advertisers ask for disclosures to be worded in a specific way. I will work with them to make this as clear as possible and link to this disclosure statement for more information.
Transparency for readers
For further clarity I have the space in my blog posts to explain the compensation I have received in more detail. I do so in a disclosure statement at the bottom of my advertorial feature blog posts. When I share my blog posts on my social media I will use the ‘AD’ in my posts.
Transparency on social media
Where I am working with a brand on X, Facebook, Instagram, TripAdvisor or Pinterest I will use the ‘AD’ prominently in my posts to show there is a paid or unpaid relationship with a brand.
Transparency on video
On Youtube I will use Youtube’s ‘Includes paid promotion’ notice at the beginning of all my videos where there is paid or unpaid relationship with a brand. I also provide a more detailed disclosure statement in the video description to explain the compensation I have received. When I share my videos on my social media I will use the ‘AD’ in my posts.
Ongoing commitment to transparency
I have always been committed to disclosing my relationships with brands; paid or unpaid. However, in the past (before 1 October 2018) I have used a few different terms and methods of disclosure. Following the ASA’s new guidance I want to standardise my disclosure policy.
Perviously, I have disclosed paid or sponsored content within the first few sentences of my blog posts as well as with a disclosure policy at the bottom of the post. The terms used include: collaborative; invited to review; sponsored; hosted; gifted; and similar phrases that I felt went some way to explaining that not all relationships were paid in cash.
Going forward, content like this will be disclosed as I have set out above in the three sections on transparency on my blog, social media and videos.
Please remember that *Advertisement feature* or AD does not necessarily mean I have been paid money for the promotion.
Affiliate links
Oman Wanderlust is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk. Within some of my posts you will find links to products for sale on Amazon. These are clearly marked at the top of the post with *This post contains affiliate links*. The links are also marked with a * sign.
I am the member of other affiliate programmes, including AWIN, and posts using these links will also be marked at the top with *This post contains affiliate links*.
If you click on an affiliate link I may earn some advertising fees and make a purchase. You will not be charged extra for this.
If you have any questions about disclosure on any of Oman Wanderlust’s platforms then please get in touch.