Amazon says in its About Promotional Content help page that promotional content is an endorsement by someone with a financial or close personal connection to what they are endorsing. Amazon says that kind of content is only allowed in limited circumstances and must be clearly and conspicuously disclosed when the connection is not obvious from context.
How does Amazon define promotional content?
Amazon gives its definition directly in the help page. The important part is the connection: financial or close personal.
That means Amazon is looking not just at the content itself, but at the relationship between the speaker and the product, brand, or creator.
Does Amazon apply the same rule everywhere?
Not exactly. Amazon says on the same page that Customer Reviews and Questions and Answers are meant to provide genuine product feedback from fellow shoppers, and that different guidelines apply to those features.
In other words, Amazon is drawing a distinction between community content generally and the more sensitive trust surfaces where shoppers expect neutral product feedback.
When does Amazon say connected people can participate?
Amazon says in its promotional content guidance that in some cases a brand, seller, author, artist, employee, friend, or family member may answer product questions as long as the connection is clearly and conspicuously disclosed.
The page gives examples such as an author answering a question about their own book and disclosing that relationship.
What does Amazon say must be disclosed?
Amazon says on the same page that financial or close personal connections must be disclosed if they are not obvious from context.
Amazon also gives examples involving compensation and free products, which makes the rule broader than formal sponsorship language alone.