Can you have too many badge links?

[SparkplugDigital]

If you badge program becomes really successful, can too many badge links hurt your rankings?

Since they are image links that are often placed in the sidebar of blogs, could Google mistake badges as do-follow ads and apply a penalty?

[SteveOllington]

I would have thought it would be possible but not likely, I wouldn't let it deter me from using the badges... SEOmoz has badges

[RyanKent]

Short answer, No.

The best detailed answer is offered by Matt Cutts in this 2 minute video from Google: http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleWebmasterHelp#p/u/25/l6g5hoBYlf0

Just be conscious of all your links. Use the SEOmoz toolbar's Analyze button and check the Page Attributes. You may be surprised at how many links your page actually offers.