Advertising Guidelines
Date of Last Revision: December 5, 2009.
Advertising Philosophy
The SoBizNetwork.com experience, including advertising practices should contribute to the overall enjoyment and benefits of this site. We are committed to keeping the site clean, consistent, and free from intrusive advertising practices. We believe the user should be able interact and guide their own exposure based on their individual preferences and wishes. The following guidelines should be followed by all ads appearing within the social community, business directory, and other promotion areas of the site. In addition to these guidelines, all advertising must comply with the Privacy Policy and other Agreements located on this site. The website administration reserves the right to reject or remove advertising that we deem contrary to our ad philosophy. These guidelines are subject to change at any time and the web administration may waive any of these guidelines at its discretion.
Advertising Guidelines
- Community Accounts
- a. Advertisers can create or manage multiple accounts for advertising purposes if such accounts are for separate business purposes.
- b. Advertisers cannot programmatically automate the creation of accounts or ads unless given permission by administration to do so.
- Business Directory Accounts
- a. Advertisers can create or manage multiple accounts for advertising purposes if such accounts are for separate business purposes.
- b. Advertisers can be listed in up to 5 headers within the business directory unless approved for more by administration.
- c. All ads in the directory must have a printable coupon included in the page that can be utilized and honored by members of the site.
- d. Advertisers in the directory can not deviate from the pre-formatted page layout in the directory without prior administration permission.
- Landing pages / Destination URLs
- a. Ads that contain a URL or domain in the body must link to that same URL or domain.
- b. Ads must send users to the same landing page when the ad is clicked.
- c. Landing pages cannot generate a pop-up (including "pop-overs" and "pop-unders") when a user enters or leaves the page.
- d. Landing pages cannot use "fake" close behavior (ie. when a user clicks the 'close' icon on the page, the page should close down and no other behavior should result).
- e. Landing pages cannot utilize "mouse trapping" whereby the advertiser does not allow users to use their browser "back button" and traps them on their site and/or present any other unexpected behavior (for example: navigation to another ad or page).
- f. Ads cannot require viewers to click on the ad to submit Personally Identifiable Information (such as name, date of birth, phone numbers, social security number, physical addresses, or email addresses) on the landing page or in the ad, except to enable an ecommerce transaction and where the ad and landing page clearly indicate that a product is being sold.
- References
- a. Ads cannot imply any endorsement of the product, service, or ad destination by the website.
- Ad Copy and Image Content
- a. Ads must directly relate to the content on the landing page.
- b. Ads must clearly represent the company, product, or brand that is being advertised.
- c. Ads cannot insult, harass, or threaten a user.
- d. Ads cannot contain audio that plays automatically, without a user's interaction.
- Prohibited Content
- a. Ads must not be false, misleading, fraudulent, or deceptive.
- b. Ads cannot contain, facilitate, promote, or reference the following:
- i. Offensive, profane, vulgar, obscene or inappropriate language;
- ii. Obscene, defamatory, libelous, slanderous and/or unlawful content;
- iii. Ammunition, firearms, paintball guns, bb guns, or weapons of any kind;
- iv. Gambling, including without limitation, any online casino, sports books, bingo, or poker without authorization from administrator;
- v. Scams, illegal activity, pyramid schemes, or chain letters;
- vi. Contests and sweepstakes
- vii. Get rich quick and other money making opportunities that offer compensation for little or no investment, including money making schemes positioned as alternatives to part-time or full-time employment;
- viii. Adult content, including nudity, sexual terms and/or images of people in positions or activities that are excessively suggestive or sexual, or provocative images in violation of community standards;
- ix. Adult friend finders or dating sites with a sexual emphasis;
- x. Adult toys, videos, or other adult products;
- xi. Inflammatory religious content;
- xii. Politically religious agendas and/or any known associations with hate, criminal and/or terrorist activities;
- xiii. Content that exploits political agendas or uses "hot button" issues for commercial use regardless of whether the advertiser has a political agenda;
- xiv. Hate speech, whether directed at an individual or a group, and whether based upon the race, sex, creed, national origin, religious affiliation, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or language of such individual or group;
- xv. Content that advocates against any organization, person, or group of people, with the exception of candidates running for public office;
- xvi. Content that depicts a health condition in a derogatory or inflammatory way or misrepresents a health condition in any way.
- Data and Privacy
- a. You may not give data you receive from us to any third party, including ad networks.
- b. Unless authorized by us, your ads may not display user data -- such as users' names or profile photos -- whether that data was obtained from this website or otherwise.
- c. You may not use user data you receive from us or collect through running an ad, including information you derive from your targeting criteria, for any purpose off of this website, without user consent.
- Targeting
- a. Any targeting of ads based on a user attribute, such as age, gender, location, or interest, must be directly relevant to the offer, and cannot be done by a method inconsistent with privacy and data policies.
- b. Ads with adult themes, including contraception, sex education, and health conditions must be targeted to individuals at least 18 years old. Platform ads should do this via Demographic Restrictions, not by obtaining user data.
- c. Ads for dating sites, services, or related content must follow these targeting criteria:
- i. the Relationship Status targeting parameter must be utilized and set to Single;
- ii. the Sex targeting parameter must be utilized and a single value of Male or Female must be selected;
- iii. the Age targeting parameter must be utilized and the age range selected must start at least at 18 years old;
- iv. the Interested In targeting parameter must be utilized and a single value of either Men or Women must be selected.
- Prices, discounts, and free offers
- a. Ads cannot be deceptive or fraudulent about any offer made.
- b. If an ad includes a price, discount, or 'free' offer,
- i. the destination URL for the ad must link to a page that clearly and accurately offers the exact deal the ad has displayed;
- ii. the ad must clearly state what action or set of actions is required to qualify for the offer.
- Subscription Services
- a. The advertisement of Subscription Services must comply with the conditions noted below and as determined by this website in its sole discretion. "Subscription Services" may include sites that promote downloading ringtones, wallpaper, or text messages for predictions, love life advice, news, personality quizzes, or other entertainment services or any site that induces a user to sign up for recurring billing of a product or service.
- i. The promoted website must clearly and accurately display the price and billing interval (such as per week or once per month) on the landing page as well as any page that prompts a user for Personally Identifiable Information (such as name, date of birth, phone number, social security number, physical addresses, or email addresses) or billing information (including, but not limited to, mobile phone number or credit card number).
- ii. If users sign up for the service by transmitting a code by text message, the price and billing interval must be clearly and prominently displayed beside the code.
- iii. If the service is a subscription, the website must provide a prominent opt-in checkbox or other clear mechanism indicating that the user knowingly accepts the price and subscription service. This should be on the first page where the user enters personal data, and the user should not be able to proceed without opting in.
- iv. All of the foregoing items should be located in a prominent place on your webpage, as determined by administration in its sole discretion, and should be easy to find, read, and understand.
- Ads for Alcoholic Beverages
- a. Ads must be targeted to people 21 years old or older in the US, 19 years old or older in Canada, 18 years old or older in the UK, and 21 years old or older everywhere else. All website viewer restrictions must be set at 21+ regardless of the country they are in or targeted to. In the case where a user's age cannot be determined, the ad cannot be displayed to the user in question.
- b. Ads cannot include content that might appeal to (or mislead) minors by implying that the consumption of alcoholic beverages is fashionable or the accepted course of behavior for those who are underage.
- c. Ads cannot include or target any person under the legal drinking age in the region the ad appears, or be suggestive of the presence of those who are underaged.
- d. Ads cannot portray or promote intoxication.
- e. Ads cannot induce people to consume alcohol in excess, make references to the intoxicating effects of alcohol, depict activities that encourage excessive consumption or that encourage drinking at a rapid rate, or suggest the strength of the alcoholic beverage being advertised.
- f. Ads cannot promote any giveaways as a reward for purchasing the alcoholic product.
- g. It is recommended that the ad creative contain text that promotes drinking responsibly, eg. "Drink Responsibly" or "Drink Smart".
- Copyrights and trademarks
- a. Ads cannot include any content that infringes upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary right.
- b. The advertiser must have intellectual property rights to the creative and be permitted to display such creative as advertising on the website.
- Spam
- a. Ads cannot contain, facilitate or promote 'spam' or other advertising or marketing content that violates applicable laws, regulations or industry standards.
- Incentives
- a. Ads cannot offer incentives to viewers for clicking on the ad, for submitting Personally Identifiable Information (such as name, date of birth, phone number, social security number, physical addresses, or email addresses), or for performing any other tasks.
- Downloads
- a. Ads cannot contain or link, whether directly or indirectly, to a site that contains spyware/malware downloads, whether initiated automatically or manually by the user, or other auto-initiated downloads.
- b. Ads cannot contain or link to a site that facilitates or promotes:
- i. Collection of demographic and usage information from a user's computer without the user's express consent;
- ii. Collection or request of usernames or passwords from any user;
- iii. Proxying usernames or passwords for the purpose of automating logins to the website;
- iv. Any software that (i) "sneaks" onto a user's system and performs activities hidden to the user, (ii) may alter, harm, disable or replace any hardware or software installed on user's computer without express permission from the user, (iii) is bundled as a hidden component of other software whether free or for fee, (iv) automatically downloads without administrator’s express prior approval, (v) presents any download dialog boxes without a user's express action, or (vi) may violate or infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, patent or any other proprietary right.
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