Advertising Guidelines

This agreement was written in English (Canadian). 
Date of Last Revision: July 22, 2010

Advertising Philosophy
At Mybrethren.ca, we believe that every part of our site, including the ads, should contribute to and be consistent with the overall user experience. Thus, we are committed to protecting our user experience by keeping the site clean, consistent, and free from misleading advertising. We believe that we can help transform existing advertising into messages that are tailored to the individual user based on how their friends interact and affiliate with the brands, music artists, and businesses they care about.

 

Advertising Guidelines
The following guidelines apply to all ads appearing on Mybrethren.ca, including ads within canvas pages of Mybrethren.ca platform applications. In addition, all advertising on Mybrethren.ca must comply with the Privacy Policy. Advertising appearing within workgroups or pages on Mybrethren.ca platform must comply with all additional Mybrethren.ca Policies. Mybrethren.ca 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 Mybrethren.ca may waive any of these guidelines at its discretion.

 

Accounts

• Advertisers cannot create or manage multiple Mybrethren.ca accounts for advertising purposes unless given permission by Mybrethren.ca to do so.
• Advertisers cannot programmatically automate the creation of accounts or ads unless given permission by Mybrethren.ca to do so.

 

Landing pages / Destination URLs

• Ads that contain a URL or domain in the body must link to that same URL or domain.
• Ads must send users to the same landing page when the ad is clicked.
• Landing pages cannot generate a pop-up (including "pop-overs" and "pop-unders") when a user enters or leaves the page.
• 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).
• 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).
• 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.

 

Mybrethren.ca references

• The following conditions apply to all ads that have a Mybrethren.ca Worgroup or Page, application, event, group, or mybrethren,ca site as its destination.
• Ads may make limited references to "Mybrethren.ca" in its title, body, or image for the purposes of clarifying the destination of the ad;
• Ads cannot imply any endorsement of the product, service, or ad destination by Mybrethren.ca.
• All other ads, destination ads, and landing pages must adhere to the following restrictions:
• Ads cannot mention or refer to Mybrethren.ca, its site or its brand in any manner, including in the title, body, image, or destination URLs;
• Ads cannot use Mybrethren.ca logos, trademarks, or site terminology (including but not limited to Mybrethren.ca, The Mybrethren.ca, Mybrethren.ca and other company graphics, logos, designs, or icons);
• Mybrethren.ca site features cannot be emulated.

 

Ad Copy and Image Content

• Ads must directly relate to the content on the landing page.
• Ads must clearly represent the company, product, or brand that is being advertised. Products or services promoted in the ad must be directly available on the landing page.
• Ads must not include unsubstantiated claims, including but not limited to prices, discounts or product availability.
• Ads cannot insult, harass, or threaten a user.
• Ads must not contain audio that plays automatically, without a user's interaction. Any automated animation must cease after 15 seconds and must not replay.

 

Prohibited Content

• Ads must not be false, misleading, fraudulent, or deceptive.
• Ads will not be permitted in cases where a business model or practice is deemed unacceptable or contrary to Mybrethren.ca's overall advertising philosophy.
• Ads, or categories of ads, which receive a significant amount of negative user feedback, or are otherwise deemed in violation of community standards will not be permitted.
• Ads cannot contain, facilitate, promote, or reference the following: Offensive, profane, vulgar, obscene or inappropriate language; Obscene, defamatory, libelous, slanderous and/or unlawful content; Tobacco products; Ammunition, firearms, paintball guns, bb guns, or weapons of any kind; Gambling, including without limitation, any online casino, sports books, bingo, or poker without authorization from Mybrethren.ca; Scams, illegal activity, or chain letters; Contests and sweepstakes unless given permission by Mybrethren.ca to do so; Get rich quick and other money making opportunities that offer compensation for little or no investment, including "work from home" opportunities positioned as alternatives to part-time or full-time employment or promises of monetary gain with no strings attached; 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; Adult friend finders or dating sites with a sexual emphasis; Adult toys, videos, or other adult products; Uncertified pharmaceutical products; Spy cams or surveillance equipment; Web-based non-accredited colleges that offer degrees; Inflammatory religious content; Politically religious agendas and/or any known associations with hate, criminal and/or terrorist activities; Content that exploits political agendas or uses "hot button" issues for commercial use regardless of whether the advertiser has a political agenda; 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; Content that advocates against any organization, person, or group of people, with the exception of candidates running for public office; Content that depicts a health condition in a derogatory or inflammatory way or misrepresents a health condition in any way.

 

Data and Privacy

• You may not give data you receive from us to any third party, including ad networks.
• Unless authorized by us, your ads may not display user data -- such as users' names or profile photos -- whether that data was obtained from Mybrethren.ca or otherwise.
• 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 Mybrethren.ca, without user consent.

 

Targeting

• 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.
• 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.
• Ads for dating sites, services, or related content must follow these targeting criteria (does not apply to ads on Mybrethren.ca Platform):
• the Relationship Status targeting parameter must be utilized and set to Single;
• the Sex targeting parameter must be utilized and a single value of Male or Female must be selected;
• the Age targeting parameter must be utilized and the age range selected must start at least at 18 years old;
• 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

• Ads cannot be deceptive or fraudulent about any offer made.
• If an ad includes a price, discount, or 'free' offer,
• the destination URL for the ad must link to a page that clearly and accurately offers the exact deal the ad has displayed;
• the ad must clearly state what action or set of actions is required to qualify for the offer.

 

Subscription Services

• The advertisement of Subscription Services must comply with the conditions noted below and as determined by Mybrethren.ca in its sole discretion. "Subscription Services" may include sites that promote downloading ringtones, games, or other entertainment services or any site that induces a user to sign up for recurring billing of a product or service.
• The ad must clearly state what action or set of actions is required to qualify for the offer. If the user must subscribe to a service, the service and offer requirements must both be stated in the ad.
• The recurring subscription must be consistent with what is promoted in the ad copy.
• At a minimum, 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).
• 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.
• 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.
• All of the foregoing items should be located in a prominent place on your webpage, as determined by Mybrethren.ca in its sole discretion, and should be easy to find, read, and understand.

 

Copyrights and trademarks

• 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.
• The advertiser must have intellectual property rights to the creative and be permitted to display such creative as advertising on the Mybrethren.ca Site.

 

Spam

• Ads cannot contain, facilitate or promote 'spam' or other advertising or marketing content that violates applicable laws, regulations or industry standards.

 

Incentives

• 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

• Ads must not contain or link directly or indirectly to a site that contains spyware/malware downloads, whether initiated automatically or manually by the user, or other auto-initiated downloads.
• Ads cannot contain or link to a site that facilitates or promotes:
• Collection of demographic and usage information from a user's computer without the user's express consent;
• Collection or request of Mybrethren.ca usernames or passwords from any user;
• Proxying Mybrethren.ca usernames or passwords for the purpose of automating logins to the Mybrethren.ca site;
• Any software that results in an unexpected user experience, including but not limited to software which (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 Mybrethren.ca'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.

 

The following sections do not apply to ads on Mybrethren.ca platform

• Grammar, sentence structure, spelling, and spacing
• Ad text must be grammatically correct and contain proper sentence structure.
• Ad text must be in complete sentences.
• Ads cannot include excessive repetition (such as "buy, buy, buy").
• Ads must use correct spelling.
• Ad text must include grammatically correct spacing.
• Capitalization
• Ads must use proper, grammatically correct capitalization (such as capitalizing the first letter of all proper nouns and capitalizing the title of the ad).
• Ads cannot include excessive capitalization (such as "FREE") or incorrect capitalization (such as capitalizing the first letter of every word in a sentence).
• Acronyms may be capitalized.
• Punctuation
• Ads must include logical, correct punctuation.
• Ads cannot contain repeated and unnecessary punctuation (such as "Buy now!!!").
• All complete sentences (including if the ad title is a complete sentence) must end with a single punctuation mark. Sentences cannot end with ellipses, dashes, etc.
• Exclamation points cannot be used in the title of any ad.
• Symbols
• The use of all symbols, numbers, or letters must adhere to the true meaning of the symbol.
• Ads cannot contain repeated and unnecessary symbols.
• Symbols cannot be used for the following: To substitute for letters (e.g. "$ave" instead of "save"); To substitute for entire words (e.g. "&" instead of "and" or "$" instead of "cash/dollars/money"); As unnecessary abbreviations to shorten character count (e.g. "w/" instead of "with" or "@" instead of "at").
• Symbols may be used for the following: If the symbol is part of the product or brand name; If the $ symbol is paired with a dollar amount (e.g. "Save $100 today"); If the # symbol is used for comparative phrases (e.g. "Voted the #1 site by Toronto Star")

 

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