Advertising and Endorsement Guidelines

Document last updated on: 25/04/2010

The following Advertising and Endorsement Guidelines govern all advertisements and /or endorsements, as the case may be, generated and/or originating through Empire.Kred.com Web site (the "Web Site"). In addition, all advertisements and endorsements must comply with the Empire.Kred Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions of Use. Empire.Kred reserves the right to reject or remove any advertisement or endorsement that is deemed contrary to these guidelines. These guidelines are subject to change at any time and Empire.Kred may waive any of these guidelines at its discretion.

1) Empire.Kred references

The following conditions apply to all advertisements and endorsements that have a Web Site page, application, event, group, or connect site as its destination, except as otherwise specifically permitted :

a) Advertisements and/or endorsements may make limited references to "Empire.Kred" in their title, body, or image;

b) Advertisements and/or endorsements cannot imply any endorsement of the product, service, or advertisement destination by Empire.Kred.

c) Advertisements and/or endorsements cannot use Empire.Kred logos, trademarks, or site terminology

d) Empire.Kred site features cannot be emulated

2) Prohibited content

a) Advertisements and endorsements cannot be false, misleading, fraudulent, or deceptive.

b) Advertisements cannot contain, facilitate, promote, or reference the following:

  1. Offensive, profane, vulgar, obscene or inappropriate language;
  2. Obscene, defamatory, libelous, slanderous and/or unlawful content;
  3. Tobacco products;
  4. Ammunition, firearms, paintball guns, bb guns, or weapons of any kind;
  5. Gambling, including without limitation, any online casino, sports books, bingo, or poker without authorization from Empire.Kred;
  6. Scams, illegal activity, pyramid schemes, or chain letters;
  7. Contests and sweepstakes unless given permission by Empire.Kred to do so; if permission is given, you are subject to the Empire.Kred applicable regulations and guidelines
  8. 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;
  9. 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;
  10. Adult friend finders or dating sites with a sexual emphasis;
  11. Adult toys, videos, or other adult products;
  12. Uncertified pharmaceutical products;
  13. Spy cams or illegal surveillance equipment;
  14. Web-based non-accredited colleges that offer degrees
  15. Inflammatory religious content;
  16. Politically religious agendas and/or any known associations with hate, criminal and/or terrorist activities;
  17. Content that exploits political agendas or uses "hot button" issues for commercial use regardless of whether the advertiser has a political agenda;
  18. 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;
    1. Content that advocates against any organization, person, or group of people, with the exception of candidates running for public office;
    2. Content that depicts a health condition in a derogatory or inflammatory way or misrepresents a health condition in any way

c. The advertising or endorsing of any product or service that entails unacceptable business practices as determined by Empire.Kred in its absolute discretion. Some unacceptable business practices that may violate this policy include, but are not limited to:

  1. Illegal products
  2. Utilization of child labour
  3. False endorsements

3) Targeting

a) Advertisements and/or endorsements must comply with the laws of the country to which the advertisement and/ or endorsement is targeted and cannot be inconsistent with the Privacy Policy.

b) Advertisements and endorsements with adult themes, including contraception, sex education, and health conditions can only be targeted to individuals at least 18 years old.

4) Subscription Services

  1. Advertising or endorsing of Subscription Services must comply with the conditions noted below and as determined by Empire.Kred 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.
  2. 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 Personal Information (such as name, date of birth, phone number, social security number, physical addresses, or e-mail addresses) or billing information (including, but not limited to, mobile phone number or credit card number).
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. All of the foregoing items should be located in a prominent place on your webpage, as determined by Empire.Kred in its sole discretion, and should be easy to find, read, and understand.

5) Alcoholic Beverages

a) Advertisements and/or endorsements must comply with the laws of the country to which the advertisement and/ or endorsement is targeted. Advertisements and/or endorsements 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.

b) Advertisements and/or endorsements cannot include or target any person under the legal drinking age in the region the advertisement or endorsement appears, or be suggestive of the presence of those who are underage.

c) Advertisements and /or endorsements cannot portray or promote intoxication.

d) Advertisements and/or endorsements 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.

e) It is recommended that all advertisements and/or endorsements contain text that promotes drinking responsibly, eg. "Drink Responsibly" or "Drink Smart".

6) Endorsing of Products or Services ( Endorsers only)

a) A registered user can endorse the products and services of an Advertiser by completing an Order form (which form will be provided by Empire.Kred) with an Advertiser.

b) Honesty is required in all endorsements both by the endorser and the advertiser seeking endorsement.

c) Compliance with both the disclosure laws of the country to which the endorsement is targeted and any Empire.Kred disclosure policy. All transactions between an endorser and advertiser during the life of an Empire.Kred endorsement deal must be disclosed in the endorsement.

d) Endorsements must clearly represent the company, product, or brand that is being endorsed.

e) Once a commitment to carry an Endorsement has been made, the user cannot make contrary claims until the end of the Endorsement Agreement.

7) Landing pages / Destination URLs (Advertisers only)

a) Advertisements that contain a URL or domain in the body must link to that same URL or domain.

b) Advertisements 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) Advertisements cannot require viewers to click on the ad to submit Personal Information (such as name, date of birth, phone numbers, social insurance number, physical addresses, or e-mail 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.

g) Advertisements must directly relate to the content on the landing page

8) Advertising products or services ( Advertisers only)

a) Advertisers cannot create or manage multiple Empire.Kred accounts for advertising purposes unless given permission by Empire.Kred to do so.

b) Advertisers cannot programmatically automate the creation of accounts or advertisements unless given permission by Empire.Kred to do so.

c) Advertisements must clearly represent the company, product, or brand that is being advertised.

d) Advertisements cannot insult, harass, or threaten a user.

e) Advertisements cannot contain audio that plays automatically, without user interaction

f) Advertisements cannot be deceptive or fraudulent about any offer made.

g) If an advertisement includes a price, discount, or 'free' offer,

  1. the destination URL for the ad must link to a page that clearly and accurately offers the exact deal the ad has displayed;
  2. the advertisement must clearly state what action or set of actions is required to qualify for the offer

h) Advertisements 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.

i) Advertisements cannot contain or link to a site that facilitates or promotes:

  1. Collection of demographic and usage information from a user's computer without the user's express consent;
  2. Collection or request of Empire.Kred usernames or passwords from any user;
  3. Proxying Empire.Kred usernames or passwords for the purpose of automating logins to the Empire Avenue site;
  4. 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 Empire.Kred'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.

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

k) Advertisements cannot offer incentives to viewers for clicking on the ad, for submitting Personal Information (such as name, date of birth, phone number, social security number, physical addresses, or e-mail addresses), or for performing any other tasks.

9) Copyrights and trademarks

a) Advertisements and endorsements 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) Advertisers and endorsers must have intellectual property rights to the creative and be permitted to display such creative as advertising on the Empire.Kred site.

10) Data and Privacy

a) Data received from Empire.Kred cannot be given to any third party, including advertising networks.

b) Unless authorized by Empire.Kred's advertisements may not display user data -- such as users' names or profile photos -- whether that data was obtained from Empire.Kred or otherwise.

c) No user data received from Empire.Kred or collected through running an advertisement, can be used without the consent of Empire.Kred