Advertising Policy

We accept advertisements on our Site to help us maintain the resources needed to create the quality content you deserve. We greatly value transparency and hope that this policy leaves you even more confident about our content and service.

 

Humbled Budget maintains a distinct separation between advertising and editorial content.

• All advertising or sponsored content on Humbled Budget is clearly and unambiguously distinguished from editorial content through borders or other distinguishing elements and/or identified as an “Ad,” “Advertisement,” “Sponsored,” or a similar designation indicating that the content is being provided by or on behalf of the sponsor.
• All “native” ads or paid content are identified as an “Ad,” “Advertisement,” “Sponsored,” or a similar designation indicating that the content is being provided by or on behalf of the sponsor.
• Advertisements do not influence the editorial content on Humbled Budget unless the content is sponsored content, in which case, the content will be restricted and/or identified with the title “Ad,” “Advertisement,” or “Sponsored,” or a similar designation, indicating that the content is being provided by or on behalf of an advertiser or sponsor.
• All advertisements and sponsored content appearing on Humbled Budget are subject to the Guidelines found here.
• The editorial may occasionally contain links to third parties from which Humbled Budget benefits financially. Editorial reserves the right to change, modify or remove any of these links at any time to give users the best experience possible. Payments do not influence the placement of these links.

Ecommerce and Affiliate Links Disclosure

Contributors and/or Humbled Budget may receive compensation for participation in third-party affiliate marketing programs, including purchases made through links to Humbled Budget’s e-commerce partners, if any. All pages on the Site containing affiliate marketing links, including product reviews, will be clearly restricted and/or identified with a disclaimer.

Advertising Guidelines

These advertising guidelines (“Guidelines”) set forth standards that govern the placement and display of advertisements and sponsored content (collectively “Ads”) by any advertiser, agency, or advertising technology platform (collectively “Advertisers”). Advertisers must adhere to these Guidelines when placing Ads purchased under the AAAA/IAB Standard Terms and Conditions on websites or mobile properties owned or controlled by About, Inc., including HumbledBudget.com (collectively “Humbled Budget”).

These Guidelines are intended to provide general parameters for Advertisers regarding Ad creative and content served on a Humbled Budget. They are not exhaustive and do not address every situation or issue that may arise during the business. Accordingly, these Guidelines are subject to change from time to time at Humbled Budget’s sole and absolute discretion.

Advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations, including FTC guidelines regarding advertising, native advertising disclosures, endorsements, privacy, and data security. All ads must be fair, truthful, and distinguishable from editorial content. Advertisers are responsible for ensuring all Ads and related claims are adequately substantiated. Further, Advertisers must adhere to Humbled Budget’s Prohibited Content Guidelines and Additional Standards, which are incorporated into and made a part of these Guidelines.

Ads served through networks or exchanges are reviewed regularly. In addition to any other remedies Humbled Budget may have, Humbled Budget reserves the right to remove, without notice, any Ads that do not meet these Guidelines, regardless of whether the Ad was previously accepted by Humbled Budget.

Links from Affiliates to Advertisers

Sometimes the products we review are affiliated with us, so if you click on an “Open Account”/”shop now” button or occasionally a hyperlink on the product’s name, we might get paid either when you click on it or if you choose to sign up for the product. Whether or not we have an advertiser in place has no bearing on where the button is located or whether a link to their website is provided.

Display Ads

Some reviews/recommendations may include display advertising, which will be labeled as advertisements and easily recognized.

Prohibited content

Ads may not contain or promote the following:

• Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco. Ads may not promote illegal drugs, illegal substances, abuse of prescription drugs, use of Alcohol (except for beer and wine), tobacco products, or any related paraphernalia thereto. Lawful products and services which promote quitting tobacco-related products are permitted.
• Weapons/Violence. Ads may not promote the use, distribution, or making of firearms, ammunition, explosives, pyrotechnics, or other weapons. Ads may not promote violence, cruelty, or physical or emotional harm to any person or animal.
• Illegal Activities/Gambling. Ads may not promote any illegal or other questionable activities which may be illegal in one or more jurisdictions, including, without limitation, hacking, counterfeiting, or other activities that may violate the intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or contractual rights of others. Ads may not contain or promote content related to scams, financial schemes, pyramid schemes, or other fraudulent or illegal financial or investment opportunities. Ads may not promote casinos, gambling, betting, numbers games, sports, or financial betting. Ads promoting state lotteries are permitted.
• Hate/Intolerance/Discrimination. Ads may not contain or promote hate speech, personal attacks, or discrimination toward any individual, group, country, or organization.
• Counterfeit. Ads for counterfeit goods are prohibited.
• Obscenity/Indecency/Profanity. Ads may not contain or promote obscene, indecent, profane, or offensive words, images, sounds, videos, or other content.
• Political/Religious. Ads may not contain hostile, offensive, inflammatory, or hateful speech related to political or religious topics or groups. Ads may not commercialize controversial political, social, or religious issues.
• Sexual/Adult Content. Ads may not include full or partial nudity, depictions of people in exact positions, or overly suggestive or sexually provocative activities. Ads will not contain text or images exposing anyone or anything involved in explicit sexual acts or lewd and lascivious behavior. Ads may not promote escorts, dating, erotic massage, pornography, or other sexual products or services.
• Disparagement/Defamation. Ads may not contain disparaging or defamatory information or content that tends to harm the reputation of Humbled Budget or any other individual, group, or organization.
• Gross Depictions. Ads may not contain or promote content that is crude, vulgar, degrading, or likely to shock or disgust.
• Militant/Extremism. Ads may not contain or promote extremely aggressive and combative behaviors or unlawful political measures, including individuals or groups advocating violence to achieve their goals.
• Sensitive Content. Ads may not target sensitive categories such as financial status, medical conditions, mental health, criminal record, political affiliation, age, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical affiliation or beliefs, sexual behavior or orientation, or trade union membership.
• Free Goods/Services. Ads may not distribute or promise to distribute any free goods and services.
• Targeted at Children. Ads may not specifically target children, including through cartoons or other similar content.
• Unverifiable Claims. Ads may not make confusing claims that reasonable consumers cannot readily understand and evaluate.
• Before/After Images. The ad may not depict “before and after” images or images with unexpected or unlikely results.
• Health/Safety Claims. Ads may not promote actions likely to harm one’s health, such as bulimia, anorexia, binge drinking, or drug use. Ads may not make health claims that are not substantiated. Advertisers must submit supporting documentation to substantiate their products’ claims.
• Misleading/False/Deceptive: Ads may not contain any information or content that is potentially misleading, false, or deceptive, including content meant to generate clicks deceptively, such as fake “close” buttons.
• Competitive to Humbled Budget /Affiliates. Ads may not promote direct competitors of Humbled Budget or any of its parent, affiliate, subsidiary, or other related entity.
• Copyright Infringement. Ads must not use copyrights belonging to third parties unless the copyright owner has granted express permission. If you believe in good faith that your copyright has been infringed, 

ADDITIONAL STANDARDS

Advertisers and Ads must adhere to the following:

• Audio/Animation. Ads may not include overly disruptive audio or animation that plays automatically.
• Popup/Downloads. Ads may not include lead ads, floating layers, popups, surveys, or digital downloads.
• Malicious Software. Ads may not contain malicious code, software, or viruses, including malware, spyware, adware, steelware, or Trojan horses.
• Separation. Ads must contain clear borders and be displayed, so they are unmistakably not part of Humbled Budget’s editorial site content.
• Phishing. Ads may not trap or trick a user into providing money or any account, personal, or other sensitive information.
• Compatibility. Ads must function uniformly on both Apple and PC formats and all major Internet browsers.
• Independence. Ads may not appear to compromise or influence Humbled Budget’s editorial independence from Advertisers.
• Endorsements. Ads may not create or imply the existence of any endorsement by Humbled Budget of any product, service, or organization.
• Landing Pages. Landing pages associated with Ads must correspond to the Ad’s call to action and not engage in “bait and switch.”
• Proprietary Rights. Ads may not violate any copyright, trademark, trade secret, patent, publicity, privacy, or other proprietary rights of Humbled Budget or any third party. Advertisers may not alter or interfere with the readability or display of any Humbled Budget trademarks, service marks, logos, designs, or slogans.
• Data Collection/Use. Ads may not include open-box forms to register users or collect any data. Ads may not collect and sell data or mailing lists regarding Humbled Budget users without the users’ express permission. Advertisers may not collect any personally identifiable information from Humbled Budget users or place any cookies, applets, or other similar files — if those files transmit any personally identifiable information to Advertisers — on desktop computers or mobile devices of Humbled Budget users. Advertisers must handle data with appropriate care, not misuse any data they are permitted to collect, nor collect any data for unclear purposes or without appropriate security measures.

Miscellaneous

Local Legal Prerequisites: Advertisers are in charge of comprehending and abiding by any laws, rules, industry codes, and laws that may be relevant, including any local legal and regulatory requirements.

In our sole discretion, we reserve the right to accept, approve, or remove any advertisement for any reason, including in response to user feedback. Accounts connected to organizations or people may be suspended or terminated if they repeatedly disregard our advertising policies or other rules.

Please check back and read through our policies frequently as we update them. Our advertising guidelines are subject to change at any time without prior notice.

Fair Use 

We make our money through online advertising – which makes this Site accessible. We’re not trying to pull a fast one or rip you off, but we need to pay all the talented people working on this Site.

So we’ve adopted an advertising policy that works best for you and us. If you have any questions, please contact us by privacy@humbledbudget.com.

 

• We will not sell your details to a third party. Advertisers on our Site may have access to your behavior via cookies but not your data.
• We place ads based on where they perform best. 
• We will use behavioral targeting 
• We request that you don’t use ad blockers. Contrary to popular belief, we do sometimes get paid for just seeing advertising without you clicking or buying anything. If you like our Site, please don’t block our ads – it’s an easy way for you to pay us for using it without it costing you anything.
• We run more ads than it is reasonable to keep track of, so bad ads will sometimes slip through. If you have a complaint about an advertisement for any reason, please get in touch with us and let us know, and we will do what we can about it – it’s not in our interests to displease our users*
• We do not allow auto-initiated sound. That means ads cannot have the sound switched on when the page loads. If you see an ad that does this, please let us know, and we will hunt it down and switch it off as soon as possible*
• We do not allow ads that make you download anything (especially viruses!) or that break the Site in any way. If you see an ad that does this, please let us know, and we will hunt it down and switch it off as soon as possible*

We’re not trying to trick you into buying things you don’t want or need; we’re just making you aware of the dynamic you are already involved in so that you can consciously take part.

Advertising has been rightly and wrongly demonized over the years, but it’s part of keeping the internet free. Working together, we want to make it a more reasonable payment system for everyone.

 

* To help us find the offending ad, please send us as many of the following details as you can:

• a screenshot of the ad
• the URL you saw it on
• what country are you in
• What browser are you using
• What device are you using
• The time of day

In all, we will try to block the ad – and are also likely to tell off the advertiser, as all of our advertising partners know our rules.