Ad Guidelines

TakeMeFishing.org Advertising Guidelines

The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) strives to make TakeMeFishing.org and VamosAPescar.org valuable resources for our audiences and so the core of the Web sites is the user experience. This experience is continually reinforced by their distinct look & feel, functionality, personality, and utility. Thus everything that exists within TakeMeFishing.org and VamosAPescar.org should conform and contribute to the overall user experience, including the advertising. RBFF provides the following guidelines to help you communicate more effectively with your desired audience. Please note that all advertising placed within TakeMeFishing.org and VamosAPescar.org must adhere to these guidelines, and RBFF reserves the right to reject any advertising that we deem contrary to our advertising philosophy or these guidelines. These guidelines are also subject to change at any time.

Advertising Philosophy:

RBFF is committed to protecting our user experience by keeping the Web sites clean, uncluttered, and free from intrusive advertising. We strive to ensure the use of appropriate and tailored messages on our Web sites that are based on specific boating and fishing interests and affiliated with the brands, organizations, and businesses that our users value. These guidelines are not intended as legal advice, but are a general statement of RBFF's advertising standards. RBFF encourages each advertiser and its agency to consult with legal counsel before seeking to place any display advertising on TakeMeFishing.org or VamosAPescar.org. Adherence to these guidelines a) does not guarantee acceptance of display advertising content for insertion on TakeMeFishing.org or VamosAPescar.org, and b) is not necessarily sufficient to meet the standards of local, state or federal laws.

NOTE: In addition to the guidelines below, all advertising on TakeMeFishing.org must comply with TakeMeFishing.org’s Terms of Use and all advertising on VamosAPescar.org must comply with VamosAPescar.org’s Terms of Use.

Advertising Guidelines and Restrictions:

1. Content restrictions

We do not accept advertising from entities debarred or suspended from doing business with the federal government (http://www.epls.gov/). In addition, we do not accept advertising referencing, facilitating or promoting the following:

Liquor, beer, or wine
Tobacco products
Adult or dating sites with a sexual emphasis
Medical or pharmaceutical products and services
Drugs or drug paraphernalia
Adult products, including adult films, magazines, Web sites,toys or physical/sexual enhancement products
Gambling or gambling portals and educational sites, including without limitation any online casino, sports books, bingo, or poker
Lotteries (other than official state lotteries sponsored by a U.S. state, e.g. Illinois State Lottery)
Inflammatory religious content
Politically religious agendas and/or any known associations with hate, criminal and/or terrorist activities
Political content, political agendas or political issues for commercial use
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 or language of such individual or group
Web cams or surveillance equipment
Web-based non-accredited colleges that offer degrees
Ringtones
Software downloads, freeware, or shareware
Scams, illegal activity and/or illegal contests, pyramid schemes, or chain letters
Loan products which require upfront fees

2. Advertising language and image content

Advertisements containing images of fish on any type of hook or lure, or caught in any type of net will not be permitted as RBFF is also responsible for maintaining an image of conservation.
Provocative images will not be accepted.
Advertising images may not contain, facilitate or promote adult content, including nudity, sexual terms or activities that are excessively suggestive or sexual.
Advertisements may not contain, facilitate or promote offensive, profane, vulgar, obscene, or inappropriate language.
Advertisements may not contain, facilitate or promote defamatory, libelous, slanderous and/or unlawful content.

3. Copy representation

Advertising copy must directly relate to the content on the landing page that it links to.
Advertising copy must clearly state and represent the company, product, or brand that is being advertised.

4. Copyrights and trademarks

Advertisements must not include any content that may be deemed as infringing upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary right, or that is deceptive or fraudulent.
Advertiser must have intellectual property rights to the advertising copy and images and be permitted to display such copy and images as advertising on TakeMeFishing.org or VamosAPescar.org.

5. Downloads

No advertisement is permitted to contain a link, whether directly or indirectly, to a site that contains software downloads, freeware, or shareware.
No advertisement is permitted to facilitate or promote (or contain a link to a site that facilitates or promotes):

(1) Collection of demographic and usage information from a user's computer without the user's expressed consent,

(2) Collection or request of usernames or passwords from any user,

(3) 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 RBFF's express prior approval, (v) presents any download dialog boxes without a user's expressed 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

6. Grammar, spelling, and capitalization

Advertising copy must be in logical sentence form and contain grammatically correct spacing.
Advertisements must use correct spelling.
Advertisements may not include unnecessary capitalization (such as 'FREE'). Acronyms may be capitalized.
Advertisements may not include excessive repetition.

7. Incentives

No advertisement may offer incentives to viewers for submitting personal information (cell phone numbers, social security numbers, physical addresses, or email addresses), or for performing any other related tasks.

8. Landing pages / Destination URLs

Advertisements that contain a URL or domain in the copy must link to that same URL or domain.
All users must be sent to the same landing page when an advertisement is clicked.
The advertiser's landing page must match the offer being made in the advertisement and must provide detailed disclosures as appropriate; in particular, full terms and conditions of the offer must be easily accessible.
Landing pages that generate a pop-up (including "pop-overs" and"pop-unders") when a user enters or leaves the page are not allowed.
Advertisements cannot use "fake" close behavior (i.e. when a user clicks the 'close' icon on the page, the page should close down and no other behavior should result).
Advertisements 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 additional/unexpected behavior (for example: another advertisement or page).
No advertisement may require viewers clicking on the advertisement to submit personal information (cell phone numbers,physical addresses, or email addresses) on the landing page in order to obtain the information promoted in the advertisement.)
A secure server connection (https) must be used when collecting personal information from users.

9. Prices, discounts, and free offers

No advertisement may be deceptive or fraudulent about any offer it makes.
If an advertisement includes a price, discount, or 'free'offer, the destination URL that is referenced must link to a page that clearly and accurately offers the exact deal displayed in the advertisement.
If an advertisement includes a price, discount, or 'free'offer, the advertisement must clearly state what action or set of actions is required to qualify for the offer.

10. Punctuation and symbols

The use of all symbols, numbers, or letters must adhere to the true meaning of the symbol.
Repeated and unnecessary punctuation or symbols is not permitted.
Symbols may not be used to substitute for letters (e.g., "$ave"instead of "save").

11. Rich Media advertisements

All rich media advertisements, including third-party advertisements, MUST be operationally tested prior to submission for placement on TakeMeFishing.org.
HTML sniffer code must be implemented in order to detect whether a user's browser is capable of displaying the ShockwaveFlash file. A back-up banner should be displayed if the user cannot accept Shockwave Flash and is required for all rich media advertisements.
A banner may not produce audio without user initiation. Once audio begins, there must be a clear "pause" or "stop" button.
An advertisement may not display false functionality or contain graphics that simulate interactivity where no such interactivity exists.

12. Spam

No advertisement may contain, facilitate or promote 'spam' or other advertising or marketing content that violates applicable laws, regulations or industry standards.

13. Take Me Fishing references

Advertisements are not permitted to mention or refer to TakeMeFishing.org, its site or its brand in any manner, including in the title, body, image, or destination URLs or VamosAPescar.org, its site or its brand in any manner, including in the title, body, image, or destination URLs.
Advertisements must not use Take Me Fishing^TM or Vamos A Pescar^™ logos,trademarks, or site terminology (including other RBFF graphics, logos, designs, or icons), without prior authorization.
TakeMeFishing.org or VamosAPescar.org site features may not be emulated.

Advertiser Responsibilities

It is the advertiser's responsibility to ensure that:

All advertising it seeks to place on TakeMeFishing.org or VamosAPescar.org complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws or regulations;
An advertisement does not violate the intellectual property rights of third parties;
Offers included in any advertising message include all material terms that an ordinary person would require in making an informed decision about whether to purchase the product or service being offered;
All claims made in an advertisement have been substantiated before the advertisement is scheduled to appear on TakeMeFishing.org or VamosAPescar.org.
Advertising that includes warranties, guarantees, or other types of assurances to the user complies with all applicable laws,regulations or guidelines regarding such assurances, including but not limited to those set forth by the Federal Trade Commission("FTC").
Users are not deceived into providing personal information without the user's knowledge, under false pretenses, or to companies who resell, trade, barter or otherwise misuse that personal information.

RBFF Rights

RBFF reserves the right, but is not under any obligation to:

Review or request changes to any advertisement scheduled for insertion on TakeMeFishing.org or VamosAPescar.org;
Accept, retract, or reject, at any time, any advertisementsubmitted for placement on TakeMeFishing.org or VamosAPescar.org, in its sole discretion, whether on the basis of these guidelines, advertising format, targeting criteria, or for any other reason;
Review any advertisement to determine the appropriateness of the advertisement for the TakeMeFishing.org or VamosAPescar.org user audience; or
Modify these guidelines or its standards governing advertising on TakeMeFishing.org and VamosAPescar.org at any time without notice.

Specifically, RBFF reserves the right to reject or retract, at any time, any advertising deemed to, in RBFF's sole opinion:

Be misleading, deceptive, false or untrue;
Use "bait and switch" tactics, i.e. advertising that promotes an unavailable product, service or price as a means of luring the user into purchasing a different product
Promote or glorify violence, crime, obscenity, the illegal use of weapons, or to provide instructions on how to "get away" with crimes or unlawful activity;
Stereotypes, inaccurately portrays or attacks an individual or group on the basis of age, color, national origin, race, religion,sex, sexual orientation or handicap;
Be offensive or disturbing to users of TakeMeFishing.org and VamosAPescar.org, or likely to cause outrage, general disapproval, or negative opinion within the community; or
Portray minors (or persons who, in RBFF's opinion, appear to be underage) in a manner that is sexually suggestive or otherwise age-inappropriate.

Revised on September, 2020.