Advertising policies

Spotlighted.co.uk aims to provide information on goods and services which the customer finds easy to use and which ensures equal treatment of all advertisers.

The following set out the minimum requirements which constitute an acceptable advertisement.

1. Naming Policy

All advertisements must contain a trading name, which must be the normal trading name of the business.

2. Address Policy

All advertisements must include a legible contact address. A P.O. Box Number or valid web address containing contact details is acceptable.

Physical addresses can include a solicitors office provided that the solicitor has given written consent to their address being used.

An electronic mailing address is acceptable.

In the case of a visitable address it:

i) Must include a house name or number or unit number where it exists.

ii) Must be a permanent one, i.e. use of a hotel address or a non-residential caravan on a non-permanent site is not acceptable.

iii) Where branch offices are listed in addition to a full main address an area or town name only is acceptable. If, however, a road name is given, a building number or house name must also be stated. This is to enable advertisers to give a general idea of their service coverage area whilst ensuring specific branch addresses are both genuine and visitable should consumers require.

iv) No contact address is required within “Featured Advertisements”, i.e. advertisements that refer to another advertisement within the same service.

v) E-Mail and Internet addresses are acceptable.NB: Advertisers should be aware that should anyone enquire, the Royal Mail will give destination addresses of P.O. Box holders.

Notwithatsnding any of these guidelines customers should comply with any statutory and regulatory requirements for the inclusion of addresses in their advertisements.

3. Telephone Number Policy

All advertisements must include a telephone number which allows voice to voice communication. This is to ensure users know who they are phoning.

The following rules apply:

i) Advertisements must include sufficient information to enable users to contact the advertiser by telephone, i.e. advertisers must present the number and code/exchange in one of the following ways:

a) Exchange name and number
b) STD code and number
c) Exchange name, STD code and number
d) Number only, where the national exchange name (STD code area) is clearly identified in the address and obviously relates to the telephone number

ii) Telephone numbers may be split, providing the STD code and the telephone number are easily identifiable.

iii) Freefone 0800 / 0700 and Freecall 0500 numbers are acceptable. Freefone names, i.e. “dial the operator and ask for Freefone ABC” are acceptable provided they are accompanied by the prefix Freefone.

iv) Mobile telephone numbers are acceptable provided they are accompanied by either “mobile phone”, “mob”, “car phone” or a brand name such as “O2″ or “Vodafone”.

v) Alpha/lifetime numbers are acceptable. If no other number is present in the advertisement alpha details must be prefixed by the equivalent numeric version. This is so that the number is understood by all users - including those who do not have access to alpha digit phones.

vi) Premium rate prices should be quoted in the form of a numerical price per minute, inclusive of VAT, or as the total maximum cost to the consumer of the call. The warning statement “Rates may be subject to change” should also be included.

For example, “Calls cost Xp per minute at cheap rate, Yp per minute at all other times. (Rates may be subject to change.)”

Customers should, notwithstanding any of the guidelines above, still comply with any statutory and regulatory requirements for the inclusion of a telephone number in their advertisement.

4. Classification of Advertisements

i) All advertisements must only appear under classification headings that describe the actual product or service offered.

ii) Advertisers may promote other areas of business activity within a single advertisement, providing the overall emphasis is on the area specified by the classification heading.

iii) An advertiser can appear in multiple categories on spotlighted.co.uk if each advertising category is relevant to their business. Charges will apply to each category as per the price list.

iv) Banner Advertisements on spotlighted.co.uk are not restricted by category and can appear wherever there is spare inventory that the advertiser has purchased.

v) If the customer has purchased ‘Run of Site’ Banner Advertising, the Banner Advertisement can appear in any category on the Thetopshops.co.uk site that has a spare inventory.

5. Site and Page Positioning Policy

i) “Web adverts” will be published within a previously agreed category relating to the nature of the business. The display of “Web adverts” will be ordered randomly within the categories dependent on the users enquiry/search.

ii) “Featured shops” are not linked with any classification, but are shown throughout the directory in random order. The “Web advert” related to a “Featured shop” will be displayed in a highlighted colour in the category and search listings.

iii) Sponsorship of named section of the service is available and the display of a sponsors details will be prior agreed and subject to an additional charge as per the pricing guide.

iv) Positioning and layout of all advertisements is not guaranteed and the final position is arranged at our sole discretion to optimise directory layout and paper usage.

6. Legal obligations

i)Advertisements should contain nothing that is in breach of the law nor omit anything which the law requires.

ii) Advertisements must not include photos or videos of people without their consent.

7. Decent

i) No paid for advertising for Massage and Escort Agencies is permitted on the spotlighted.co.uk site. We wish the site to be acceptable to persons within a wide range of sensibilities in society. While advertising in these classifications is legal, certain copy has been found to be offensive to a number of people. Accordingly, to avoid causing anyone embarrassment or upset, we choose not to permit advertising in these classifications.

ii) Web advertisements linked to, or appearing on, spotlighted.co.uk must not feature full frontal nudity.

8. Content

Advertisements on spotlighted.co.uk must not:

i) Contain visually disturbing graphics (e.g. graphics that flash too fast or generally make the user experience of viewing the page very unpleasant).

ii) Operate as superstitials (pop-ups) or interstitials (pop unders).

9. Honest and Truthful

i) No advertisement, whether by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or neglect, should mislead users about any matters likely to influence their attitude to the advertised product and services.

10. Special Offers, prices and discounts

Specific prices or price ranges and discount offers or percentages can appear on spotlighted.co.uk but the calender validity of this information should be indicated and spotlighted.co.uk should be advised 7 days in of the termination of an offer so that the site can be updated.

If prices are included in a Web site linked to spotlighted.co.uk the price information must be followed by any applicable conditions, e.g. the length of time that a particular price remains valid.

Free offers and free gifts may be specified. Offers must comply with the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion guidelines i.e. - buyers should pay no more than the normal delivery/postage cost for goods in order to obtain any gift;

- the quality of goods must be fit for the purpose and not inferior in order to cover the cost of the offer;

- it must be made clear if obtaining an item is conditional upon purchasing another; - if the offer has a limited lifetime or is dependent upon stock availability.

Any conditions attached to discount offers and lifetime of the offer must be made clear.

‘Cashback offers’ are not permitted as they are generally complicated, potentially misleading to consumers and may not be possible to fulfill.

11. Foreign language advertisements

Web advertisements appearing in a language other than English are not accepted.