Readers must always be able to tell our journalism from paid content at a glance. These rules follow clause 12 of the Advertising Regulatory Board’s Code of Advertising Practice and clause 2 of the Press Code.
Labels
- “Advertisement” or “Sponsor” appears above every ad unit and sponsor slot.
- “Paid partner content” appears above the headline of every partner article, with “Produced for” and the partner’s name. Partner articles are supplied by the partner and never carry a newsroom byline.
Separation
- Partner articles live on their own pages, are never placed among our news stories, and are left out of the news sitemap.
- Links in partner content and ads are marked
rel="sponsored"for search engines. - Advertisers and sponsors have no influence over what we cover or how. We do not write about a company because it advertises, or avoid one because it does.
- The editor may refuse any advertisement or partner article.
What we do not accept
Gambling, cryptocurrency, unlicensed financial services, political party advertising during election periods, and anything that breaks the Code of Advertising Practice. Financial services partners must show their FSP number, and their compliance officer must approve the partner article before it runs.
The owner’s businesses
If a company owned by the publisher advertises, the advertisement says so. See Conflicts of interest.
Questions: advertise@randdesk.co.za.