Ethics Code

 

As a member of the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association, Unruly Media adheres to a strict code of conduct that is designed to protect consumers and to protect the reputation of our clients, our publishers and ourselves.

We understand that the consumer – not the marketer – is fundamentally in control of and should dictate the terms of the relationship between consumer and marketer, and we adhere to the following principles in order to ensure that our seeding activity is respectful, ethical and legal in each of the countries in which we operate.

1. We require all parties to be honest about the nature of their relationships

• We are completely open about the relationship between marketers, publishers, and consumers and we require that publishers disclose their relationship with marketers in their communications with consumers and that they are open and honest about any about any payments or incentives that they may have received.
• Where we provide videos or other assets to publishers that are commercially sponsored, we always clearly mark those assets as being commercially sponsored, for instance by incorporating a statement of disclosure underneath the video player.
• We are opposed to shill and undercover marketing, including pratices known as web-raiding, blog-raiding, and forum-infiltration, whereby people are paid to make recommendations or post promotional links or assets without disclosing their relationship with the marketer.
• We comply with the UK Consumer Protection Against Unfair Trading Regulations that forbid "falsely claiming or creating the impression that the trader is not acting for the purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession, or falsely representing oneself as a consumer."
• We comply with FTC regulations that state: "When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product which might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e. the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience) such connection must be fully disclosed."

2. We require opinions to be honest

• We never tell publishers or media owners what to say about a video, product or brand. People form their own opinions, and they decide what to tell others. We provide information, we empower them to share, and we facilitate the process - but the fundamental communication must be authentic and based upon people's own beliefs..
• We comply with FTC regulations regarding testimonials and endorsements, specifically: "Endorsements must always reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the endorser. Furthermore, they may not contain any representations which would be deceptive, or could not be substantiated if made directly by the advertiser."

3. We are honest about our own identity and that of our clients

• We always tell publishers and consumers who we are and who we are working for.
• We are sensitive to the needs of client confidentiality, especially during the planning phase of a campaign, and we are sensitive to the requirements of campaigns within which the brand's identity may be revealed relatively late in the communications process, but we will never do anything that might confuse or mislead publishers or consumers as to the commercial nature of a campaign.
• We do not blur identification in a manner that might confuse or mislead consumers as to the true identity of the individual with whom they are communicating, or instruct or imply that others should do so.
• We will disclose our involvement in a campaign if asked by consumers or the media.

4. We respect the rules of the community

We respect the rights of any web site, blog, discussion forum or online community to create and enforce its own rules as it sees fit. We never knowingly create campaigns or encourage behavior that would violate or disrespect such rules and do our utmost to understand the particular etiquette of any community in which we participate.

5. We promote honest downstream communications

Although we recognize that we cannot control what real people say or how a message will be presented after multiple chains of conversation, we do promote our ethics code in downstream communications. In the context of each campaign, we instruct publishers about ethical communications and we never instruct or imply that they should engage in any behavior that violates the terms of this code.

6. We protect privacy and permission

We respect the privacy of consumers at all times. All marketing programs should be structured using the highest privacy, opt-in, and permission standards, and we comply with all relevant regulations. We do not disclose any personally identifiable information gathered from consumers during the conduct of a campaign to third parties and do not retain any personally identifiable information once the campaign has finished.