Hampshire County Council Advertising Policy

1. General approach

a. Hampshire County Council (“the Council”) is looking to maximise revenue from advertising and, wherever possible, will therefore permit advertising in its publications such as Hampshire Now, Weddings in Hampshire, Guide to Residential Care, Guide to Better Care and Support, and on its website, Hantsweb.

b. Acceptance of any advertisement does not imply endorsement of any particular products or offers or that the Council are responsible for their quality and reliability, and the Council accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection to any advertisement appearing in its publications or on Hantsweb.

c. However, the Council reserves the right to refuse any individual advertisement not deemed appropriate without explanation and can remove any advertisement immediately, if necessary.

d. The Council does not therefore take a ‘white listing’ approach (which is when specific permitted advertising is defined) but rather follows a ‘black listing’ approach (which is when the basic assumption is that advertising is permitted unless it falls into a number of prohibited categories, as defined in point 2).

2. Prohibited products, services and advertisers

a. The basic approach taken by the Council is to maximise the number of advertisements and advertisers which are permitted and encouraged to advertise and minimise the number that are prevented from doing so by any policy controls or restrictions.

b. Although there are some specific categories of products and services which may not be promoted, as defined below, most products and services may be promoted.

c. Private sector organisations deemed to be in ‘competition’ or have a conflict of interest with services provided by Hampshire County Council or other public sector organisations will be reviewed by the appropriate Council department. Decisions on this will be at the Council’s sole discretion.

d. Where the Council has procurement frameworks in place for specific services, only private sector organisations on those frameworks will be permitted to advertise.

e. Political organisations may not advertise.

f. Gambling organisations are not considered appropriate. Advertising from those organisations which could be considered as local tourism attractions may be permitted.

g. Organisations simply offering entry into a competition following completion of a form containing any personal information or similar are not considered appropriate.

h. Advertisements where benefit is precluded from UK citizens are not permitted.

i. The Council will not run advertising that could be considered socially or politically contentious or which conflicts with the policies, values or statutory obligations (eg equalities legislation) of the Council. Decisions on this will be at the Council’s sole discretion.

3. The specific categories of organisations, products or services which may not advertise or be advertised are as follows:

a. Types of organisations:

i. Political organisations or those that appear to be designed to affect public support for any political party
ii. Manufacturers of tobacco products
iii. Manufacturers of alcohol products
iv. Advertising from any organisation associated with ‘adult industries’
v. Organisations in a financial or legal conflict with the Council will not be permitted.

b. Types or products and services:

i. Tobacco
ii. Alcohol
iii. Gambling
iv. Weaponry
v. Illegal
vi. Pornography
vii. Adult content
viii. Advertising which has an overtly sexual ‘tone’
ix. Advertising which relates to any political or lobbying campaign, petition or similar will not be permitted.

4. Style and content of advertising

a. The Council wishes to take an equally open approach to styles of advertising.

b. Advertisers must however recognise that public sector organisations cannot permit advertising which is sexual in nature, which features partial or complete nudity or which appears to promote or give undue publicity to illegal or even just inappropriate behaviour or lifestyles.

c. Humour in advertising is also to be approached with caution since much humour can often mock specific groups of citizens or poke fun at particular types of behaviour or situations.

d. The Council does not wish to take an unnecessarily strict approach and will allow ‘innocent humour’, providing there is no innuendo or subtext which might cause offence.

e. Advertising which is critical of Hampshire County Council, its services/policies, its Members/officers or its partners will not be permitted.

f. The Council’s logo shall not be incorporated into any advertisement without consent in writing from the Council.

g. It is the responsibility of the advertiser to check the correctness of their advertisement (and of each insertion of the advert if more than one).

h. The Council will endeavour to meet the advertiser’s requirement for preferred positioning but retains the final decision on such positioning.

i. The Council may give advertorial or adverts deemed to look like advertorial, a border or an ‘advertorial’ header to make readers aware that the text is not part of the Council’s editorial.

j. Each edition of Hampshire Now will carry 10 pages of advertising. Hampshire Now will reserve the option to carry ‘Premium Advertising’. This may include placing the advertiser’s logo on the front page and on inside pages, display advertising, advertorial and reader offers where appropriate.

k. Web advertising will feature on the right hand side in either a ‘rectangle’ 180x150 pixels or a ‘wide skyscraper’ 160x600 pixels. With the exception of the Hantsweb homepage which will appear on the left hand side in a ‘rectangle’ 180x150 pixels and the OWA page which will appear as a ‘leaderboard’ 728x90 pixels at the bottom of the page.

5. Approval and booking process

a. All advertisers will be suitably vetted by Trading Standards prior to a decision being made in relation to the placement of an advert. Such vetting can be evidenced by membership of the Council’s approved contractor regime, the Buy with Confidence scheme, a similar accredited scheme run by another authority, an approved venue licence holder, or membership of a relevant trade association which applies similar vetting procedures to its members.

b. Following approval, the Council will issue a Booking Agreement. An invoice for the price of the booking will be issued on publication of the advertisement and the advertiser shall pay the price for the booking within 28 days of receipt of the Council’s invoice. Once the advertiser has returned this agreement it will not be able to cancel the booking and will remain liable for payment of the price for the period of the booking.

c. If the Council has incurred any design costs on the advertiser’s behalf it shall invoice the advertiser for that amount.