Yahoo! Display Advertising Guidelines

These guidelines apply to display advertising content appearing on www.yahoo.com, chinese.yahoo.com, espanol.yahoo.com, and any co-branded US based Yahoo! site (collectively, the "U.S. Properties").

This document is not intended as legal advice. These guidelines are a general statement of Yahoo!'s advertising standards and are not intended to be comprehensive. Third party advertising is subject to internal review by Yahoo!. Adherence to the guidelines outlined in this document a) does not guarantee acceptance of display advertising content for insertion on the U.S. Properties, and b) is not necessarily sufficient to meet the standards of local, state or federal laws. Yahoo! encourages each advertiser and its agency to consult with legal counsel before seeking to place any display advertising on the U.S. Properties.
  • Advertiser Responsibilities
    • It is the advertiser's responsibility to ensure that:
      • All advertising it seeks to place on the U.S. Properties 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 (for example, Yahoo! does not accept travel and vacation advertising that offers "free" or bargain-priced trip packages, but fails to disclose hidden costs or other restrictions that materially affect the net value of the "bargain price");
      • All claims made in an advertisement have been substantiated before the advertisement is scheduled to appear on the U.S. Properties;
      • Users are not being misled or deceived into downloading software;
      • 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"); and
      • 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.
  • Yahoo! Rights
    • Yahoo! reserves the right, but is not under any obligation to:
      • Review or request changes to any advertisement scheduled for insertion on the U.S. Properties;
      • Accept, retract, or reject, at any time, any advertisement submitted for placement on the U.S. Properties 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 Yahoo! audience; or
      • Modify these guidelines or its standards governing advertising on the U.S. Properties at any time without notice.
    • Specifically, Yahoo! reserves the right to reject or retract, at any time, any advertising deemed to, in Yahoo!'s sole opinion:
      • Be misleading, deceptive, false or untrue;
      • Promote or glorify violence, crime, obscenity, the 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 Yahoo!'s users, or likely to cause outrage, general disapproval, or negative opinion within the community; or
      • Portray minors (or persons who, in Yahoo!'s opinion, appear to be underage) in a manner that is sexually suggestive or otherwise age-inappropriate.
General Content Standards
  • Ads must have a distinct border to clearly identify where the page ends, and advertisement begins.
  • Animation cannot exceed 15 seconds. Animation can begin again on mouse over, but must stop immediately on mouse off.
  • The sponsor of the advertising message must be clearly identified in the ad unit.
  • The advertiser's landing page must match the offer being made in the advertisement.
  • An ordinary person must be able to make an informed decision about an offer from the information provided in the ad unit.
  • It is the advertiser's responsibility to ensure that all product claims, warranties, guarantees or other assurances comply with applicable laws & regulations.
  • The ad unit and landing page must have detailed disclosures as appropriate; in particular, full terms and conditions of the offer must be easily accessible on landing page.
  • Yahoo! reserves the right to reject any ad on behalf of, or which promotes Yahoo! competitors or products, services or activities contrary to Yahoo!'s competitive position or interests (e.g. ads which disparage the Internet as a medium).
  • Yahoo! reserves the right to request additional changes to submitted ads, or to reject any ad unit in its sole discretion.
Creative CANNOT:
  • Mislead the user. For example, they may not mimic or resemble Windows/Mac/Unix dialogue boxes, error messages, or the like
  • Use “bait and switch” tactics, i.e. advertising that promotes an unavailable product or price as a means of luring the user into purchasing a different product.
  • Display false functionality, i.e. contain graphics that simulate interactivity where no such interactivity exists.
  • Resemble Yahoo! content, or use the Yahoo! name or logo without prior approval.
  • Mimic news headlines in design, tone, third person sentence structure, or topic.
SUBJECTIVE CONTENT
  • Astrology, horoscopes, psychic services or other related services
    • Creative MUST state that the service is for entertainment purposes only
    • Creative CANNOT imply that there are scientific groundings to such services and/or promises of wealth or good fortune
  • All ringtone/cell phone offers must disclose the details of the service, particularly when the offer requires a subscription.
  • Promotions (contests, sweepstakes, special offers)
    • Ad creative CANNOT imply that the promotion is approved or endorsed by any government or quasi-government entity
    • All promotions MUST offer a fair opportunity for all entrants to win
    • Chance-based promotions CANNOT require a purchase to participate and MUST clearly disclose that no purchase is necessary.
    • Promotions CANNOT claim “everyone wins”, or suggest that the reader was specially selected to receive a prize
    • Promotions CANNOT suggest that a payment by the winner is necessary to claim a prize (except for applicable taxes)
    • Ad creative MAY NOT falsely imply that the mere act of clicking a button is sufficient to win (e.g. "Win a car! Click here!")
  • Ads for food products must comply with applicable laws & regulations regarding definitions/restrictions on food-related descriptive words
  • The use of the word “Free” in any ad MUST fully comply with all state and federal guidelines, and disclose all material terms and conditions to obtain the free item; in particular, ad units which claim to offer "free gifts" which in fact require the user to sign up for one or more offers, trial subscriptions, etc., must disclose how many offers the user must complete before receiving the gift.
  • Over The Counter ("OTC") Medications
    • Ads MUST be for products approved by the Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”), and only for FDA-approved purposes (i.e. no advertising for "off-label" uses of an OTC product)
    • It is the advertiser's responsibility to ensure that all health-related claims for OTC medications, including any claims with respect to the efficacy of the product, are properly substantiated with reliable scientific and/or clinical evidence
  • Weight loss ads:
    • CANNOT depict or be targeted at children or teens
    • CANNOT suggest that the product alone is effective for weight loss or make any unrealistic claims about the amount of weight loss that can be expected from the product
    • MUST, where weight loss claims are made or implied, contain a disclaimer such as "results not typical; individual results may vary".
The following categories of ads require additional policy review and approval:
Alcohol, promotions/sweepstakes, political, religious, tobacco products, ads which collect data, pharmaceuticals; other categories as may be designated by Yahoo!.
Yahoo! does not accept display ads for the following products:
Adult products (films, magazines, websites, toys, etc.), drugs/drug paraphernalia, lotteries (other than official state lotteries sponsored by a U.S. state, e.g. Illinois State Lottery), online casinos, gambling portals, gambling educational sites, degrees for sale or offered by non accredited universities or programs, firearms, ammunition, fireworks, loan products which require upfront fees, products/services that claim to repair bad credit, securities (stocks, bonds, notes, warrants, options, etc), insider tips on a particular stock or commodity products containing ephedra, ma huang, chitosan or human growth hormones, comfrey, or pyruvate; or other products/elements/ingredients as may be designated b y Yahoo! at any time in its sole discretion.