Hello Readers!
It’s been a minute since I’ve written here so here’s something I think would save everyone a ton of time. I’m going to list out all the decline reasons we give out and list the most common reasons why you would have received this reason. Please bookmark this page for future reference!
Image: excessively large/unnatural breasts, buttocks focused, midrifts showing/bare chest for men:
- Pretty straight forward here! A good rule of thumb to go by is, “would this image get an office worker in trouble if they were caught viewing it?”.
Image: lingerie, bikini or any other inappropriate attire
- Inappropriate attire measn booty shorts/short skirt/short dress (mid knee is an acceptable length), fetish outfits etc.
Image: Banner animation must have a minimum 2 second delay between frames
- No super fast moving ads on POF.
Image: Banners have a 3 pictures maximum, these 3 picture can only take up 50% of the ad
- Can’t have a banner that’s all picture, tends to blend in with the site.
Image: Banners must have a border
- We are looking for separation between site and ad here. There must be a clear indication of where the website stops and the ad starts.
Image: Banners must not be all text
- I’m debating removing this one but it’s all written banners with no graphics.
Image: Celebrity, member of POF or using POF Colors
- We use Google Image to reverse search images to see if it’s a celebrity. Here is a TUTORIAL on how to do it
Image: Contains a trademark or copyright
- Can’t use other websites to falsely endorse your product
Image: Incorrect size (text illegible or image skewed in appearance)
- When you upload an image that’s far too big into a space that’s far too small (ex. 300×250 into a 110×80 space).
Image: Misleading content or ad contains an element that could be confused with a POF feature
- Elements that do not perform the function they advertise. Ex. Youtube play button on an ad, the ad doesn’t actually play, hence it’s misleading.
Image: Person in the creative appears to be below the legal age
- This one is subjective but we don’t allow this for obvious reasons. This gets tricky with Asian female creatives because you don’t know if they’re 15 or 30 (I’m Asian, I can say this haha)
Image: Soldier images must be verified royalty-free images before being approved. Please email ben@pof.com and cyndi@pof.com for verification and approval
- HUGE one. An affiliate had legal action taken against them for using a soldier they were not allowed to use so we came up with this rule to help protect all parties.
Image: Too sexual in nature/carries a sexual connotation
- Suggestive poses, genitalia shaped fruits/veggies,
Incomplete: The ad is missing information required to go live (incorrect image size, missing URL, incorrect ad text)
- Self-explanatory, your ad isn’t ready.
Landing Page: Cannot contain inappropriate images or Celebrities
- Similar to the image one but this specifies the infraction is on your landing page
Landing Page: Cannot contain Inappropriate language
- Including profanity, words that mean sex (hookup, intimate encounter, love butter..)
Landing Page: If targeting Brazil/Mexico/Spain/France, ad must be translated to the appropriate language.
- This applies to the ad as well. Note that you can target non-English ads in English speaking countries as long as you select the correct ethnicity.
Landing Page: Must specify the charge for rebill (often found in the offer’s terms and conditions page).
- LP must say the PRICE of the rebill.
Landing Page: Offensive or misleading content
- Examples include stuff like, “HEY FATTY, you looking to lose weight?” or “Hey ugly, can’t get a date?”
Landing page: Redirects to an incorrect offer OR doesn’t load properly.
- When the redirect goes to a shopping offer and your ad is dating or when the page just 404′s
Landing Page: References POF (the POF trademark may not be used without permission)
- Can’t use our name!
Offer: Adult related sites/product
- Includes adult dating, porn, adult products (including toys, clothing, pills).
Offer: 100% Free Dating Site
- We don’t advertise our competition
Offer: No gambling offers in the USA
- Self-explanatory.
Offer: Offer charges for receiving text messages
- Super scammy offers charging people for receiving texts… you can’t control how many you receive right?
Ad Text: Cannot call out the user’s ethnicity or “widowed” status
- Response to user complaints, they didn’t like it when these 2 things were called out so they’re not allowed anymore.
Ad Text: Cannot mention “100% free”, “plenty of” or reference POF.
- Basically can’t use stuff that we use for our branding.
Ad Text: Cannot suggest a certain demographic can join for free
- We got accused of being discriminatory because we allowed ads in the past to say stuff like “white men join for free” so to the user it suggested that all other ethnicities could not join for free, which is understandable, hence this rule. There are 3 exceptions to this rule: age, geography and gender (these are allowed to say they can join for free)
Ad Text: Contains Sexual Content (including extra-marital dating) or overly aggressive text (including insulting our users)
- No words that mean sex or that certain demos are DESPERATELY CRAVING _________.
Ad Text: DATING ADS cannot use first person POV (I, me), third person POV (he, she, him, her) or names as this references the person in the creative
- This rule came up as a result of user complaints. Basically the user was upset that the person in the graphic wasn’t actually on the site they signed up for after clicking the ad. You may be face palming right now and I don’t blame you.
Ad Text: DATING ADS must have an action (sign up, register). Website name will also suffice.
- Your ad text requires a call to action that suggests to our users they are leaving our site (sign up, register). Please note “click here” does not suffice because it does not carry the same indication.
Ad Text: Inappropriate grammar, capitalization, symbols or spelling does not adhere to our guidelines
- We are pretty lenient on this one since we recognize not all advertisers are native English speakers. We use this rule when the grammar/spelling is REALLY bad or when people spam symbols like this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ because it’s annoying to look at.
I’ll update this with examples as they come about but this is a pretty good list to start you off!
Cheers,
Ben
It’s been a minute since I’ve written here so here’s something I think would save everyone a ton of time. I’m going to list out all the decline reasons we give out and list the most common reasons why you would have received this reason. Please bookmark this page for future reference!
Image: excessively large/unnatural breasts, buttocks focused, midrifts showing/bare chest for men:
- Pretty straight forward here! A good rule of thumb to go by is, “would this image get an office worker in trouble if they were caught viewing it?”.
Image: lingerie, bikini or any other inappropriate attire
- Inappropriate attire measn booty shorts/short skirt/short dress (mid knee is an acceptable length), fetish outfits etc.
Image: Banner animation must have a minimum 2 second delay between frames
- No super fast moving ads on POF.
Image: Banners have a 3 pictures maximum, these 3 picture can only take up 50% of the ad
- Can’t have a banner that’s all picture, tends to blend in with the site.
Image: Banners must have a border
- We are looking for separation between site and ad here. There must be a clear indication of where the website stops and the ad starts.
Image: Banners must not be all text
- I’m debating removing this one but it’s all written banners with no graphics.
Image: Celebrity, member of POF or using POF Colors
- We use Google Image to reverse search images to see if it’s a celebrity. Here is a TUTORIAL on how to do it
Image: Contains a trademark or copyright
- Can’t use other websites to falsely endorse your product
Image: Incorrect size (text illegible or image skewed in appearance)
- When you upload an image that’s far too big into a space that’s far too small (ex. 300×250 into a 110×80 space).
Image: Misleading content or ad contains an element that could be confused with a POF feature
- Elements that do not perform the function they advertise. Ex. Youtube play button on an ad, the ad doesn’t actually play, hence it’s misleading.
Image: Person in the creative appears to be below the legal age
- This one is subjective but we don’t allow this for obvious reasons. This gets tricky with Asian female creatives because you don’t know if they’re 15 or 30 (I’m Asian, I can say this haha)
Image: Soldier images must be verified royalty-free images before being approved. Please email ben@pof.com and cyndi@pof.com for verification and approval
- HUGE one. An affiliate had legal action taken against them for using a soldier they were not allowed to use so we came up with this rule to help protect all parties.
Image: Too sexual in nature/carries a sexual connotation
- Suggestive poses, genitalia shaped fruits/veggies,
Incomplete: The ad is missing information required to go live (incorrect image size, missing URL, incorrect ad text)
- Self-explanatory, your ad isn’t ready.
Landing Page: Cannot contain inappropriate images or Celebrities
- Similar to the image one but this specifies the infraction is on your landing page
Landing Page: Cannot contain Inappropriate language
- Including profanity, words that mean sex (hookup, intimate encounter, love butter..)
Landing Page: If targeting Brazil/Mexico/Spain/France, ad must be translated to the appropriate language.
- This applies to the ad as well. Note that you can target non-English ads in English speaking countries as long as you select the correct ethnicity.
Landing Page: Must specify the charge for rebill (often found in the offer’s terms and conditions page).
- LP must say the PRICE of the rebill.
Landing Page: Offensive or misleading content
- Examples include stuff like, “HEY FATTY, you looking to lose weight?” or “Hey ugly, can’t get a date?”
Landing page: Redirects to an incorrect offer OR doesn’t load properly.
- When the redirect goes to a shopping offer and your ad is dating or when the page just 404′s
Landing Page: References POF (the POF trademark may not be used without permission)
- Can’t use our name!
Offer: Adult related sites/product
- Includes adult dating, porn, adult products (including toys, clothing, pills).
Offer: 100% Free Dating Site
- We don’t advertise our competition
Offer: No gambling offers in the USA
- Self-explanatory.
Offer: Offer charges for receiving text messages
- Super scammy offers charging people for receiving texts… you can’t control how many you receive right?
Ad Text: Cannot call out the user’s ethnicity or “widowed” status
- Response to user complaints, they didn’t like it when these 2 things were called out so they’re not allowed anymore.
Ad Text: Cannot mention “100% free”, “plenty of” or reference POF.
- Basically can’t use stuff that we use for our branding.
Ad Text: Cannot suggest a certain demographic can join for free
- We got accused of being discriminatory because we allowed ads in the past to say stuff like “white men join for free” so to the user it suggested that all other ethnicities could not join for free, which is understandable, hence this rule. There are 3 exceptions to this rule: age, geography and gender (these are allowed to say they can join for free)
Ad Text: Contains Sexual Content (including extra-marital dating) or overly aggressive text (including insulting our users)
- No words that mean sex or that certain demos are DESPERATELY CRAVING _________.
Ad Text: DATING ADS cannot use first person POV (I, me), third person POV (he, she, him, her) or names as this references the person in the creative
- This rule came up as a result of user complaints. Basically the user was upset that the person in the graphic wasn’t actually on the site they signed up for after clicking the ad. You may be face palming right now and I don’t blame you.
Ad Text: DATING ADS must have an action (sign up, register). Website name will also suffice.
- Your ad text requires a call to action that suggests to our users they are leaving our site (sign up, register). Please note “click here” does not suffice because it does not carry the same indication.
Ad Text: Inappropriate grammar, capitalization, symbols or spelling does not adhere to our guidelines
- We are pretty lenient on this one since we recognize not all advertisers are native English speakers. We use this rule when the grammar/spelling is REALLY bad or when people spam symbols like this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ because it’s annoying to look at.
I’ll update this with examples as they come about but this is a pretty good list to start you off!
Cheers,
Ben