Breaking the rules 2

**hpops** · 27-05-11

Yeah, but Kims actually really really good at her job and always makes extremely cohesive arguments. (Hi Kim) If she's not happy with a promotional method and feels that its not adding value to the company - she should stop it? (Not having a pop at you mate - just the general principle).

**Hero** · 27-05-11

Originally Posted by hpops

If she's not happy with a promotional method and feels that its not adding value to the company - she should stop it

Totally agree with this - and I believe this is frequently overlooked, the fact that you don't feel comfortable with a certain partnership is all you need to make a decision. You don't need the IAB to tell you if it's allowed or not.

**KimCullum** · 27-05-11

Thanks all.

I have set some pretty clear terms for our program but I am sometimes challeneged by affiliates when I go over and beyond the IAB / best practice / CAP / ASA terms so I tried to consult with the IAB team in case a verdict had been passed on this already so that I could consider this before I made a decision one way or the other - ie if it was definately frowned upon then I would want to comply with this train of thought, but if it was permitted, I would have to justify why we were going against the grain.

The feedback I got was that the guidelines were guidelines and open to interpretation. The group fedback to say they thought it was allowed. So I decided not to challenge the affiliate in question on this occassion as they were not using click to reveal and the codes were faded out and the expirey date was shown. I thought it was cheeky that they were encouraging people to try the codes on the off chance but as the group fed back to me that they thought it was allowed, i thought it might be fine to let it happen. However if it is concerning other affiliates, then I am always open to reconsidering and taking these views on board too, which is why when I spotted people raising concerns about this practice I chipped in as I wanted to make sure that if the consensous is now moving in the other direction I respond accordingly.

I was only mildly concerned that I was fed one lot of information, and now the IAB seem to be rethinking it. That is why I was asking for whatever is decided to be added to the guidelines just so that everyone knowns what their verdict is on the matter. People are still free to make their own decisions either way but i think the IAB should be consistent with the feedback they give people otherwise it will just cause confusion.

Helen did say I could not pay out to the affiliate if I didn't want to, but I would not have been able to cite it as a breach of the guidelines as my reason.

On a more positive note though, although I was recently becoming a bit sceptical about the voucher code reporting & investigations business after several of my reports kind of got dismissed, this week i witnessed some success as something I reported got formerly addressed! So, it is worth reporting these things guys as there are ears listening!

Hope this clears it up a bit.

**KimCullum** · 27-06-11

Originally Posted by HelenMarie

I've raised this with the Voucher Group, I have my own opinion but want to see what the consensus is. Will come back shortly.

Helen

Hello, Just wondered ... Did I miss what the outcome on this was? If so could someone fill me in?

Many thanks,

Kim

**benfriedman** · 11-07-11

Still no outcome? What ever happened with this?

**KimCullum** · 22-07-11

Originally Posted by benfriedman

Still no outcome? What ever happened with this?

I have emailed Helen, so hopefully we will get the promised update soonish...

**jamesdeser** · 09-04-12

I'm seriously considering creating a site with 90% off codes for all merchants, loads of text and big coloured boxes, with a little grey bit of writing that says they don't really exist, of course, I'll make the positive bits much more 'Clickable'. I've asked about this before and not got a straight answer. It looks to me that there should be a clear cut yes or no, there can't really be any middle ground. Either its not allowed and the people doing it should be stopped.

**jamesdeser** · 09-04-12

I've asked about this before and not got a straight answer. It looks to me that there should be a clear cut yes or no, there can't really be any middle ground. Either its not allowed and the people doing it should be stopped, or it is allowed and I'm going to copy it.