Advertising and sponsorship policy

The Femedic’s mission is to create a new standard for digital health content: accurate, supportive, and trustworthy content that is genuinely useful. Through the knowledge we create and share, we hope to reduce health inequalities that women and people with vaginas experience.

Advertising

The Femedic receives funding from advertising in the form of sponsored content, both as articles on our website and content for our social media channels, and through the use of native advertising.

We use funding from advertising to increase the scope of topics we’re able to cover and improve the quality of your experience on our site and other channels.

We only accept sponsored content from brands that share our ethos in helping women and people with vaginas, and reserve the right to final editorial control over any articles or assets supplied by advertisers. We require all of our advertisers to give us an overview of what their content will cover before we agree to publish it. We reserve the right to reject or remove sponsored content at any point in this process if the content does not comply with our guidelines.

We only accept original content that has been, and will be, unpublished elsewhere. We reserve the right to remove content from our site, without reimbursement, if we learn that the content submitted and approved by us has been published elsewhere.

The types of content we accept include:

• A written article
• Copy that appears on social media, including hashtags
• Images we have accepted from the advertiser or created ourselves
• Videos that we have accepted from the advertiser or created ourselves
• Reviews written by us about products we believe are genuinely helpful

We will never allow advertising on our site that we believe to be harmful to our readers in any way. Here are specific guidelines we follow about the types of sponsored content that we accept:

 

Factually and scientifically accurate

All content on our website and channels must be factually and scientifically accurate, with references to scientific research listed within a bibliography at the bottom of the piece. No claim may be made unless it is supported by scientific research.

 
Not deceptive, hateful, or discriminatory

We do not accept any content that misrepresents, attacks, or ridicules an individual or group based on their race, body size, gender, nationality, disability, sexuality or religion. We will also not accept content that promotes individuals, companies, or organisations who hold and promote these views.

 

We don’t endorse products

Information about products appear on our site but this should under no circumstances be considered an endorsement of the product(s) or service(s) mentioned, or for the company that manufactures, distributes, or promotes these product(s) or service(s).

Many health products and services are genuinely relevant to discussions about particular topics, particularly in terms of treatment and prevention. Where this is the case, factually and scientifically accurate information will be provided about the product or service, in a way that adds value to the discussion. All information communicating benefits, claims, risks, and general information about any products or services will be clearly referenced to scientific research results in a bibliography at the bottom of the piece.

 

Clearly distinguished from non-sponsored content

All of our sponsored content, including articles and review content, on our website will be clearly marked with the following line at the top of the piece: This piece is Sponsored. Each piece of content will clearly identify the name of the advertiser as the author or the piece, along with a short blurb of information about them within their author bio.

Sponsored content on our social channels will be marked with the hashtag #ad. We will tag the advertiser’s relevant social profile within the post or link through to a piece of sponsored content on our site that will clearly identify the advertiser’s name.

 
Genuinely relevant to our readers

We are a health platform for women and people with vaginas and will only accept sponsored content that is genuinely relevant to topics that we cover. Sponsored content must add genuine value to the discussion around the topic it covers.

Reviews

The Femedic accepts products for review beneath the umbrella of sponsored content. Reviews are priced according to the resource required from The Femedic to produce them: they are written by us and are likely to include images or other rich media (i.e. video, audio). We will always provide fair and honest reviews.

We will accept your product for a review if we believe that it will be of genuine interest and use to our readers.

We do not accept reviews for products that:

• Promote unrealistic and unhealthy body image
• Promote unhealthy behaviour
• Wrongly pathologise aspects of people's experiences

All our reviews are original content and written truthfully by a member of our team.

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Research and consultancy

We also work with brands in a research and consultative capacity, and receive funding in exchange for guidance as to how they can improve their communications and content to better serve their audience’s health needs. We do this through Femedic Labs, our in-house agency that works directly with brands.

We use this funding for the same purposes as above: to increase the quality and output of services we are able to offer to our readers and community.

We believe that brands play an important role in raising the standard of digital health content, and our work through Femedic Labs seeks to help brands achieve this. We only work with brands who share our ethos and reserve the right to reject and cancel projects that do not comply with our guidelines and values.

We work with brands like this in the following ways:

• Produce digital insights reports relating to the content space around a certain topic, product, or service
• Provide guidance and consultancy on the current language, content, and imagery brands are using to target women and people with vaginas
• Provide content strategy, guidance, and consultancy on  communications, content, and messaging brands are using
• Creating content for their website and digital channels
• Provide guidance and consultancy on inclusion, diversity, and use of language within brands' content

Here are some guidelines for the types of brands we choose to work with:
 
Brand’s products, services, and mission align with our ethos

Our mission is to create a new standard for digital health content. That means creating content, information, and messaging that considers a reader's health needs holistically. We will not work with brands who take a reductive view of an audience's health needs, especially if their proposition relies on damaging stereotypes.

We will work with brands who demonstrate a genuine commitment to helping people and improving their health outcomes, whether through specific conditions, wellness, or happiness.

 
The brand’s products and services are of genuine use and value

We will not work with brands whose products and services promote unrealistic and unhealthy body image, unhealthy behaviour, or who rely on damaging stereotypes in their messaging. Brands must provide genuine value, with the intention of improving their audience's health, happiness, or wellbeing.