Advertising policy

Hey Cities is a for-profit company. Our primary source of revenue comes from advertising partnerships with local and regional businesses. This commercial model allows us to offer our email newsletters free of charge to readers, ensuring access to high-quality local content that informs and connects communities across the UK.

🔍 Our Approach to Advertising

To maintain the editorial integrity and trust of our readers, we believe in transparency about how advertising appears in our newsletters and on our digital channels.

All paid branded content is managed through a central Client Services and Partnerships team, separate from our editorial contributors. This structure ensures a clear divide between editorial and sponsored material.

We partner with brands that align with our audience’s interests — local businesses, events, venues, and service providers — and embed these partnerships into our content in creative, reader-first ways, rather than traditional display ads.

✅ Editorial Independence

• Our local editorial contributors are not involved in the decision-making process for approving advertisers or campaigns.
• This independence allows us to maintain objectivity, while still offering advertising that is relevant, useful, and engaging to our readers.
• All branded content or sponsorships are clearly marked (e.g., with an asterisk or “Sponsored” label), and will never be passed off as organic editorial content.

❌ What We Don’t Do

To maintain neutrality and community trust:

• We do not accept political advertising, from any party or candidate.
• We refrain from endorsing positions related to controversial or highly politicised issues, including:
  • Politics
  • Religion
  • Sexuality
  • Firearms
  • Human rights or entitlement debates

This policy applies both to editorial tone and the advertisers we choose to work with.

⚖️ Compliance & Standards

All advertisers are responsible for ensuring their content complies with:

• UK laws and advertising regulations, including those set out by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and CAP Code.
• Any sector-specific regulations that apply to their products or services.

Hey Cities reserves the right to decline or remove any advertising that:

• Violates our community standards
• Promotes illegal activity
• Is discriminatory, profane, vulgar, offensive, or threatening
• Includes personal attacks against individuals or organisations

💬 Open Dialogue

We value transparency and continuous improvement, and welcome feedback on our advertising approach.

If you’re a business looking to advertise, or a reader with feedback or concerns, please contact us at:

📧 contact@heycities.co.uk