ECOMENField manual for men who read labelsPublished by Northbank MediaREV 2026.08
Ecomen SkinFormulation transparency for men
DocumentSPONSORSHIP AND COMMERCIAL TERMS
TypeCOMMERCIAL
Words757
Commercial links00
Reviewed2026-08-01
Commercial

Sponsorship and commercial terms

Exactly what this publication sells, what it refuses, and the rules that separate commercial arrangements from assessments.

The short answer

This publication sells three things: one category sponsor slot at a time, one labelled placement per newsletter issue, and an affiliate layer that may apply only to categories assessed against the published criteria. Sponsors never see an assessment before publication, never appear inside an article, and cannot sponsor while their own category is being assessed. Rates are quoted on enquiry and no rate buys editorial input.

01Why this page is public

Most publications keep their commercial terms in a media pack sent only to advertisers. We publish ours, because a reader assessing whether to trust an index should be able to read exactly what we have agreed to without asking.

If you are a reader rather than a prospective sponsor, this page is for you as much as for them. If anything here appears inconsistent with what you see on the site, that is a correction we want to hear about.

One sponsor at a time. The slot appears on the transparency index and in the newsletter, labelled as a sponsor, in a defined position separated from editorial content by a rule and a label.

  • A sponsor buys visibility. It does not buy coverage, assessment, mention inside an article or a link from editorial text.
  • A sponsor does not see any assessment before publication and cannot request a change to one.
  • An organisation whose own category is under assessment is declined for the duration.
  • We decline sponsors whose marketing rests on claims this publication describes as unsubstantiated, because carrying them would make the site incoherent.
  • Either side can end the arrangement at any time, and we will, if a sponsor attempts to influence editorial.

03The newsletter placement

One placement per issue. It is marked as a placement, it sits below the editorial content rather than inside it, and it is written by the advertiser rather than by us. We do not write advertising copy, because a publication writing the advertising it also labels as advertising is drawing a line it has already crossed.

Subscriber numbers, open rates and any other figure we quote to a prospective advertiser will be actual figures. We do not publish audience figures on this page because we would rather state a number to a specific enquirer than round one for a marketing page.

04The affiliate layer

Where a category has been assessed against the published criteria, a link out to a stockist may carry an affiliate tag. Four rules govern it.

  1. Disclosure at the top. Any page carrying an affiliate link says so above the content, not in a footer.
  2. Assessment first. The assessment is written and published before any commercial arrangement is considered for that category.
  3. No influence. An affiliate relationship never creates, changes or removes an assessment, and it never determines which categories are assessed.
  4. Categories only. We do not publish rankings of named brands, so there is no ranked list for an affiliate arrangement to distort.

No affiliate arrangement is currently live. When one is, it will be disclosed on the pages it affects and noted here.

05What we decline

  • Sponsored articles, advertorial and guest posts, in every form.
  • Paid links inside editorial text, and paid inclusion in the index.
  • Product samples offered in exchange for coverage.
  • Any arrangement conditional on a positive assessment, a preview, or approval of copy.
  • Advertising for prescription only medicines to the public, which is prohibited in the UK in any case.
  • Time limited offers for medical procedures, which we regard as inappropriate regardless of legality.

06Rates and enquiries

Rates are quoted on enquiry, for a defined period, in writing. We do not publish a rate card because rates depend on duration and placement, and because a published figure invites negotiation over the one thing that is not negotiable, which is the editorial separation described above.

Enquiries go through the contact page, selecting the sponsorship option. We reply to all enquiries, including the ones we decline, and we will tell you why.

07What a reader should be able to verify

Everything commercial on this site should be identifiable without effort. A sponsor appears under a sponsor label. A newsletter placement appears under a placement label. An affiliate link is disclosed above the content. The four archive articles carrying an editorial link carry a publisher disclosure block naming the organisation.

If you find anything commercial that is not labelled, that is a failure on our part and we want to be told. The standards this page implements are in editorial standards.

No commercial links on this page

This article contains no affiliate links, no sponsored placement and no link to any product, brand, retailer or clinic. Nobody paid for it, nobody previewed it and no sponsor can change a word of it. Our editorial standards set out the single disclosed exception, which applies to four archive articles and not to this one.

Nothing here is medical advice. Speak to a pharmacist, a GP or a dermatologist about your own circumstances.

Get the status changes

One issue when a category status moves or a regulator changes what a label may say.

One issue when a status changes or a regulator moves. One labelled placement per issue, nothing else sold. Unsubscribe from any issue.