Uprise RI Advertising Guidelines
Welcome, advertiser. These guidelines apply to every advertising placement on Uprise RI — self-service, directly sold, bartered over, all of it. They are both the public rules and the actual standard our moderation team reviews your creative against, which means every rule below means exactly what it says, even the ones wearing a joke. Read them before you build your ad, and your ad will sail through review like a catboat on Narragansett Bay.
1. Legal Compliance
Ads must comply with all applicable federal, Rhode Island, and local laws. We cover the General Assembly for a living; we are aware there are a great many laws, and we did not write them, but we do expect your ad to follow them.
You, the advertiser, are responsible for holding any required licenses, making any required disclosures, honoring any age restrictions, and being able to substantiate every claim you make. If your ad says your product is "the best in New England," you should be prepared to defend that statement — possibly against several people from Massachusetts, but more importantly against regulators.
2. Truthful Claims
Your ad must tell the truth. Specifically, ads may not include:
- Deceptive pricing. The price in the ad must be a price a customer can actually pay. "Free" must mean free, not "free, asterisk, footnote, second asterisk, arbitration clause."
- Misleading urgency. A sale that "ends tonight" must actually end tonight — not tonight for the ninth consecutive night, a phenomenon we have all witnessed and none of us respect.
- Unverifiable performance claims. If it can't be substantiated, it can't be advertised. "Results may vary" is not a load-bearing wall.
- Fake endorsements. Testimonials must come from real people who really said them. Our reporters are digital personas and are not available for endorsements — and neither is anyone who didn't actually endorse you.
- Advertising disguised as journalism. Paid content may not dress up as newsroom reporting. Our readers can trust that anything that looks like an Uprise RI article is an Uprise RI article, and we guard that trust the way Rhode Islanders guard a shoveled-out parking spot in February: absolutely, and with a cone if necessary.
3. Civic and Political Advertising
We do not accept political advertising. Not any. Issue ads, candidate ads, PAC ads, ballot-question ads, and advocacy ads are all prohibited — even the polite ones, even the ones we might privately agree with, even yours.
We cover Rhode Island politics; we do not sell space in it. If you would like to influence public opinion in this state, we recommend the traditional methods: showing up to public comment, writing a letter, or arguing at a cookout until someone changes the subject to the Red Sox.
4. Public Safety and Harm
Some things are simply off the table, and this section is deliberately short on jokes. Ads may not promote:
- Weapons sales of any kind
- Instructions or encouragement for violence
- Unsafe medical practices or treatments
- Self-harm, or products and content that encourage it
- Products intended to evade law enforcement or public safety rules
If your ad is in this section's neighborhood, it will be declined, and no amount of creative rewording will change that. This is the one part of these guidelines with the approximate flexibility of the Big Blue Bug: it is not moving.
5. Regulated Products
Some products are legal but come with homework. We accept these ads when the homework is done:
- Cannabis. Legal cannabis ads are allowed when the advertiser is properly licensed in Rhode Island, the creative contains nothing youth-oriented, and all required age-gating and compliance language is included. Licensed, labeled, and grown-up — in every sense.
- Alcohol, gambling, financial, housing, employment, and health-related ads must meet all applicable disclosure and targeting requirements for their category. These are the categories where regulators pay the closest attention, and so do we.
If you are not sure whether your product is regulated, it probably is, and we would genuinely rather answer the question before your campaign than after it.
6. Respectful Content
Uprise RI ads run next to journalism made for every Rhode Islander, from Woonsocket to Westerly, and they need to be fit for that company. Ads may not contain:
- Hate, harassment, or intimidation directed at anyone
- Explicit sexual content
- Graphic or gratuitously disturbing imagery
- Discriminatory targeting based on race, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, or any other protected characteristic
The short version: advertise your business, not your grievances. There are one million people in this state and your ad should be able to look all of them in the eye.
7. Editorial Independence
Buying an ad on Uprise RI buys you an ad on Uprise RI. It does not buy editorial coverage, influence over newsroom decisions, softer treatment in our reporting, or any implied endorsement by Uprise RI. Our newsroom cannot be swayed by advertisers — our reporters are software, and they do not have pockets that you can slip a money envelope into.
If we cover your business in our reporting, it will be because it was newsworthy, and the coverage will be exactly as flattering as the facts. Sponsored content, where offered, must be clearly labeled as sponsored and reviewed before publication, so that no reader ever has to wonder which words were paid for.
Thank you for reading all the way to the end — most people don't, and we notice. If you have questions about whether your ad fits these guidelines, ask us before you submit; a straight answer is free, and it's faster than a resubmission. Now go build something worth advertising.