Craft Industry Alliance’s Advertising Content Policy
Ethics Statement
Reporting on industry news is one of the main functions of Craft Industry Alliance as the trade association for the crafts industry. We are dedicated to preserving our editorial independence and the integrity of our journalism. Earning and keeping the trust of our audience is at the core of our mission.
We are deeply committed to upholding truth and transparency and the continued pursuit of diversity, equity, and inclusion within our team and across our network of contributors and members. We strive to reflect these values not just in our culture and our partnerships, but in all of the content we produce and publish on behalf of advertisers.
Editorial Independence
Craft Industry Alliance maintains a clear separation between our editorial function and advertising program. As such, we don’t accept preconditions for coverage of a story that require us to say certain things. We also don’t give subjects of our reporting the ability to preview or approve interview questions, nor do we allow them to review our stories before we publish. In addition, we do not make paid endorsements of any kind
Advertising Guidelines
We welcome advertisers as partners in promoting products, tools, and resources that are of benefit to the craft business community. We truly value our advertisers and do our utmost to share advertiser content with our audience in mutually beneficial ways.
These guidelines govern the types of advertising content that we will and will not accept.
- Advertising must comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and community standards regarding online advertisements.
- Advertising may not display content that is false, misleading, fraudulent, or deceptive.
- Advertising may not distribute spam, harmful code, or other disruptive content.
- Advertising must be honest and transparent about its identity and its products.
- Advertising may not promote discrimination or practices that bring harm, directly or indirectly.
Craft Industry Alliance reserves the right to reject any advertisement or client at our sole discretion and will issue a full refund within 14 days of the day the ad was scheduled to run if this should happen.
Prohibited Ad Content
Ads on our platform may not:
- Stereotype, inaccurately portray, or attack an individual or group on the basis of age, national origin, race, ethnicity, color, religious affiliation, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, medical condition, family status, or disability
- Promote or glorify violence, crime, or obscenity
- Portray adult content such as sexually suggestive ads or references to sex
- Portray minors (or persons who appear to be underage) in a manner that is sexually suggestive or otherwise age-inappropriate
- Be offensive or disturbing or likely to cause outrage, general disapproval, or negative opinion within the community.
- Constitute, facilitate, or promote illegal products, services, or activities
- Include trademarked content other than your own without permission from the owner or adherence to fair use guidelines
- Be part of a campaign for a political party, candidate, or ballot measure.
- Contains material that is fraudulent, defamatory, or harassing to any individual or group
Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Craft Industry Alliance is committed to fostering a community that reflects the rich history and cultures of craft and the diversity of crafters. Our goal is to continuously evolve and to proactively create an organization that seeks to represent and recognize this diversity.
AI Use Policy
As a trade association encouraging businesses within the crafts industry to stay current on new technology, we strive to be knowledgeable and up-to-date about developments in artificial intelligence (AI).
We are committed to educating our members on the ethical and effective use of AI, through webinars, resources, and community discussions that promote informed decision-making. We believe that there are AI tools today that can be helpful to business owners and endeavor to share those tools, and resources on how to optimally use them, with our members.
At the same time, we are aware that AI training sets, especially for visual AI tools, can include the works of artists and makers without their permission and that this use has complex and controversial intellectual property implications. We also acknowledge that visual AI tools may be a threat to artists and illustrators if individuals and companies choose to use these tools rather than commissioning and paying for original artwork.
Our role within the industry, and in the business community at large, is to emphasize the value artists and crafters bring to our society. As a result, our policy at Craft Industry Alliance is not to use AI-generated imagery anywhere, with some rare exceptions, as outlined below.
Articles and Resources for Publication
We do not publish articles, resources, or other print material generated by AI. We hire writers to craft original written content for our website, and we draft original content for our newsletters and social media posts. Our writers and our staff may at times use AI tools such as ChatGPT to assist in brainstorming ideas, drafting headlines, or rewriting specific phrases etc., but the article, post, or resource will be original to the writer. Any article suspected to have been written by AI will be returned to the writer and will not be published until it is rewritten and original.
If, after publication, we discover that the text we’ve used on our website, newsletter, or social media post was generated by AI, we will post an apology on the same platform and spell out specific steps we will take going forward to prevent the circumstance from happening again. These may include more explicitly explaining our AI policy with our writers, exclusively working with writers committed to original prose, and using AI text detectors when we suspect text has been written by AI.
Imagery
We do not use AI-generated images in any materials, on our website, newsletter, social media, or anywhere else, unless the topic being covered is about AI-generated imagery. For example, we will not use an AI-generated image as the illustration for an article that appears on our website or newsletter, or as a post on Instagram about a topic covered on our website, and we do not accept AI-generated imagery from our advertisers. Exceptions include using an AI-generated image as an illustration of AI technology in an article on that topic, or when we hire a presenter to teach about AI imagery, and so we use an AI-generated image to promote the session on that topic, etc.
Looking Ahead
We acknowledge that the field of artificial intelligence is a rapidly changing one. As AI expands into audio, video, and tool-based applications within crafting, we will evaluate and adapt our policy to remain consistent with our mission and ethical standards. We reserve the right to update this policy as both the technology and our views and understanding of it develop.