Advertising & transparency

Participation in affiliate programmes: Hearthplay may participate in affiliate marketing programmes. This means that when you click certain links on this site and make a purchase, we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Commission-based links: Affiliate links are links to third-party products or services through which Hearthplay may earn a referral fee. These links do not alter the price you pay for any product or service.

Product recommendation policy: Any product or service mentioned or recommended on this site reflects our genuine assessment. Hearthplay only recommends things we believe are genuinely useful to our audience. The existence of an affiliate relationship does not influence editorial recommendations.

Financial transparency: Where an affiliate relationship exists for a specific recommendation or resource, we will note it clearly in the relevant content. If you have questions about any specific link, ask us directly.

Paid promotions: On occasion, Hearthplay may publish or feature content that has been commissioned or supported by a third-party brand. Any such content will be clearly labelled — typically with a note such as "Sponsored," "In partnership with," or similar language.

Sponsored post labelling: Sponsored content will always be identified at the beginning of the piece, not buried at the bottom. We believe you deserve to know immediately when a brand has been involved.

Brand partnerships: Where Hearthplay has a brand partnership that influences how we present a product or service, this will be disclosed clearly and honestly.

Content authenticity: Even when content is sponsored, Hearthplay retains full editorial control. We will not publish sponsored content that misrepresents facts or that we do not genuinely stand behind. If a brand disagrees with our editorial position, we do not publish the content.

Display advertising: Hearthplay may display advertisements from third-party networks. These networks may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to serve ads that are relevant to your browsing interests.

Behavioural targeting: Third-party advertising partners may collect information about your visits to this and other sites in order to serve more targeted advertisements. This is sometimes referred to as interest-based advertising.

Cookie usage for advertising: If you have consented to advertising cookies, certain data about your interactions on this site may be shared with ad platforms to help measure campaign effectiveness and improve ad relevance. See our Cookie Policy for details.

Ad personalisation: Where advertising personalisation cookies are enabled, ads you see may reflect your interests as inferred from browsing behaviour. You can opt out of this through the cookie preferences on our Cookies page.

Ad preference management: You can adjust your advertising preferences at any time by visiting our Cookie Policy page and updating your consent settings.

Opt-out procedures: To opt out of interest-based advertising, you may use your browser's built-in privacy settings, install a reputable ad-management browser extension, or update your Google Ad preferences through your Google account settings.

Data collection for advertising: If you have granted consent for advertising cookies, limited data about your behaviour on this site (such as pages visited) may be used by third-party ad networks. No sensitive personal data is shared for advertising purposes.

Rights under privacy regulations: Under GDPR, CCPA, and equivalent regulations, you have the right to access, correct, or request deletion of any data held about you. Please see our Privacy Policy for full details on how to exercise these rights.