Sponsorship Standards

Our Core Rule

Payment, advertising, product supply, affiliate compensation, event access, or any other material relationship does not buy a favourable review, ranking, recommendation, test result, or editorial conclusion. Editors decide whether and how to cover a subject; commercial partners do not approve editorial findings.

How We Label Commercial Relationships

• Advertisement: paid display, newsletter, or other placement that is visibly marked as advertising.
• Sponsored: paid content or a paid series with the sponsor named prominently at the beginning and in any relevant promotional distribution.
• Affiliate link: a link that may earn VapeRisk compensation when a reader completes a qualifying action. The relationship is disclosed near the link and in our affiliate disclosure.
• Product supplied: a product, service, travel, access, or other item provided without charge for evaluation or coverage. The relationship is disclosed in the relevant content.

Labels use plain language. We do not rely on vague terms such as “partner” or “collaboration” when a clearer commercial label is needed.

Paid Content

Paid content is separated from independent reporting by a visible sponsorship label, distinct presentation, and a statement that the sponsor funded the placement. It may be reviewed for accuracy, clarity, and compliance, but it is not presented as an independent VapeRisk review or news report.

Paid content may not make unsupported health, safety, cessation, therapeutic, regulatory, or product-performance claims. It must be appropriate for adults and for the jurisdictions where it appears.

Samples And Access

Supplied products and access do not guarantee coverage. When material is used in editorial work, the source is disclosed and the item may be independently checked, compared, tested, or declined. A supplier cannot require a score, positive conclusion, publication date, or removal of substantiated criticism.

Advertising And Sponsorship Firewall

• Commercial contacts do not assign editorial coverage or control editorial headlines, methods, sources, scores, rankings, or conclusions.
• Editorial staff may reject, correct, update, or remove content when evidence, compliance, or reader interest requires it.
• Commercial and editorial communications are documented separately where a conflict could arise.
• We do not accept undisclosed payment for coverage or links, nor do we suppress relevant negative findings for an advertiser.

Compliance And Enforcement

We may reject, pause, relabel, correct, or remove commercial material that does not meet these standards or creates a material compliance concern. Partners are responsible for the accuracy of their supplied claims and for any required market-specific legal review. These standards are not legal advice.

Related Policies

See VapeRisk Labs and Claimed vs Measured for public examples of how sample identity, method, observations and limitations remain separate from commercial support. These evidence pages are not proof that a sponsor can buy a report, result, score or publication decision.

Read our Editorial Policy, Review Policy, and Affiliate Disclosure. Partnership formats are outlined on Advertise With VapeRisk, and questions about a commercial relationship can be sent through our Contact page.