We include advertising as part of our social enterprise efforts. We do not endorse any advertising. We do not believe our advertising revenue is tax-exempt.
When we started Orchid, we THOUGHT we would exclude very few ads. We actually now exclude more twice as many ads as we run. Among those we exclude are:
political campaign ads,
IQ Tests,
background checks,
violent video games,
cremation & funeral services,
craft beer festivals,
breweries & taprooms
wine & spirit distributors
non-organic pesticides
knives, guns, etc.
marijuana related advertising [although we are not for re-criminalizing marijuana]
psychiatric medication [we do run ads for Ketamine, not because we think it is perfect — but we think insurance should cover it]
nutritional supplements
brain training companies — Buyer Beware
bitcoin
Plastic Surgery: We do allow ads for non-profits providing services for children and adults with significant developmental facial anomalies or facial injuries.
Controversial Topics [Case By Case Determination]: We have seen an advertisement from the Fellowship of Christians & Jews supporting Israel on the website. We don’t have a problem running that ad or an ad for the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) or an ad supporting a Palestinian State. Ultimately all people need the Social Determinants of Health and using: Science, Reason, and Faith — we are all STAKEHOLDERS in that QUEST.]
We have reconsidered our ban on Forensic Psychiatrists and Psychologists — largely because of an advertising request from a UK Forensic Psychiatrist. We still have A LOT OF CONCERNS. Maybe rather than bashing these folks we should open up a dialogue. WE GOTTA TALK.
If there are specific concerns, we will consider them. In addition to developing a source of revenue, we’re also very interested in the use of advertising as a way of “mainstreaming” some of the most serious concerns of people with cognitive differences.
NOTE: It may be several hours before an advertisement on the website comes across our Google Ad Review Center. Further, many advertisers send out multiple advertisements that come to our site even after we have blocked previous advertisements. We block those advertisements as we are able.
SOME ADDITIONAL WEBSITE ADVERTISING NOTES:
We are banning Get Rich Quick Schemes (for example: “We’ll help you make $25,000 in 7 days”).
Our policy on Revealing Clothing advertisements and Going Over the Line is — WE KNOW IT WHEN WE SEE IT.
Religious Advertising
We want to be open to different religious communities to facilitate the opening of diverse communities to people with cognitive issues & support of ALL PEOPLE.
We include a lot of advertising but we don’t endorse any specific advertisers, including religious advertisers.
Many different religious & spiritual traditions can provide support, community & inclusion to people addressing mental illness, brain injury, substance issues and/or developmental disabilities.
CAVEAT: We’re really about INCLUSIVITY so if the ADVERTISMENT itself sets the religion up as “The One, True Way” — we’re unlikely to run it.
We Don’t Run:
Christian Science Ads due to their adversity to medical care in general; and
Church of Scientology due to concerns regarding financial exploitation and cult-like behavior
We think Religious & Spiritual Beliefs are ESSENTIAL and INEVITABLY IMPERFECT.
The Religious Ads we do run do NOT represent Perfect Organizations or Perfect People and we’re NOT Perfect either.
Orchid Advertising & References to “Personality Disorders”
“Personality Disorders” under the DSM 5 are unscientific, vague pejorative labels that certainly do an enormous amount of harm in the Criminal Justice System, the Military, the CO Mental Health Institute @ Pueblo and probably elsewhere.
Our position is that this area of Clinical Practice is in HUGE NEED of REFORM — largely that is a problem for the RESEARCH COMMUNITY — but Clinicians could start by honestly addressing their IGNORANCE in this area.
We are making a distinction between “Personality Disorder Diagnoses” and types of treatment such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy — DBT.
If your advertisement contains a reference to “personality disorders” — we’re going to block it.
We are open to Independent Contributors that want to defend the use of “personality disorder diagnoses.” A rebuttal is likely. BUT Independent Contributors are free to respond to that.
ADVERTISING & the PSYCHEDELIC PEER MOVEMENT
New Yorker Science of the Psychedelic Renaissance (2018) Feb. 17, 2022
We’re currently BLOCKING advertising from a California non-profit that provides peer support with
a mission of :
“[Helping] people minimize the risks and fulfill the potential of their psychedelic experiences in ways such as providing compassionate, accessible, and culturally responsive peer support, educating the public, and furthering psychedelic research, while embracing practices that increase equity, power sharing, and belonging within the psychedelic movement.”
There is a DISCLAIMER that this organization is not promoting any illegal activities, BUT . . .
We realize this is a COMPLICATED ISSUE. There is a lot of research in this area and we support MORE, but we’re not ready to run this ad.
See Psychedelic Laws in Colorado as represented by Invest in Psychedelics.
[We block almost 1000 ads and we block roughly twice as many ads as we run. Most of the ads blocked fall into one of the categories already listed on this Page so we are NOT addressing ads that we routinely block.
Further, because this was a type of PEER effort — we felt we needed to address it specifically.]