Hotline is a BPMA Member: What That Means When You Choose Supplier
Hotline is a member of the British Promotional Merchandise Association. Here's what BPMA membership means for you and...
Hotline is a member of the British Promotional Merchandise Association. Here's what BPMA membership means for you and how to check any supplier.
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View allHotline Promotional Products is a member of the British Promotional Merchandise Association (BPMA), a UK trade body for the promotional merchandise industry. As a member, we're required to follow the BPMA Code of Conduct, a published set of standards covering how members describe their products, whether those products meet safety law and how members manage their supply chains.
A trade body logo on a supplier's website is easy to scroll past. This article explains what the BPMA asks of its members, what it can do when a member falls short and how to check a supplier's membership for yourself.
What is the BPMA?
The BPMA is the British Promotional Merchandise Association, a trade body for the promotional merchandise industry in the UK. It was founded in 1965 and represents distributors, suppliers and service providers across the industry.
The BPMA's stated aim is for membership to be "the mark of professionalism, integrity and quality". Alongside the standards it sets for members, the BPMA runs education and awards programmes for the industry and represents it to politicians and policymakers, in the UK and internationally. You'll find more about the association on the BPMA website.
What the BPMA Code of Conduct asks of members
Every BPMA member is required to comply with the BPMA Code of Conduct, which is published in full on the BPMA website. The parts that matter most to a buyer cover honest descriptions, product safety, supply chains, advertising rules and confidentiality.
| The Code of Conduct requires members to | What that means for you as a buyer |
|---|---|
| Present their products and services fairly and transparently, avoiding deceptive, misleading or unethical practices, and apply the same standard to their supply-chain partners and contractors | The descriptions and claims you rely on when choosing a product should be accurate |
| Make sure every product and service complies with the applicable legal requirements, including safety laws, regulations and guidelines, in every relevant market | The merchandise you give out should be legal and safe to use, and the Code describes non-compliance as indefensible |
| Take responsibility for the conduct of their supply-chain partners and contractors, including on product safety, working conditions, environmental issues, hours and wages, prevention of labour and child labour abuse, non-discrimination and freedom of association | Your supplier is answerable for the conditions your merchandise was made in, as well as for the finished product |
| Follow rulings by the Advertising Standards Authority, the Committee of Advertising Practice and other relevant regulators endorsed by the BPMA | Product claims should meet UK advertising rules, which include specific rules on environmental claims |
| Respect and protect any sensitive information they come across in their work | Artwork and plans you share ahead of a launch or event should be kept confidential |
The BPMA Code of Conduct also requires members to honour agreed payment terms and to comply with decisions made by the BPMA Board. Consistently failing to honour payment terms, or ignoring a Board decision, can cost a member its membership.
If environmental credentials matter to your organisation, our guide to buying eco-friendly merchandise without the greenwashing covers the certifications worth looking for and the questions to ask a supplier about a specific product.
Why BPMA membership matters when you choose a supplier
BPMA membership gives you a written standard to hold a supplier to and an industry body that can act if a member falls short. Both are hard to judge from a supplier's own website, which is why membership is worth checking before you place an order.
The BPMA's Board of Directors is empowered to enforce the Code of Conduct and investigate complaints against members. Under the BPMA's Disciplinary Code, the Board can admonish a member and ask for remedial action, and for serious or repeated breaches it can suspend or expel them. If a member is expelled, the BPMA names them in its communications to other members, along with the section of the Code they broke.
If something goes wrong with an order, raise it with the supplier first. If you believe a BPMA member has broken the Code of Conduct, you can complain to the BPMA through the complaints form linked from its Disciplinary Code, which sets out how those complaints are handled.
The BPMA Code's product safety requirement matters most on items that carry extra rules of their own, such as power banks and other electricals, branded sweets and food, and anything aimed at children. A BPMA member is required to make sure those products meet the law in every relevant market, and to hold its own suppliers to the same standard.
Promotional merchandise you can buy with confidence
As a BPMA member, Hotline is committed to professional standards, responsible sourcing and great service. Discover thousands of promotional products, with a free 20-minute Visual Proof™ so you can see your logo before you buy.
How to check a supplier is a BPMA member
Search the Distributor Directory on the BPMA website, where BPMA member distributors are listed with their address and contact details. Checking there confirms membership with the BPMA itself, so you're not relying on a logo on the supplier's own site.
Hotline Promotional Products is listed in the BPMA Distributor Directory, so you can check our membership there. It's worth running the same check on any supplier you're comparing.
BPMA membership works best as one check among several. Our guide to promotional products includes a short list of what to look for in a supplier, from seeing a proof before production to getting a confirmed delivery date.
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What BPMA membership means when you order from us
When you order from Hotline, you're buying from a business that's required to follow the BPMA Code of Conduct. Presenting products fairly and transparently is the first requirement in the Code, and it's how ordering on our site is set up: you see the price, the delivery date and your logo on the product before you commit to anything.
On top of what the Code asks, every Hotline product page shows the price at the quantity you enter, the minimum order and the current delivery date before you order, and the delivery date you select at checkout is guaranteed. Our article on guaranteed delivery dates explains how that date works.
Before anything is made, you can request a free Visual Proof™ showing your logo on the product, prepared by our in-house designers and usually back in around 20 minutes. You can request as many changes as you need, and nothing goes into production until you've approved it.
To see it for yourself, browse our full product range and request a free Visual Proof™ on any product.