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Hallmark Canada Privacy Policy

Updated and Effective as of October 11, 2021

Welcome to Hallmark Canada! We strive to help people create a caring and more connected world, and to do this we use information collected from or about you. This Policy describes the practices of William E. Coutts Company, Limited dba Hallmark Canada (“Hallmark Canada,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) collection, use, and sharing of information, both online and offline. By accessing or using the Hallmark Canada Properties (defined below), you agree that your access to and use are governed by this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use.

This Policy regarding how personal information entrusted to us is collected, used, disclosed, or retained reflects the principles set forth in Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, SC 2000, c 5.

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1. When does this Privacy Policy Apply?

This Privacy Policy applies to our websites (such as hallmark.ca), mobile and other applications, and any other product, feature, or service we offer that posts or provides this Policy (collectively, the “Hallmark Canada Properties”). We may combine all of the information we collect through our Hallmark Canada Properties.

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2. Changes to This Privacy Policy

To the extent allowed by applicable law, we reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time without prior notice. If we make material changes to our Privacy Policy, we will update the effective date and post a notice on our Hallmark Canada Properties. Your continued use of any of the Hallmark Canada Properties after the effective date of the revised Privacy Policy will constitute your consent to those changes to the fullest extent allowed by applicable law.

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3. General Audience Sites

The Hallmark Canada Properties are not intended for use by children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children younger than age 18.

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4. Consent for Personal Information

We collect information whenever you interact with us. Some of the information we collect may be considered “personal information” under applicable laws. Personal information is any information about an identifiable individual. Personal information includes information that relates to personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, income, home address, or phone number, ethnic background, family status), health (e.g., health history, health conditions, health services received), or activities and views (e.g. religion, politics, opinions expressed by an individual, an opinion or evaluation of an individual).

We may de-identify your personal information so as to make it non-personal, either by combining it with information about other individuals and/or by hashing the information or otherwise removing characteristics that make the information personally identifiable to you. We will treat de-identified information as non-personal to the fullest extent allowed by applicable law.

Hallmark Canada collects and processes personal information in accordance with this Policy. Hallmark Canada collects, uses, and discloses personal information for the purposes described in this Policy, including providing our products, services, promotions, and events to you. We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others, except as set out in this Policy.

By providing Hallmark Canada with your personal information, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of such information in accordance with this Policy or for the purposes identified to you at the time you provided the personal information. Any secondary use of the personal information will only be processed with your express consent, except as required by law.

You have the opportunity to withdraw your consent, or to opt-out at any time. If you wish to withdraw your consent or to opt-out at any time, including to remove yourself from our email or mailing list, please contact us as set out in Section 15 below.

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5. Information We Collect

Information you provide directly to us. When you use the Hallmark Canada Properties, we ask you to provide us with certain information. This information will depend on the Hallmark Canada Properties you interact with, and may include without limitation:

  • First and last name
  • Email address, phone number and other contact information
  • Shipping and billing addresses
  • Demographic information, such as your date of birth and gender
  • Account information, such as your Hallmark Rewards membership information
  • Photographs, video messages, handwriting, and other data provided by you for personalized cards and gifts, some of which may be considered biometric information
  • Wish list or other favorites information
  • Information provided by you in responses to surveys, quizzes, or in community forums
  • Information provided by you as you interact with our Customer Care team
  • Information provided by you as you provide feedback through the Hallmark Canada Properties on our products or services
  • Information relating to transactions and products and services purchased, including payment information, and return and exchange information
  • Information relating to your application for employment with Hallmark Canada
  • Information relating to your application to become a franchisee of Hallmark Canada

Information collected automatically. We, our service providers, business partners, and/or other third parties may automatically collect and/or store certain information when you visit or interact with the Hallmark Canada Properties (“Usage Information”). This Usage Information may be stored and/or accessed from your computer, tablet, mobile phone, or other device whenever you visit or interact with the Hallmark Canada Properties. Usage Information may include, but is not limited to:

  • Your IP address, mobile device identifier and other unique identifiers
  • Device information, including device model, operating system version, device date and time, mobile network information
  • Geolocation of your device
  • How you use and interact with the Hallmark Canada Properties, including your search terms, pages you visit, content you watch, and your preferences.

Usage Information may be collected through the use of the following technologies:

  • Cookies and Local Storage. Cookies and local storage are data files placed within a browser on a device when it is used to visit the Hallmark Canada Properties. Certain web browsers and browser add-ons may provide additional local data storage mechanisms. Cookies and local storage can be used for a variety of purposes, including to store a unique identifier for your device that recognizes your device as you visit the Hallmark Canada Properties or other websites or online services, and to remember your preferences. Most browsers provide you with the ability to disable, decline, or clear cookies and local storage; however, if you disable cookies you may find this affects your ability to use certain parts of the Hallmark Canada Properties. For more information about cookies please visit https://www.aboutcookies.org.
  • Web Tags. Small graphic images or other web programming code (also known as 1x1 GIFs or clear GIFs) may be included in our web pages and email messages. These and similar technologies may be used for a number of purposes, including to count visitors to the Hallmark Canada Properties, to monitor how users navigate Hallmark Canada Properties, to count how many of our email messages were opened, or to count how many particular products were viewed. The information we collect through this technology may include the first date and time you open our e-mail, and whether you click any links included in our e-mail.
  • Embedded Scripts. An embedded script is programming code that is designed to collect information about your interactions with the Hallmark Canada Properties, such as the links you click on. The code is temporarily downloaded onto your device from our server or a third-party service provider or business partner, is active only while you are connected to a Hallmark Canada Property, and is deactivated or deleted thereafter.

Information from Gold Crown Stores. Hallmark Gold Crown stores in Canada are operated by franchisees, who may use their own websites, apps, or other technology to interact with you, and who may provide information they collect from or about you to Hallmark Canada, including in connection with administering your Hallmark Rewards account. When you shop with or otherwise interact with a franchisee, you are interacting with them directly, and this Policy does not apply – but it does cover any information that Hallmark receives from them.

Information from Other Third Parties. We may receive information about you from third parties, such as business partners (including companies that assist us with online advertising and analytics), other customers of the Hallmark Canada Properties (such as when they provide your information to send you one of our products), data providers who enhance the information we have about you, and sources of publicly available information.

Social Media. We may host or facilitate interactions with social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram. You may also have the opportunity to log in through or otherwise connect your social media account. When you interact with social media through the Hallmark Canada Properties, we will receive information about you from the social media service.

In addition, the social media service may set their own cookies and collect information about your use of the Hallmark Canada Properties, including your IP address or other device identifiers, and which pages you visit on the Hallmark Canada Properties. These social media platforms may be able to collect certain information on your visits to the Hallmark Canada Properties regardless of whether or not you affirmatively interact with the feature and whether or not you are logged into (or have) an account with the social media platform. If you are logged out or do not have an account and visit a page with a social plug-in, your browser sends a more limited set of information. Like other sites, the social media platform will receive information about the webpage you are visiting, the date and time of your visit, and other browser-related information. They may use that information to help them improve their products or for other purposes set forth in their privacy policy. We may also receive information about you if other users of Social Media give us access to their profiles and you are one of their connections or "friends."

The information we collect is subject to this Privacy Policy. The information collected and stored by the third party remains subject to the third party’s privacy practices, including, without limitation, whether the third party continues to share information with us, the types of information shared, and your choices with regard to what is visible to others on that third-party website or service. The third party may allow you to remove the application or feature, in which case we will no longer collect information about you through the application or feature, but may retain the information previously collected.

If you choose to post information to a third party platform, that information may be public.

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6. How We Use Your Information

We work hard to get to know you so that we can customize and personalize our services to you.

We may use non-personal information for any purpose allowable by law, including for advertising, research, and marketing purposes. We use information collected from or about you, including personal information and Usage Information, as disclosed in this Privacy Policy, including:

  1. Providing our services to you and allowing you to participate in the features Hallmark Canada offers;
  2. Recognizing you across devices including in connection with online advertising
  3. Identifying your preferences, learning and anticipating your needs, and tailoring our content, products, and services to you, including advertising, recommendations, promotions, and offers we display to you, both online and offline;
  4. Processing your transactions, including communicating with you about order confirmation, shipping, and receipts;
  5. Providing information on products/services we think you may be interested in, including special offers and promotions from us, our advertisers, and third-party partners;
  6. Responding to your requests for information;
  7. Verifying your identity, including without limitation, for purposes of product reviews and fraud prevention;
  8. Investigating and preventing fraud, illegal activities, and activities that violate our policies, and resolving technical issues reported about the Hallmark Canada Properties;
  9. Operating the Hallmark Canada Properties;
  10. Improving our products, services, and marketing endeavors;
  11. For internal business purposes;
  12. Contacting you regarding your use of the services and, in our discretion, changes to our policies;
  13. Facilitating your job search, processing your employment application, and preparing related governmental and internal statistics reports;
  14. Evaluating your application to become a franchisee, including evaluation of your creditworthiness and ability to operate a particular retail location to a standard that will ensure the integrity of our franchise program;
  15. Complying with the law and protecting the safety, rights, property, or security of Hallmark, the Hallmark Canada Properties, consumers, and the general public;
  16. Upon notice to you at the time of collection or use of a feature, or otherwise with your consent.

Personalized Product Services. You may be able to personalize the products you purchase from us. For instance, you may be able to add your own photo, video, handwritten note or other content (“Customer Content”) in connection with your purchase. You are fully responsible for your Customer Content, which must comply with all laws and any applicable terms of use or other terms. We have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor Customer Content and to refuse to include any Customer Content that we believe violates law or our policies. Hallmark Canada may permit you to store your Customer Content as drafts or for re-use. By providing any Customer Content, you agree that Hallmark Canada may analyze such content to assist us in enhancing our products and services, getting to know you better, and to better market to you the Hallmark Canada products and services we think you will most be interested in.

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7. How We Share Your Information

We may aggregate, de-identify, and/or anonymize any information such that such information is no longer linked to your personal information. We may share this non-personal information with third parties for any purpose, for advertising, research and marketing purposes.

Personal information submitted to Hallmark Canada is kept confidential unless disclosed in accordance with your express consent or legal requirements. In any event, any personal information provided on any Hallmark Canada platform by a user is voluntary. Please note that revoking your consent may result in not being able to access or utilize certain Hallmark Canada features, programs, or services.

Personal information provided by Hallmark Canada users will not be sold, shared, or rented to outside organizations unless in accordance with your consent, except as otherwise set out herein. Hallmark Canada reserves the right to contact any user at any time to forward information, respond to questions, or provide notification of any changes to our services or our policies.

We may share the information we have collected about you, including Personal Information and Usage Information, as disclosed at the time you provide us with information or your consent, and as described in this Privacy Policy, including:

At Your Request and When You Post Content Publicly. We may share information when you direct us to do so. For example, you may be presented with an opportunity to receive marketing offers from a third party, or you may choose to write a product review, share a wish list, send a message, or engage with a social media service or third party application or feature, through which information about you is shared. Please note that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties. If you later decide that you no longer want to receive communications from a third party, you will need to contact that third party directly.

In addition, we or a third party social networking or review platform, may offer features, such as message boards and other public areas, where you can choose to interact with others and/or submit content or post it publicly. Content that you post may be viewed, collected, and used by others, and the protections of this Privacy Policy will not apply.

Affiliated Third Parties and Hallmark Gold Crown Franchisees. We may share your information with independent Hallmark Gold Crown franchisees to the extent necessary for them to fulfill your orders, to assist you with your Hallmark Rewards account, and to facilitate localized Hallmark marketing offers. In addition, we may share your information with Hallmark Cards, Incorporated, and its and our affiliates and subsidiaries for business, analytical, and operational purposes. “Hallmark Retailers” include: (i) any Hallmark Canada retailer, franchisee, licensee, Gold Crown Store, or other entity that is permitted by Hallmark Canada to sell Hallmark Canada products or services, including any parent, division, subsidiary, or affiliate of the foregoing; or (ii) Hallmark Cards, Incorporated, including any parent, division, subsidiary, or affiliate of Hallmark Cards, Incorporated. Hallmark Canada will ensure that the applicable Hallmark Retailer only collects, uses, and discloses personal information in accordance with its privacy policies, which will contain terms and conditions that are at least as protective as those set forth in this Policy.

Service Providers. We may use third party service providers to perform certain services on our behalf, or to assist us in providing our services to you. Examples of such disclosures include using a payment processor, customer service provider, email marketing provider, data analysis provider, and other administrative services. To the extent that any personal information is provided to these third party service providers, Hallmark Canada requires that the provider be bound by obligations consistent with this Policy and that such providers only collect, use, or disclose users’ personal information for the purposes of providing Hallmark Canada services set out above. Third party service providers include without limitation: MHz Design, Craft CMS, Wired Messenger, Omnisend, Google Analytics, Radiant, Shopify, and Worldpay.

Sweepstakes, Contests and Promotions. We may offer sweepstakes, contests, or other promotions (any of which, a “Promotion”) that may require registration. By participating in a Promotion, you are agreeing to the provisions, conditions, or official rules that govern the Promotion, which may contain specific requirements of you (including, except where prohibited by law, allowing the sponsor(s) of the Promotion to use your name, voice, likeness, or other indicia of persona in advertising or marketing materials). If you choose to enter a Promotion, personal information may be disclosed to third parties or the public in connection with the administration of such Promotion, including in connection with winner selection, prize fulfillment, as required by law, or as permitted by the Promotion’s terms or official rules (such as on a winner’s list).

Employment Applications. If you apply for a job through the Hallmark Canada Properties, we or our service provider(s) may ask you to provide self-identifying information, such as your name, address, phone number, and employment-related information (such as that contained in a resume, cover letter, or similar employment-related materials). Providing such self-identifying information is voluntary, but if you do provide such information, we and/or our service provider may submit that information to the appropriate government or regulatory agencies to fulfill reporting requirements and use that information to defend against employment-related complaints. Please note that we may utilize a careers portal that is operated by a third party, in which case, you use of the careers portal will be subject to the third party’s privacy practices as disclosed on the portal, and not to this policy.

In Connection with Business Transactions. We may disclose your information in connection with a corporate transition such as a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, including during the course of any due diligence process. By providing your personal information, you agree that we may transfer such information to the other entity in such a transaction without your further consent.

For Administrative and Legal Reasons. We reserve the right to use or disclose any information as needed to satisfy or fulfill its obligations under any law, regulation, or legal request; to protect the integrity of the Hallmark Canada Properties; to fulfill your requests; to cooperate in a law enforcement investigation, an investigation on a public safety matter, or an investigation into claims of intellectual property infringement; to protect and defend the legal rights and/or property of Hallmark and any of our corporate parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, and shareholders, or the Hallmark Canada Properties, it any of its users, or any other party; or, in an emergency, to protect the health and safety of Users or the general public.

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8. Third Party Advertising and Analytics

Hallmark Canada works with third party business partners, including online advertising companies, ad agencies, and analytics providers to serve Hallmark ads online, to serve third party ads through the Hallmark Canada Properties, and to provide us with information regarding the use of the Hallmark Canada Properties and the effectiveness of our advertisements. Hallmark Canada allows these companies to place tracking technologies like cookies and web tags on our Hallmark Canada Properties, and they may otherwise collect or have access to Usage Information and other information about you. Some of these parties may collect personal information over time when you visit the Hallmark Canada Properties or other online websites and services. We may share information, typically information that has been aggregated or de-identified, Usage Information, and location information with third party advertising companies, analytics providers, and other third parties, including for the purpose of serving you more relevant ads on and off the Hallmark Canada Properties.

We may use a variety of companies to serve our advertisements. Some of these companies are members of the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC), which provides an opt-out mechanism for participating companies located at: https://youradchoices.ca/ You may be able to opt-out from interest-based advertising on your mobile device through your mobile device settings.

Mobile devices may contain settings that allow you to disable tracking advertising and/or analytics. In addition, the digital advertising industry has provided the ability for mobile users to register their intent not to receive targeted advertising. See https://youradchoices.ca/en/tools for more information.

We use Google Analytics, which uses cookies and similar technologies to collect and analyze information about the use of the Hallmark Canada Properties and report on activities and trends. This service may also collect information about the use of other websites, apps, and online services. You can learn about Google’s practices by going to https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and opt out of them by downloading the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Please note that opting out through these mechanisms does not opt you out of being served advertising, and that you will continue to receive generic ads while online.

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9. Your Choices About the Information We Collect

We may provide you with the option to update your information or to opt out of marketing communications through the profile and/or preferences section of your account. In addition, you may opt-out of marketing communications as set forth below.

Email. You may unsubscribe from marketing emails we send you through the opt-out mechanism included in each such email. Note, however, that we reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to your use of our Services, notices of changes to this Privacy Policy or other terms, or similar administrative and transactional messages.

Text Messages. If you sign up to receive SMS or MMS messages from Hallmark or one of our brands, you may unsubscribe by replying “STOP.”

Push Notifications. We may send promotional and non-promotional push notifications or alerts to your mobile device, and may in some cases do so based on your device’s location or physical proximity to a beacon. You can elect to stop receiving those messages at any time by changing the notification settings on your mobile device.

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10. Your Rights and Access

Accuracy. Hallmark Canada, to the best of its ability, will strive to collect and maintain the most accurate personal information available.

Right to Access. You have the right to access personal information that Hallmark Canada processes about you. You can request from us information about:

  1. the personal information we hold about you;
  2. the categories of personal information concerned;
  3. the purposes of the processing;
  4. details to whom your personal information has been/will be disclosed;
  5. how long we retain your personal information;
  6. if we did not collect the information directly from you, information about the source; and
  7. how to lodge a complaint with the correct supervisory authority.

Right to Request the Update and Correction of Inaccuracies. You have the right to request the update and correction of inaccuracies in your personal information in our custody and control, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. You may request the updating and correction of inaccuracies in your personal information we have in our custody or control by emailing or writing to us at the contact information set out in Section 15 below. We may request certain personal information for the purposes of verifying the identity of the individual seeking access to their personal information records.

Right to Request Deletion. You have the right to request that we delete your personal information in accordance with applicable laws

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11. Security and Breach

Hallmark Canada takes commercially reasonable steps designed to secure your personal information; however, no data transmission over the Internet, wireless transmission, or electronic storage of information can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Hallmark Canada cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information we collect. You use the Hallmark Canada Properties and provide us your information at your own risk. Mail, voice communications, faxes, and data transmissions over the Internet are all susceptible to possible loss, misrouting, interception, and misuse of the information being communicated or transmitted. You can prevent unauthorized access to your account and personal information by selecting and securing your access password properly and limiting access to your computer, device, and browser. You should always log out after accessing your account.

Hallmark Canada will comply with all applicable laws, and in so complying provide Hallmark Canada users with reasonable assistance, with respect to any unauthorized use, access, or disclosure of personal information.

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12. Retention

Hallmark Canada only retains personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected. When personal information is no longer required for these purposes, it is securely destroyed or deleted. For further details on our data retention periods, please contact us. Where you have consented for us to use your details for direct marketing, we will keep this data until you notify us or otherwise withdraw your consent.

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13. Third Party Content and Links

The Hallmark Canada Properties may contain content that is served by someone else or links to third-party content or websites. Hallmark Canada does not control this content or these sites. The third-party operators and content providers use their own cookies or other tracking technologies, and they may independently collect information from or about you. Hallmark Canada is not responsible for the privacy practices employed by any third party, and we encourage you to review each third party’s privacy policy and terms of use prior to providing them with your information.

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14. Consent to Transfer

As set forth in Section 7 above, we may share your personal information with Hallmark Cards, Incorporated, which is based in the United States. By using the Hallmark Canada Properties or providing us with any information, you fully understand and unambiguously consent to this transfer to, and processing, usage, sharing and storage of your information in the United States and in other jurisdictions, for which the privacy laws may not be as comprehensive as those in the country where you reside and/or are a citizen. As a result, this information may be subject to access requests from governments, courts, or law enforcement in the United States and other countries according to the laws in those jurisdictions. Your information will also be disclosed to third parties as described in the “How We Share Your Information” section above.

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15. Access, Questions, and Concerns

If you have any questions or comments about this Policy, if you wish to access, update, and/or correct inaccuracies in your personal information, or if you otherwise have a question or complaint about the manner in which we or our service providers treat your personal information, you may contact us at care@hallmarkcanada.ca.