Google AdWords South Africa

Google restricts the promotion of alcoholic beverages and drinks that resemble alcoholic beverages.

When promoting alcoholic beverages, you may not do any of the following:

• violate applicable laws and industry standards for any location that your campaign targets
• target individuals below the legal drinking age
• imply that drinking alcohol can improve social, sexual, professional, intellectual, or athletic standing
• imply that drinking alcohol provides health or therapeutic benefits
• portray excessive drinking in a positive light or feature binge or competition drinking
• show alcohol being consumed in conjunction with the operation of a vehicle of any kind, the operation of machinery, or the performance of any task requiring alertness or dexterity

Examples of what's allowed in some circumstances

The following types of alcohol-related promotions are allowed, provided that they meet the requirements stated in the policy and target only the countries that are explicitly listed as being permitted.

Promotions for the sale of alcoholic beverages

We consider ads to be promoting the sale of alcoholic beverages when one or more alcoholic beverages are featured in the ad, and alcohol can be purchased on the destination site or app.

Not allowed: Advertising for the online sale of alcoholic beverages is not allowed to run in any countries not listed below. If your campaign targets only countries that are not listed, your ad will be disapproved.

Allowed: We allow advertising for the online sale of alcoholic beverages to run in the countries below. Countries that allow such ads

Albania Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Cambodia Canada Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Ecuador Estonia France

Germany Ghana Greece Hong Kong Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan Kenya Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Mexico Montenegro Netherlands New Zealand

Nigeria Panama Peru Philippines Portugal Puerto Rico Romania Senegal Singapore Slovakia South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Uganda Ukraine United Kingdom United States Uruguay

Branding or informational ads promoting alcoholic beverages

Branding and informational ads include promotions which focus on alcoholic beverages, or spread awareness of alcoholic beverages, but which do not offer them for online sale.

Not allowed: Brand or informational advertising for alcoholic beverages is not allowed to run in any countries not listed below. If your campaign targets only countries that are not listed, your ad will be disapproved.

Allowed: We allow brand or informational advertising for alcoholic beverages to run in the countries below: Countries that allow such ads

Albania Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bolivia Brazil Bulgaria Cambodia Canada Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Estonia France

Germany Ghana Greece Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan Kenya Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Mexico Montenegro Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria

Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Portugal Puerto Rico Romania Senegal Singapore Slovakia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Uganda Ukraine United Kingdom United States Uruguay Venezuela

What you can do

Here's more detail about each violation and what you can do if your ad is disapproved or your site or app is suspended.

Alcohol sales and branding