Google AdWords South Africa

Alcoholic beverages

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
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