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In October 2020, the Google Ads Other restricted businesses policy will be updated to restrict the serving of High Fat Sugar Salt (HFSS) Food and/or Non-Alcoholic Beverages (F&B) advertising for minors in the United Kingdom and European Union as described below. We will begin enforcing the policy on 6 October.
We support responsible advertising of food and beverages. HFSS F&B ads and destination sites are allowed if they comply with the policies below and don’t target minors. The information reflected in this policy is not intended to be legal advice and we expect all advertisers to comply with the local laws for any region their ads target, including local requirements that may differ from this HFSS F&B policy.
Advertisers will be required to self-declare that they are using an account to run HFSS F&B campaigns, and all the creatives within that account will be subject to the HFSS F&B policy restrictions. In order to self-declare please use the form here.
We consider ads to be promoting the sale of HFSS products when one or more HFSS food item, beverage or meal is promoted on the ad creative (text, imagery, audio and/or video) or destination site.
Below are some examples of F&B products (non-exhaustive) that are considered HFSS, unless the ad creative or destination site contains nutritional information indicating the products are within the allowed threshold for FSS and serving size/calories, or on successful appeal by the advertiser. For the complete nutritional thresholds for HFSS F&B products, please see the table below.
These are some examples of HFSS F&B:
- Sweetened beverages (fizzy drinks, water, juice, coffee, tea or sport drinks with added sugar or other caloric sweeteners), energy drinks
- Doughnuts, cakes, sweet biscuits, pastries, croissants, sweet bakery treats
- Fruit canned in syrup, dried fruit with added sugar
- Chocolate nut spreads, trail mix or nut bar with chocolate or sweets, nuts coated in syrup or honey
- Milkshakes
- Pork and beef sausage/hot dogs, salami, prosciutto, bacon, fried meats, fried fish
- Pizza, hamburger meals with chips, fried food (such as jalapeno poppers)
- Sweets, chocolate, sugar confections, gummy snacks, ice cream, marshmallows
- Butter, salt, caloric sweeteners (e.g., maple syrup, agave, honey, sugar), coconut oil
Examples of ads outside the scope of this policy:
- Ads or destination sites that include only text, imagery, audio and/or video, etc. of foods, beverages and meals that aren't HFSS. Examples of non-HFSS F&B include (non-exhaustive): 100% juice; plain bottled water; carbonated water and flavoured water with no added sugar or sweeteners; beverages containing ONLY water and 100% juice (e.g. diluted juice); unsweetened coffee and tea; low or non-fat plain milk; grains with no added ingredients; plain fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables; dry beans and lentils; fruit canned in water or 100% juice; plain nuts and seeds; nuts and dried fruit with no added salt or sugar; low or non-fat plain yoghurt with no added sugar; plain fish, poultry, eggs or meat (no added salt, fat, sugar); plain flours; baking soda; baking powder; olive oil; canola oil
- Food or beverage company ads or destination sites that don't include text, imagery, audio and/or video, etc. of any HFSS foods and beverages, such as:
- Brand logo or company name depicted in a sponsorship or charity situation, i.e. 'Sponsored by or brought to you by [company name]'
- Restaurant locator websites
- Restaurant review websites
- Restaurant delivery services
- Ads or destination sites that feature one or more HFSS F&B products, to promote a product or service that isn't related to F&B, such as:
- A trailer for a baking show
- A tourism advertisement
- Ads for kitchen cleaning supplies
- Ads or destination sites that feature one or more HFSS F&B products, to promote a PSA message on healthy diets and eating
Effect of the policy
This policy update will apply to all HFSS F&B ads serving in the UK and EU on the Google Display Network and YouTube. Ads within accounts that are self-declared as HFSS F&B and have received the HFSS label will only serve to users with a declared age of 18 and above.
What happens if you violate our policies?
- If we become aware that you have run an ad for an HFSS F&B product (or for a product whose HFSS status cannot be confirmed due to lack of nutritional information) outside of an HFSS F&B self-declared account, you will receive a notification that the ad has been restricted from serving to minors in the UK and EU as described above. If you'd like to appeal the decision, you must make revisions or submit nutritional information to us to substantiate your position.
- Ads and extensions that violate this policy may be disapproved. A disapproved ad will be restricted until the policy violation is fixed and the ad is approved.
How to fix a violation
- If you've received notice that one or more of your advertisements have violated the HFSS F&B policy, please visit the help page and ensure that all products that you're advertising through your ads and destination sites are within the nutrient guidelines.
- If you'd like to advertise products that contain HFSS, Google requires that you self-declare that they're in scope for HFSS F&B.
- If you want only a subset of ads to be restricted, you're required to create a separate account and self-declare that account for HFSS F&B.
- If you believe that your ads have incorrectly been labelled as HFSS F&B, please submit an appeal with nutritional information to confirm that the ads are out of scope of HFSS F&B.
Please review this policy to determine whether or not any of your ads fall in scope of this policy, and if so, self-declare those ads before 6 October here.
Need help?
- If you have questions about our policies, let us know: Contact Google Ads Support
Nutrient levels are applied on a 100-gram and per serving basis for global applicability and to reflect common labelled serving sizes and calorie levels for meal and meal components. If the serving size of your advertised food or beverage doesn't closely match the listed serving size (LSS), please evaluate your product using the per 100-gram criteria.
|
Food and Beverages |
PER |
Sat fat (g) |
Sodium (mg) |
Total sugar (g) |
Added sugar (g) |
Calories |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Beverages |
||||||
|
All beverages except milk |
LSS (est 8 oz) |
N/A |
105 mg |
N/A |
0 |
N/A |
|
100 g |
N/A |
46 mg |
0 |
|||
|
Grains/breads |
||||||
|
Bread, bread products, noodles, rice, grains, pancakes |
LSS (est 100 g) |
2 |
360 |
10 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
2 |
360 |
10 |
|||
|
Breakfast cereals |
LSS (est 30 g) |
1.5 |
250 |
6.75 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
5 |
625 |
22.5 |
|||
|
Fruits, vegetables and legumes |
||||||
|
Processed fruit, vegetables and legumes |
LSS (est 90 g) |
2 |
350 |
N/A |
0 |
N/A |
|
100 g |
2.2 |
390 |
0 |
|||
|
Nuts and seeds |
||||||
|
Nuts and seeds |
LSS (est 30 g) |
3.5 |
130 |
4 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
12 |
430 |
13 |
|||
|
Dairy |
||||||
|
Milks and milk alternatives |
LSS (est 8 oz/245 g) |
5 |
200 |
22 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
3 |
82 |
9 |
|||
|
Cheese and cheese products |
LSS (est 30 g) |
3 |
228 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
10 |
760 |
||||
|
Yoghurt and yoghurt-type products |
LSS (est 170 g) |
5 |
136 |
19 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
3 |
80 |
11.5 |
|||
|
Meat, fish, egg, poultry and meat replacements |
||||||
|
Processed meat, poultry, fish, eggs and alternatives |
LSS (est 50 g) |
2 |
335 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
4 |
670 |
||||
|
Meals and meal components |
||||||
|
Ready-made dishes and appetisers |
<315 calories (est 140 grams) |
5 |
545 |
14 |
N/A |
315 |
|
100 g |
4 |
390 |
10 |
225 |
||
|
Complete meal |
<510 calories (est 300 g) |
6.6 |
660 |
18 |
N/A |
510 |
|
100 g |
2.2 |
220 |
6 |
200 |
||
|
Snacks and treats |
||||||
|
Snacks and treats |
<150 calories (est 30 g) |
1.5 |
120 |
6.75 |
N/A |
150 |
|
100 g |
5 |
400 |
22.5 |
500 |
||
|
Sauces, condiments and culinary ingredients |
||||||
|
Sauces, condiments and culinary ingredients |
LSS (est 30 g) |
2 |
135 |
1.5 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
6.6 |
450 |
4.9 |
|||
(Posted August 2020)