Here’s the List of Products You Can’t Advertise on these Popular Platforms.

Check if you are allowed to advertise your products on these platforms.

Google introduces yet another smart bidding strategy for the users in the form of "Maximize Conversion Value" and it is now available in all Search Campaigns.

In order to get approval of your ads on the popular advertising platforms, brands need to know the list of products or services which are allowed to be advertised. There are a big list of products/services which the platforms do not allow advertisers to promote based on their rules and regulations.

For the digital marketers, mainly the people who are working in any digital agencies, who often need to go live with the ad campaigns as soon as possible, it is always recommended to be well aware beforehand if the product they are intending to promote is actually allowed by the adverting platform or not.

Across all search and social platforms, the standard rule applies which doesn’t allow the brands to promote any counterfeit products, illegal products, tobacco and deceptive practices.

Apart from the list mentioned above, here I have tried to summarize the list of prohibited products that advertisers can not promote.

Google & Youtube:

Google and its subsidiary products keeps an high level over view of the prohibited and restricted products. Prohibited ad content are – i) Counterfeit Products, ii) Dangerous Products or Services, iii) Ads that might enable dishonest behaviors and iv) Inappropriate content.

Google’s restricted products list include the following:

1.     Adult Content

2.     Alcohol

3.     Copyrights

4.     Gambling and Online games

5.     Healthcare and medicines

6.     Political content

7.     Financial Services

8.     Trademarks

9.     Legal Requirements

Microsoft & Bing:

Apart form the standard practice, Microsoft doesn’t allow any election related content or any ad content for political party’s fund-raising activities. Also, like the other platforms, it doesn’t allow any advertisements of any kind of weapons on its platform. This includes firearms and ammunition, but also knives: “Knives that are positioned as weapons or whose primary use is violence, including switchblade knives, disguised knives, buckle knives, lipstick case knives, air gauge knives, knuckle knives and writing pen knives.”

In India, Vietnam and Brazil, Microsoft doesn’t allow any kind of advertisements that promote Baby formula, feeding bottles, rubber nipples or baby food.

Facebook & Instagram:

Apart from the standard practices, Facebook and its family of apps doesn’t allow advertisements of any surveillance equipment or any content that includes third-parry infringements which means anything that violates copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary rights.

Also, brands intending to promote services like dating, online-gambling, state lotteries, OTC drugs and online pharmacies must take permission from the platform before launching any ad campaign.  

Drug and alcohol addiction treatment promotions are also allowed only after prior approval from the government.

LinkedIn:

Even though LinkedIn is a Microsoft owned platform, the prohibited and restricted products list for this platform is a bit different from the ones outlined by Microsoft or Bing.

Also, unlike Microsoft, LinkedIn doesn’t put political ads under its restricted list rather it prohibits it completely. Apart from these, below are the list of products that come under the restricted ad content:

1.     Alcohol

2.     Animal Products

3.     Dating services

4.     Soliciting funds

5.     Medical devices

6.     Short term loans or financial services

In addition to these, LinkedIn also doesn’t allow any ad content which are hateful, sextually suggestive, vulgar or violent.

Twitter:

Twitter is one platform where the restricted and prohibited product’s guidelines are actually very simple and easy to remember.

The only thing Twitter says is that it doesn’t allow any promotion of any sort of malware products and it has restriction for promoting software downloads.

Reddit:

Reddit also follows the standard practices like the other platforms for the restricted and prohibited products.

The platform doesn’t allow any kind of promotion for addictive treatment centres or services, political campaigns, bail-bonds, Pay-day loans, debt assistance program, cryptocurrency wallet, credit or debit cards and any sort of cheat funds.

Unlike other platforms, Reddit allow any advertiser to promote dating services on their platform.

If any brand is intended to promote anything related to gambling, state lotteries need to have prior approval from the platform.

Snapchat:

Like the other popular platforms, Snapchat also follows the standard practice and the list of restricted and prohibited products are almost the same as the others.

However, keeping in mind the younger generation who are a major chunk of users that they own, they have a set some specifics. One of them being – they do not allow any ad content that encourage snapping and driving or other dangerous behaviours.

Also, it doesn’t allow any ad content that may “Shock the user”. Also, one interesting fact is that they doesn’t allow any kind of app install campaigns of which the original source is not the official app store for the user’s device.

Apart from the above, their prohibited list of products are – i) Infringing content, ii) Deceptive content, iii) Hateful or discriminatory content, iv) Inappropriate content.

Like Reddit, Snapchat also allow advertisers to promote dating service on their platforms when the targeting criteria is set to age group of 18 and above. In case any advertiser is willing to promote alcohol, they need to make sure that the targeting audience is above the age group of drinking eligibility.

One disadvantage that the digital marketing professionals may face is the different rules in different markets for Snapchat. So, if you are managing multiple countries’ snapchat account, it’s better to have a look at the guidelines before launching any campaign.

Pinterest:

List of products that come under the prohibited list of Pinterest are as follows:

1.     Drugs and paraphernalia

2.     Endangered species and live animals

3.     Illegal products and services

4.     Counterfeit products

5.     Sensitive content

6.     Tobacco

7.     Unacceptable business practices

8.     Weapons and explosives

The platform doesn’t allow any content that promote adult and nudity. Also, it doesn’t allow any content related to politics, healthcare related ads like eyeglasses, contact lenses, medical devices, OTC medicines, weight-loss, supplements or unrealistic claims of cosmetics .

Below are the list of products that come under the restricted list of Pinterest:

1.     Alcohol

2.     Financial products & services

3.     Gambling products & services

Please note that, the ad policies stated on this article are as they stand currently and are subject to change at any given time. I recommend to go through the official guidelines in case you have any doubt in your mind before launching any campaigns.

Hope you find this article informative and follow this space for any of your future queries related to digital marketing.