Update to Other restricted businesses policy (October 2020)

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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 drinks. 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 that 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, drink 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 that 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 (soda, 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
• Fruits canned in syrup, dried fruit with added sugar
• Chocolate nut spreads, trail mix or nut bars with chocolate or candy, nuts coated in candy 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 bites)
• Lollies, chocolate, sweets, 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, drinks and meals that are not 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; skimmed or non-fat plain milk; grains with no added ingredients; plain fresh or frozen fruits 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 drinks company ads or destination sites that do not include text, imagery, audio and/or video, etc. of any HFSS foods and drinks, 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 in order to promote a product or service that is not 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 in order to promote a public service announcement 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) except in 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 would 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 have 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 you are advertising through your ads and destination sites are within the nutrient guidelines.
• If you would like to advertise products that contain HFSS, Google requires that you self-declare that they are in scope for HFSS F&B.
• If you want only a subset of ads to be restricted, you are 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.

Google HFSS F&B Nutritional profile

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 drink does not closely match the listed serving size (LSS), please evaluate your product using the per-100 gram criteria.

 

Food and drink	Per	Sat. fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Total sugar (g)	Added sugar (g)	Calories
Drinks
All drinks 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
Milk 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 g)	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)