Notification

In this Help Centre, you can find content for both Merchant Center Next and the classic Merchant Center experience. Look for the logo at the top of each article to make sure that you're using the article for the Merchant Center version that applies to you. 

Alcoholic drinks

A custom icon for Merchant Center Classic and Merchant Center Next.

This policy applies to Shopping ads and local inventory ads

Our policy

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

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

  • Violate applicable laws and industry standards for any location that you target
  • Target minors
  • 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

Refer to the Google product category [google_product_category] attribute in the feed specification for requirements on how to submit these products to an appropriate audience.

Country-specific requirements

In addition to the requirements above, there may be further restrictions based on your target country. See the additional country-specific requirements that you must meet below.

Countries Allowed?
Argentina 
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Cambodia
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Czechia
Denmark
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kenya
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Panama
Peru
Mexico
The Philippines
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Romania
Senegal
Singapore
Slovakia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Uganda
Ukraine
The United Kingdom
The United States
Uruguay
Allowed with limitations
In these countries, Google allows the promotion of alcohol (including hard alcohol, liquor, beer, wine, champagne and cider) as long as the requirements outlined above are met.
Algeria
Angola
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Cameroon
Cote d'Ivoire
The Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Ethiopia
Finland
Georgia
Guatemala
India
Indonesia
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Madagascar
Malaysia
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar (Burma)
Nepal
Nicaragua
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Paraguay
Poland
Russia
Saudi Arabia
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Türkiye
The United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Not allowed Not allowed
In these countries, Google doesn't allow the promotion of any alcoholic beverages, including hard alcohol, liquor, beer, wine, champagne or cider.
 

What you can do

Here's what you can do if your product is disapproved or if your Merchant Center account is impacted:

Product disapproval

Products that don't comply with our policies may be disapproved. When a product is disapproved, it won't be eligible to serve. 

  1. Read our policies to learn what we don't allow.
  2. Update your website. If your ad or listing leads to content that violates a policy, update your website to meet the requirements and be in compliance with our policies.
  3. Remove the violating products from your product data. You'll receive an email with details about the violation. 
    • If you have products in your product data that violate the policy (or policies), you'll need to remove the offers from your feed.
  4. Update your product data in Merchant Center. If you created a schedule for automatic uploads, update your product data manually or wait for your product data to be updated automatically before requesting any reviews.
  5. Request a review of your products or appeal the decision taken on this issue.
    • If the violating products are removed, you won't need to request a review or take any additional action.
    • If you fix your product-level issues by editing your product data via your chosen upload method (such as a file) or directly in Merchant Center, your products will be re-reviewed.
    • For certain issues, you can disagree with the issue but you may need to complete additional steps such as providing an appeal reason and/or uploading required documentation.
    • If you use a third-party platform to list your products, you can refer to your third party if you want to request a review. You won't be able to do this in Merchant Center.
    • If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center.
Account disapproval

For most violations, we'll send you a warning email detailing the policy violation and give you 7 or 28 calendar days to fix your issue.

  1. Read our policies to learn what we don't allow.
  2. Update your website. If your ad or listing leads to content that violates a policy, update your website to meet the requirements and be in compliance with our policies.
  3. Remove any violating products from your product data. You'll receive an email with details about the violation. If you have products in your product data that violate the policy (or policies) you'll need to remove the offers from your feed.
  4. Update your data in Merchant Center.
    • Review your account and submit any missing information or complete any unfinished steps.
    • If you created a schedule for automatic uploads, update your product data manually or wait for your product data to be updated automatically before requesting any reviews.
  5. Request a review of your account or appeal the decision taken on this issue.
    • If your account is still within the warning period, it will automatically be reviewed again at the end of the warning period. If the violating products are removed, you won't need to request an account review or take any additional action.
    • If your account is suspended and you've taken actions to resolve the issue, request an account review.
    • For certain issues, you can disagree with the issue but you may need to complete additional steps such as providing an appeal reason and/or uploading required documentation.
    • If you use a third-party platform to list your products, you can refer to your third party if you want to request a review. You won't be able to do this in Merchant Center.

Note: Account reviews typically take seven business days, but may take longer for complex reviews. If you remove violating products, the warning will be removed. If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center. In the case of account suspension, we will approve the account and allow products to be displayed again.

Account issue that limits product visibility

Your account has an issue and is operating with reserved functionality, therefore your products have limited visibility. An email was sent with a notice about what to do and the steps needed to resolve your account issue.

  1. Read our policies to learn more about our requirements.
  2. Update your website. If your ad or listing leads to content that violates a policy, update your website to meet the requirements and be in compliance with our policies.
  3. Fix any other open policy violation in your account. Review your products and your account details.
    • If products aren't supported, remove them from your feed.
    • If account details are missing, complete them in Merchant Center.
  4. Request a review of your account or appeal the decision taken on this issue.
    • If your Merchant Center account is still within the warning period for certain policies, it will automatically be reviewed again at the end of the warning period.
    • If your account is affected and you've resolved the issue, request a Merchant Center account review.
    • For certain issues, you can disagree with the issue but you may need to complete additional steps such as providing an appeal reason and/or uploading required documentation.
    • If you use a third-party platform to list your products, you can refer to your third party if you want to request a review. You won't be able to do this in Merchant Center.

Note: Account reviews typically take seven business days, but may take longer for complex reviews. If you remove violating products, the warning will be removed. If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center. In the case of account suspension, we will approve the account and allow products to be displayed again.

To ensure a safe and positive experience for customers, Google requires that retailers comply with all applicable laws and regulations in addition to our policies. It's important that you familiarise yourself with and keep up to date with these requirements for the place where your business operates, as well as any other places that your ads are shown. When we find content that violates these requirements, we may block it from appearing. In cases of repeated or egregious violations, we may ban you from advertising content with us.

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