Canada Alcohol Campaign Category Policy

This guide provides an overview of Quantcast’s policy guidelines for Alcohol campaigns in Canada, including what is supported, restricted, and prohibited. Please review carefully.

To see the full Campaign Policy, see this page.

Alcohol Campaigns in Canada

Advertising is supported for Alcohol campaigns in Canada, including:

• Alcohol products (beer, wine, spirits, N/A drinks used as mixers*, etc.)

• Slcohol-related destinations (vineyards, bars, distilleries, etc.)

• Alcohol delivery services (alcoholic beverages delivered via food delivery services, shipping from alcohol retailers and manufacturers).

* These rules apply when a non-alcoholic beverage is used as a mixer (no energy drinks allowed).

Carefully review this guide as there are important prohibitions and restrictions with which Advertisers must comply to satisfy Quantcast policies, laws, and self-regulatory codes. Advertisers are responsible for compliance with all federal, provincial, and municipal rules, including but not limited to those related to licensing, branding, and advertising pre-approvals.

Creative Considerations

• Landing pages must include age self-verification.

Campaign Parameters

See the Create a New Campaign article for details on setting up a campaign.

• Campaigns must be targeted to audiences primarily 19+: i.e., 73.6%* of the audience reached being 19+, typically achieved using allow lists. For Platform Clients, contact your Quantcast Account Manager to implement allow lists.

*Percentage set by The Beer Institute and the Brewers Association and anticipated to be adopted by other industry self-regulatory bodies, including Wine Institute and Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

• Permitted targeting types: all targeting types, subject to PIPEDA (below) and to the Restricted Data Types section of Quantcast’s Campaign Policy: in connection with the use of any Quantcast product or service, where prohibited by applicable law, Clients may not collect, use, or provide to Quantcast personal data revealing a restricted attribute or characteristic explicitly, by inference, or otherwise, including in creatives and/or strategies like targeting and/or tagging. Demographic targeting must be used to limit the audience to over 19.

• Permitted tagging: all tagging types, subject to PIPEDA (below) and to the Restricted Data Types section of Quantcast’s Campaign Policy: in connection with the use of any Quantcast product or service, where prohibited by applicable law, Clients may not collect, use, or provide to Quantcast personal data revealing a restricted attribute or characteristic explicitly, by inference, or otherwise, including in creatives and/or strategies like targeting and/or tagging.

• Supply: Curated supply packages for alcohol compliant supply must be targeted for all alcohol advertisers. packages can be selected under the section “Deals and Packages”. Global alcohol packages are named as follows:

  • Display/Video/Native: Quantcast Curated Package - Global Alcohol Compliant - Display/Video/Native

  • CTV: Quantcast Curated Package - Global Alcohol Compliant - CTV

• PIPEDA: Campaigns must not reveal or concern or result in the collection, provision, or processing of the following types of data; or allow reasonably certain inferences concerning:

  • All health-related data (known or inferred, including genetic and biometric data)

  • Financial data

  • Ethnic and racial origins

  • Political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs

  • Sex life or sexual orientation

• Dayparting: For CTV, avoid child-friendly programming; some publishers may have display time prohibitions.

Important Prohibitions

Creative Prohibitions

• Campaigns must not:

  • Appeal to minors, such as by including athletes, mythical characters, cartoons, or role models, or portray characters who appear under the age of 25.

  • Make health, therapeutic, or social status claims (e.g., by claiming to reduce stress levels or improve sex life).

  • Depict irresponsible, dangerous, or illegal consumption, misuse, dependency, compulsive behavior, urgency, or irresponsible activities while drinking (such as driving or showing drinking in public places where it is not permitted).

  • Attempt to influence non-drinkers to drink or purchase alcohol.

  • Include discount deals (such as Groupon).

  • Depict liquor or liquor drinking.

If you have questions regarding an Alcohol advertiser or campaign, please contact [email protected].