Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I'm aware of the restriction on advertising on beer/hard alcohol site and emailed the site owner (after checking to see that the restriction still existed). But I am totally confused by this restriction, which seems to permit advertsing on wine sites, but prohibits it on beer sites.
Alcohol in most parts of the world is legal, and the art of brewing is as varied as that of winemaking, so that at times it's hard to make a distinction (for example are ciders and perries brews or wines).
For a guidebook type site this could get really hard. Wine-tasting would be acceptable, beer or spirit tasting would not.
But then there are no alcoholics in the States are there?
Exactly. We also have no perverts, despite a thriving porn industry; no druggies, despite a massive yearly influx of hardcore, illegal drugs; and no underage sex, despite simply appalling teenage pregnancy rates. This country is steeped in puritanically sinful oxymorons. We're a nation of Bible thumping pilgrims that wait all year for the Sport Illustrated Swimsuit issue; abstinence zealots that drool over 15 and 16 year old female "pop artists" in belly shirts and navel rings; vocal prohibitionists that literally throw money at the Budweiser corporation.
You really can't take anything we say seriously.
(Unless, that is, we tell you that we're going to blow something up. We're generally pretty straightforward about blowing things up. It's the part where we say that we want to help you, right before blowing you up, that can sometimes be confusing.)
They allow it for porn but not beer?
...
They allow it for neither.
Ever seen American marketing material for beer? It's not all that different from porn. Conversely, I've never seen a wine ad with mostly naked cheerleaders in it. You don't suppose this could be the reasoning behind G's policy?
cEM
For a guidebook type site this could get really hard. Wine-tasting would be acceptable, beer or spirit tasting would not.
I have pages about beer halls, Munich's Oktoberfest, and other beer-related travel topics. Google happily displays ads on them; for example, my Oktoberfest article is currently showing ads for beer mugs, Oktoberfest tours, Munich apartments, and so on.
I also have articles on whisky. An article about Scotch whisky distilleries has ads for whisky glasses, a movie called "Whiskey Galore," and the "KY Bourbon Triangle" (which sounds like a prelubricated booze-flavored dental dam), while an article about a whisky made in the Orkney Islands has ads for Orkney-Shetland holidays, whisky glasses, the aforementioned KY Bourbon Triangle, and ice-cream franchises (probably because there's a mention of whisky with ice cream on one of the pages).
In short, AdSense has no problem displaying ads on pages about beer or other alcoholic beverages, and some of those ads are targeted at people who consume alcoholic beverages (e.g., buyers of beer mugs, whisky glasses, and distillery or beer-festival tours). So unless you've got a site called moonshining-for-beginners.com or teen-tippling-guide.com, you probably don't have anything to worry about.
In short, AdSense has no problem displaying ads on pages about beer or other alcoholic beverages, and some of those ads are targeted at people who consume alcoholic beverages (e.g., buyers of beer mugs, whisky glasses, and distillery or beer-festival tours). So unless you've got a site called moonshining-for-beginners.com or teen-tippling-guide.com, you probably don't have anything to worry about.
Google has no problem with us showing AdSense ads on the site, but won't allow advertisers covering this area.
As an addition, most visitors will pop in during the US late evenings, especially during weekends, when advertisers has either paused their campaigns or run out of their budgets.
So no. Alcohol related sites and AdSense isn't the best of matches.
Google has no problem with us showing AdSense ads on the site, but won't allow advertisers covering this area.
What ads to google place?
what ads
Hard to answer without breaking WW TOS, but I'll take my chances (since EFV has started). There are some bartending schools, but plenty more health drinks, low carb drinks, juices and off-beat algea stuff.
Most of them are OK, but there simply aren't enough of them, and it's a pity, since branding is such a big area when it comes to hard liquor.
Whether this would dovetail perfectly with Google's interpretation is something you'd have to ask them.
Something that gets muddied in this forum is the difference between publishing and commerce. Speaking again from a U.S. perspective, there is almost nothing you can't write about on a traditional "content" site as long as it is not defamatory.
However, on a "commercial" site -- one that exists primarily to sell or promote products -- you are judged by the harsher provisions surrounding commercial speech, which is not as vigorously protected.
Those who are serious publishers need to be pretty hard-nosed about asserting their right to publish the truth as they see it. Truth is the perfect defense. Publish and be damned, as they say.
From a legal standpoint in the U.S., you can talk about beer drinking, beer making, beer history and so forth all you want and be perfectly and completely protected by the First Amendment. It is only if you are actually SELLING beer (and, until a few days ago, wine) that you are potentially in trouble with the law, for reasons having to do with taxation and underage drinking laws.
We're a nation of Bible thumping pilgrims that wait all year for the Sport Illustrated Swimsuit issue; abstinence zealots that drool over 15 and 16 year old female "pop artists" in belly shirts and navel rings; vocal prohibitionists that literally throw money at the Budweiser corporation.
ROFLMAO
Soon a massive supermarket chain opened a tiny mini-mart and proved that the interpretation was 'consuming' of alcohol as opposed to selling, so they began to sell.
The restaurant ignored the ruling, no one contested and the next restaurant also sold alcohol but disallowed patrons bringing their own.
Nothing was opposed and years went by, now it is like any other high street, selling booze. Market forces will always win and someone will always challenge the rules.
And if you're outside the USA?
Careful Olwen - for a lot of people in the US there is no "outside the USA"
Just kidding USA we love you really, esp us Brits - well some of us - sometimes;)
