Alcohol advertising: what you can and cannot do?

Published : 02/27/2023 13:27:56 Updated : 11/07/2025 08:05:48 The Media Buying Academy : Basics to get started

Marketing Team

Pôle Marketing

Article summary : Alcohol advertising: what you can and cannot do?

📜 Évin Law: Core Principles for Alcohol Advertising

Alcohol advertising is permitted but heavily regulated in France (Law No. 91-32 of January 10, 1991).
Promotion is conditional on not encouraging the public to consume the product.
All advertisements must include the mandatory health warning: "L’abus d’alcool est dangereux pour la santé" (Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health).

✅ Authorized Advertising Channels

Print media (excluding youth magazines).
Out-of-Home (OOH) displays (billboards, bus shelters, etc.).
Radio (only during specific time slots designated to exclude children).
Mailing flyers, catalogs, brochures.
Websites (excluding those aimed at minors or related to sports).

🚫 Prohibited Advertising Channels

Television and Cinema.
Print media and websites targeting minors.
Websites related to sports.

⚠️ What is Considered Incitement

Advertising must not promote alcohol propaganda (through graphics, branding, or names that recall an alcoholic beverage).
Example of a ban: A hand holding a glass of alcohol is considered encouraging consumption and is not accepted (based on the Club des Vignerons Lauréats example).
Social Media: In January 2023, Instagram (META) was ordered to remove publications for illegal promotion via influencers.

🔎 Campaign Vetting Process

No single dedicated regulatory body exists for approval.
The legal departments of advertising agencies and media owners (régies publicitaires) are responsible for validating the visuals and text of alcohol advertisements.

>> The law permits promotion for traditional festivals or oenological activities (museums, introductory courses).

*Indirect advertising and propaganda are strictly governed by the Évin Law.

Although alcohol advertising is allowed in France, it is highly regulated: spirits cannot be promoted on all media and the visuals used must meet certain standards. Find out everything you need to know before advertising alcohol in France.

>>> Discover all our advertising solutions to launch your campaign

Article Summary: Alcohol advertising - what you can and cannot do?

Loi Evin and regulation of alcohol advertising
Advertising media that can be used to advertise alcohol
Advertising media that cannot be used to advertise alcohol
Advertising alcohol: what is permitted and what is prohibited
Legal statement to be included in an advertisement for alcohol
Who validates the visuals of alcohol advertising campaigns?

Loi Evin and regulation of alcohol advertising

Alcohol advertising is regulated in France by the Evin law and more precisely by the law n° 91-32 of January 10, 1991 relating to the fight against smoking and alcoholism. Advertising for promotional purposes of alcoholic beverages is authorized provided that it does not incite the public to consume them.

>>> Discover also the regulation about vegetal products that imitate meat

Advertising media that can be used to advertise alcohol

The Evin law defines, among others, the media authorized to broadcast advertisements to promote alcoholic beverages:

written press, except for magazines intended for children
radio ads, but only at times determined by decree of the Conseil d'État (Council of State): which corresponds to times when children are not likely to be listening
les billboards
postal tracts, catalogs and brochures
Internet sites that are not intended for minors or related to sports

Advertising media that cannot be used to advertise alcohol

Thus, all the advertising media that are not mentioned by the Evin law cannot be used as advertising media to promote liquors. Advertising of alcohol is thus forbidden :

on television
in the cinema
in the youth press
on websites aimed at minors
on websites related to sports

Advertising alcohol: what is permitted and what is prohibited

It is possible to advertise alcoholic beverages:

in order to promote traditional festivals and fairs dedicated to local drinks
in order to promote museums, universities, brotherhoods or oenological initiation courses

Nonetheless, there are limits to what advertisers can do, especially regarding the realization of indirect advertising or propaganda in favor of alcohol, such as the reference to a drink through the use of a graphic, presentation, denomination, brand or other sign that recalls an alcoholic beverage.

In January 2023, the Judicial Court of Paris ordered Instagram and the META group to remove 37 publications that illicitly promote alcohol. The association Addiction France explains in a press release that "influencers push alcohol consumption by associating the product(s) presented with their positive image."

Source : Addiction France

Returning to advertising, the visuals of a campaign for an alcoholic beverage or an alcohol-related event must not incite people to consume. A poster showing a glass of wine in order to promote a wine fair is allowed, but having a hand holding a glass is considered to be incitement to drink and is therefore not accepted. This is what the Club des Vignerons Lauréats found with their posters created to promote their wine show.

Legal statement to be included in an advertisement for alcohol

All advertisements promoting alcoholic beverages must include a preventive health message, regardless of the media used: “L’abus d’alcool est dangereux pour la santé” ("Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health").

>>> How to create a successful advertising poster?

Who validates the visuals of alcohol advertising campaigns?

There is no specialized organization to validate the visuals or texts of alcohol ads. Therefore, it is the advertising agencies, more precisely the legal departments, that are in charge of these validations.

>>> What is an advertising agency?