EMEA Disney+ Advertising inventory Guidelines
Updated: 15th September 2023
These guidelines (“Guidelines”) apply to purchases of advertising inventory in EMEA on the Disney+ app (“Disney+”). These Guidelines are incorporated into and are part of the applicable insertion order terms and programmatic sales terms. The Guidelines do not, and cannot, provide an exhaustive list of guidelines, or examples, and Disney+ reserves the right to review, accept, decline, suggest modifications to, or remove any and all advertising on a case-by-case basis. Disney+ also reserves the right to approve exceptions to these Guidelines on a case-by-case basis. Disney+ may update these Guidelines from time to time without notice, so please check in and review them regularly.
1. Disclosures for Advertising Materials. Advertising materials and the advertising sponsor must be clearly identifiable and may not be disguised as editorial content or programming as determined by Disney+. The method of disclosure can differ depending on the platform, target audience, and type of advertising, but in all cases must be clear and conspicuous. Similarly, disclosures concerning a product, service or offer, such as how a product works, what is included with a product, service or offer, or what is excluded from a product, service or offer, must be made clear and conspicuous to a reasonable consumer.
2. Substantiation, Legality, Third Party Rights. Advertisers must be able to substantiate any express or implied claims conveyed in the advertising materials, including any such claims made through endorsers. An advertised offer must be fulfilled as stated in the advertisement, and advertisements may only portray or make claims about the product or service being advertised that are accurate and truthful. Advertisements must not be misleading and must comply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations, including industry self-regulatory guidelines, and must not infringe or violate any third party’s rights.
3. Technical Specifications. Advertising materials must comply with Disney+’s technical specifications, which can be found here: https://disneyadvertising.co.uk/media-guidelines
4. Third Party Technology. All third party technology included in or appended to advertising by or on behalf of the advertiser, including any tags, pixels or other software code utilised for brand safety, invalid traffic/fraud or viewability, shall be subject to Disney+’s prior written approval and, wherever necessary, user consent.
5. Advertiser Landing Page. Where personal information is solicited on the advertiser’s landing page, (i) any collection of personal information must be in full compliance with all privacy laws, (ii) the advertiser must clearly explain to the consumer how the advertiser will use the personal information collected, (iii) the advertiser must provide a clear and conspicuous link to its privacy policy on the landing page from the advertisement and provide users a mechanism for opting out of data collection where required by law, and (iv) such pages may be subject to review and approval.
6. Food and Beverage Advertising. All advertisements directed to kids and families for food and beverage products, food service providers, and restaurants must comply with The Walt Disney Company’s Nutrition Guidelines and must be approved on a case-by-case basis and must, in any event, comply with local laws.
Food and beverages that do not meet Disney’s Nutritional Guideline criteria cannot be advertised to under 18 year olds, and are subject to programming restrictions. Please contact your EMEA Disney representative for more information. Local laws relating to advertising to children may also apply.
7. Prohibited Content. The following list describes content within advertising that is not acceptable in Disney+ Advertising Inventory:
- Content that is reasonably determined to be, or that includes behaviour or language that is: abusive, harmful, hateful, threatening, obscene, fraudulent, harassing, bullying, defamatory including attacks of a personal nature, attacks on an individual businesses, or a comment on a private dispute or disrespects human dignity or animal cruelty.
- Claims or representations that could be interpreted as wrongfully discriminatory, or content that promotes any discrimination based on race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, nationality, disability or body image / body shaming.
- Sensationalism (e.g. gossip, or scandal).
- Inflammatory, graphic, or offensive content, language or images, including expletives and partial expletives, bad language and proxies for bad language (e.g., X@#%!, or bleeped out language).
- Content including graphic violence, and gratuitous use of guns/ammunition/firearms/weapons/knives.
- Content including smoking, vaping, drug taking, tobacco products, excessive alcohol consumption, illegal drugs, and marijuana.
- Content that includes excretory references (animal or human).
- Content that potentially glamourises, condones or encourages imitation of unsafe, inappropriate or otherwise illegal behaviour, illegal activities or references to products and/or services used to assist in furtherance of illegal activities, dangerous sports which could create copycat tactics, use of matches or playing with fire, or gambling.
- Content which shows irresponsible behaviour, or encourages behaviour prejudicial to health and safety e.g. no safety equipment being used, no seat belts in cars, unsafe stunts such as walking on bridge edges.
- Content must not encourage behaviour grossly prejudicial to the environment or including unsubstantiated green claims, or endorsement of wasting products such as food.
- Content that mimics news techniques (e.g. “breaking news” language, or use of a news ticker) or has the appearance of being a news report.
- Content that includes governmental emergency alert system tones, or sound-alike tones.
- Sexually explicit or suggestive content including sexualised full or partial nudity, sexual innuendo, double entendres, etc (non-sexualised partial nudity will be considered on a case-by-case basis).
- Content sexualising children in any way including showing children in underwear.
- Content which uses footage of, or parodies, real life tragedies and could disturb or cause scaremongering amongst our audiences, such as: featuring real dead bodies, disaster footage (human, social, governmental or environmental), terrorist attacks, horror scenes, graphic violence or threatening behaviour, self-harm, eating disorders and addictions, kidnap, rape or murder or war scenes.
- Materials that infringe or assist others to infringe on any copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights.
- Unauthorised or unapproved uses of Disney+ or a Disney+ affiliate’s products, services, creative assets (e.g. talent, characters, movie or show titles and logos, show imagery, colour scheme, or fonts).
- Content or imagery that copies, mimics, parodies, or mocks current or past creative of any of The Walt Disney Company family of brands.
- Any implied yet unauthorised affiliation or favoured status with any of The Walt Disney Company family of brands.
- Any content that includes the unauthorised use of intellectual property owned or otherwise controlled by The Walt Disney Company family of brands, including but not limited to the Disney brand’s name, trademark or logo in any form (e.g. voiceover, promotional codes, and text overlay).
- Content that contains or promotes spyware, malware or other harmful code.
- Content that contains techniques which exploit the possibility of conveying a message subliminally or surreptitiously.
- Content that: (i) causes physical or moral detriment to persons under 18, (ii) directly exhorts under 18s to purchase goods or services in a manner which exploits their inexperience or credulity, (iii) directly encourages under 18s to persuade, request, or pester their parents or others to purchase goods or services advertised; or (iv) exploits the trust of under 18s in parents, teachers or others.
- Content containing call-to-action buttons, URLs, hashtags and QR codes that imply interactivity (unless otherwise generated by Disney+ on behalf of an advertiser, or otherwise approved by Disney+). If approved, such call out buttons shall only apply for adult adverts.
- Content which is controversial or could damage, harm, offend, humiliate or have negative impact on brands, institutions, people or communities.
- Promises of miracles solutions, e.g. consumption will make you thinner, better, stronger or smarter.
- Any content that directly links to content that contains any of the above prohibited content.
8. Additional Content Considerations. Advertisers who incorporate the following content or messaging should make sure to do so in compliance with all laws and industry guidelines and additional Disney guidelines/policies:
- Animals — use or misuse of.
- Behaviour requiring safety equipment.
- Contests, sweepstakes, giveaways.
- Environmental claims.
- Financial claims (e.g. loans, leasing, credit, financing, layaway, or financial product benefits and risks).
- Foreign languages.
- Health and nutrition claims.
- Product demonstrations.
- Public symbols/leaders.
- Visual effects.
- Telephone numbers as props.
- White coat as wardrobe or prop in context of health and beauty claims.
9. Prohibited Products, Services, Industries or Categories. Advertising for the following products, services, industries or categories is not accepted:
- Black magic, astrology, horoscopes, occult, paranormal and psychic services.
- Cannabis, marijuana, CBD and related products and services.
- Cosmetic or body modification procedures, including tanning in an ultraviolet device and plastic surgery.
- Credit repair services, bail bonds, or financial services that include pay day loans / loan products, hard sell or high interest rate products.
- Death and death-related products and services (e.g. funerals, funeral homes, cemeteries, and mortuaries).
- Guns, ammunition, firearms and related dangerous products (e.g. guns, weapons, bullets, fireworks, matches, and lighters).
- Illicit drugs and related products and services (with the exception of anti-drug campaigns approved by Disney+).
- Infant formula.
- Money-making opportunities.
- Movies with BBFC R18, or equivalent rating.
- Political Ads (e.g. lobbyists, PACs, political parties, election campaigns, and referendums) or adverts on controversial issues.
- Prescription pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and medical treatment.
- Products or services that are adult-themed or of a sexually explicit nature (e.g. pornography, sex sites, adult magazines, escort or paid dating, sex toys, adult telephone services, and pay-per-call).
- Religion and religious themed ads.
- Tobacco (e.g. cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and chewing tobacco) and related products and services, including nicotine vapes, and related products (with the exception of anti-smoking campaigns approved by Disney+).
10. Products, Services, Industries and Categories not available at launch. Advertising for the following products, services, industries or categories is not available at launch. As Disney+ programming and advertising tools evolve, these may be considered on a case-by-case basis for advertising to adults.
- Alcohol (e.g. beer, wine, malt beverages, hard seltzer, hard liquor, and zero-proof alcohol).
- Gambling, casinos, sports betting (but excluding legal national lotteries, sweepstakes, and fantasy leagues).
- Sexual health (e.g. condoms, contraceptives, personal lubricants, pregnancy tests, and erectile dysfunction medication).
- Online or other dating services and personals.
- Undergarments and lingerie.
- “16” or “18” PEGI-rated video games.
11. Products, Services, Industries and Categories reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The following products, services, industries or categories will be considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration various factors, including, without limitation, appropriateness of advertising content and product, programming restrictions, and age and location targeting restrictions:
- Advertising concerning science and environmental issues (e.g. forestry/lumber, chemicals, minerals, plastics, wildlife tourism, zoos and aquariums).
- Any direct business competitor of The Walt Disney Company family of brands (e.g. theme parks, movies, and streaming services).
- Contests, sweepstakes, giveaways, national state lotteries, fantasy leagues.
- Cryptocurrency and Non Fungible Tokens (“NFTs”) and related services.
- Dietary, vitamins, and nutritional supplements and weight loss drugs, products and services, including slimming products such as diet pills, food substitutes such as slimming shakes, and services such as weight loss programs.
- Fuel and gas.
- Government, non-profit, non-governmental organizations, charitable services, including public service announcements.
- Feminine care and sanitary products.
- Movies, TV programmes and video games.
- Professional services (e.g. legal services and doctor’s offices).
- Over-the-counter medicines, including cough, cold, pain relief, and allergy treatments.
- Violent sports and recreational activities (e.g. MMA or skydiving).
12. Guidelines applicable to Disney+ Advertising Inventory directed to minors. In addition to the guidelines above, the following additional guidelines apply to advertising directed to users whose profile indicates that they are under 18 years old:
- Disclosures. In addition to text disclosures, audio disclosures should be used to make material disclosures.
- Compliance. The advertising materials and delivery must also comply with the applicable laws, regulations and codes of practice relating to minors.
- Disney+ Review. All advertisements must run through Disney+’s internal ad approval system before launch. Advertisements that contain host presenters and/or animated characters endorsing products or services are subject to additional legal and compliance approvals and content restrictions.
- Data Collection. Applicable data protection laws, regulations and codes in EMEA, provide for increased protection of children online. Advertisements directed to children should not engage in online behavioral advertising. Disney’s Children’s Privacy Policy can be accessed here: https://privacy.thewaltdisneycompany.com/en/for-parents/childrens-online-privacy-policy/
- Entertainment Software Products (e.g. console games, mobile games). Industry sponsored ratings for entertainment software products must be disclosed in video and audio. For more information on Pan European Game Information (also known as “PEGI” ratings), go to https://pegi.info/
- Films and DVDs/Digital Media. Advertisers should take care to ensure that only age-appropriate films and DVD/digital media are advertised in this inventory. If an industry rating system applies to the product, such as the BBFC in UK, or other applicable local equivalent film ratings body, the rating label must be prominently displayed for the territory.
- Food and Beverages. Food and Beverages that contain high levels of caffeine or any artificial stimulant (including energy drinks), or High Salt, Fat, or Sugar, or that don’t meet Disney’s Nutritional Guidelines, or are subject to local laws related to child- nutritional standards or safety, cannot be advertised to children and are subject to programming restrictions.
- Products Labelled “Keep out of reach of children” or are not sold to children by law. Advertising for products that are labelled “Keep out of reach of children” but are of benefit to minors, e.g. sunscreen or dental products, should depict adult supervision. In such cases, advertisers must be able to support the implied claim that the product does not present a danger to minors.
- Products, Services, Industries and Categories. Advertising for products, services, industries, and categories listed in sections 9 and 10 above, will not be accepted in this inventory. Advertising for products, services, industries, and categories listed in section 11 above, will generally not be accepted, though Disney+ will consider advertising for some products that could be appropriate for minors (e.g. movies, shows, video games, minor-appropriate sweepstakes/contests, and PSAs ) on a case-by-case basis.