We believe promoted content should make the Pinterest experience better for everyone. Advertising can play a big role in helping people get inspired and bring their future plans to life, which is why we want ads to be among some of the best stuff you see on Pinterest—beautiful, actionable and interesting. To make sure of that, we've put together these advertising principles and rules. PRINCIPLES We have high standards for ads. These principles should guide your content and behavior as you advertise on Pinterest. BE AUTHENTIC. Promote content that expresses who you really are and what you actually offer. PROMOTE PINS THAT MAKE YOU PROUD. Your ads should be some of the best stuff people see on Pinterest. DON'T PROMOTE SPAM OR OTHER BAD STUFF. People should be safe from that on Pinterest. OBEY APPLICABLE LAWS AND REGULATIONS. Keep it legal. For tips on making great ads, check out our creative best practices. THE SPECIFICS You're responsible for making sure your use of our ad services and your ads follow all relevant laws, regulations and industry codes. You must also follow our acceptable use policy, terms, and these advertising standards. These rules apply to all parts of the promoted content, including the image, description and destination, and to features like audience targeting. BE AUTHENTIC AND HONEST Authenticity means being truthful and honest about the product or service you're promoting. It also means being transparent with people about what they should expect when they interact with your ad, your site and your products or services. Accurately reflect your product, service or brand Learn more Your ads must reflect who you are and what you're promoting. Bait and switch ads (misleading ads that promise one thing but lead to another) are poor experiences for Pinners, so make sure your images, descriptions and landing pages are consistent. Don't make misleading or exaggerated claims Learn more Please don't make false promises about your products and services in your ads. Disclose your billing practices Learn more If you charge users on a recurring basis, be transparent and use your ad's description to disclose the terms of payment. Stick to one advertiser per account, and be clear about who's advertising Learn more We want Pinners to know who's promoting content. You can't manage more than one advertiser through a single account or change the advertiser on an account. You also can't create boards for someone else (for example, if you're an agency) and promote stuff from those boards. Instead, you can help someone else promote ads from their own account. Be honest about your relationship with Pinterest Learn more Your ads should stick to our brand guidelines and shouldn't suggest that Pinterest is sponsoring your promotion or is formally affiliated with it. Basically, your design should look like it came from your business, not from Pinterest. You can use the word "Pinterest," but not our wordmark. Respect the rights of others Learn more Your ads can't infringe upon or violate the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark or privacy rights. BE THOUGHTFUL WITH YOUR EDITORIAL To keep ads beautiful, actionable and helpful, we set high standards for the editorial quality of promoted content. For inspiration and help with creating the best possible ads, check out our creative best practices or visit the Pin Factory boards. Your ads should be: Clear and understandable Learn more Ads should be simple, clean and easily understood. We never allow: Fuzzy or grainy images (try at least 600x900 pixels) Incorrectly oriented images that are upside down or sideways Overly busy images that are packed with text overlay or have too many font styles and colors (try no more than 4 frames and 2 font styles or colors) Improper grammar or excessive capitalization and symbols More than 1 hashtag in ad descriptions Professional and neatly edited Learn more Ads should adhere to the highest levels of editorial quality. We never allow: Poorly edited images that are distracting or exaggerated Poorly cropped images that feel careless or recycled Amateur or user-generated content like selfies and screenshots Authentic and straightforward Learn more Ads should set the right expectations and shouldn’t pressure people to click them. We never allow: Images with trick-to-click elements like fake video play icons, download buttons, search bars or buy buttons Images that create a sense of urgency with phrases like “Click here,” “Try now,” “Hurry,” or “Limited time only” Positive and aspirational Learn more Ads should be optimistic and inspire creativity, joy and confidence. We never allow: Clickbait tactics that play on people’s fears, damage self-esteem, use alarmist language or imagery, or purposefully withhold information Demeaning before-and-after shots for health and skincare products that suggest user deficiencies or capitalize on anxiety BE RESPECTFUL WITH YOUR TARGETING Make sure your targeting is relevant. It's never okay to target people in a way that implies you're aware of sensitive info about them. Target the right audience Learn more Your ads should be relevant and show up for the right people. Please don't pick irrelevant criteria when deciding how to target your ad. Examples An ad about shoes that targets "high heels," "sneakers" and "spring fashion" is okay. An ad about shoes that targets "recipe," "Christmas decorations" or "wedding dresses" isn't okay Don't target sensitive categories Learn more Targeting certain audiences can be inappropriate and even offensive. You can't target any audience based on: Health or medical condition Racial or ethnic origin Negative financial status or condition Religious or philosophical affiliation or beliefs Sexual behavior or orientation Alleged or actual commission of a crime Trade union membership BE CAREFUL WITH DATA USAGE When using data to advertise on Pinterest, make sure to be transparent with users and respect their privacy. Follow all audience targeting and conversion tracking rules Learn more If you use Pinterest technology that stores and accesses cookies or other information on an end user's device, you must clearly disclose and obtain end user consent for that activity where required by law. You must not provide Pinterest with information that relates to sensitive categories like medical condition or ethnic origin, or that is collected from a child-directed website or app or from anyone who is under 13. On any site or application where you collect data used with a Pinterest service, you must obtain legally-required consent from each end user regarding that data collection, sharing, and use, and provide clear and prominent notice as described below: CONVERSION TRACKING If you use a Pinterest tag or other technology to provide Pinterest with data for conversion tracking, you must notify your site or app visitors that their information will be shared with third parties to measure advertising effectiveness. AUDIENCE TARGETING If you provide Pinterest with data that you will use on Pinterest for audience targeting, you must ensure clear and prominent notice is given to everyone the data is collected from letting them know that their information will be shared with third parties for targeted advertising. If you will use of any of that data for online behavioral advertising, for example if you’ll use data from a Pinterest tag for visitor retargeting or from an Audience Onboarder, you must also: Ensure they’re given instructions on how to opt out of the use of their information for targeting advertising. For Pinterest visitor retargeting, you must notify users they can opt out through their browser's Do Not Track feature or their Pinterest personalization settings. Not send Pinterest information relating to people who have opted out, and Regularly update data to remove people who have opted out. Respect our community's data and privacy Learn more You may not: Use data you get from a third party to buy ads or perform marketing off Pinterest Use data from a Pinterest service for any purpose other than to understand your Pinterest campaigns on an anonymous basis Use or share data from a Pinterest service with a third party, including another advertising service Join data from a Pinterest service with personally identifiable information or device-level information (like a cookie or device identifier) DELIVER A WORLD CLASS EXPERIENCE We care about the ad experience from start to finish—even the URL your ad links to. Use an accurate destination URL Learn more Make sure the URL Pinners land on is consistent with the destination URL you chose for your ad. You can't cloak your URLs or change them during clickthrough. Be clear if your landing page goes to a hardwall or signup wall Learn more If you require people to take an action (like signing up) before they can see certain content, your ad should make that clear. Also, your ads can't suggest or imply that a product is available on your landing page if you don't actually offer that product. Don't send people to low quality landing pages Learn more Your landing pages should build trust in the quality and substance of your ads. Your landing page can't trick Pinners into visiting another page, have 3 or more ads in the first frame of the page, and/or start automatic downloads on a Pinner's device. If your landing page has a download link, that's okay—the download just can't start automatically. PUT PINNERS' SAFETY FIRST You're responsible for the content you promote on Pinterest, as well as the safety and trustworthiness of the products and services you offer in Pinterest ads. Heads up: for legal, product and reputational reasons, we don't allow certain categories of ads that other platforms do allow. We never allow: Adult products and services Learn more You can't promote sex toys, videos, publications, live shows, sexual enhancement products, or services that provide casual sex, international match-making or escorts. False documents Learn more You can't promote fake IDs, passports or other official documents. Healthcare Learn more We don't allow any ads for medical devices or prescription healthcare items. We do allow ads for non-prescription family planning and contraception as long as the focus isn't improving sexual performance or pleasure. Illegal activity Learn more You can't promote anything that facilitates or promotes illegal activity. Illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia Learn more Your ads can't promote the sale or use of illegal or recreational drugs, including products to cheat drug tests and drug paraphernalia. Imitation or counterfeit goods Learn more You can't promote knockoffs, brand-name replicas or goods wrongfully advertised as authentic brand-name. Badware and hacking Learn more We don't allow anything that links to software that results in a misleading user experience. We also don't allow products that promote instructions for or equipment to illegally access or tamper with software, servers, cell phones or websites. Nudity or sexually suggestive content Learn more Promoted content shows up in places that it normally wouldn't so we have to be a bit more conservative with nudity. We'll reject anything with nudity—artistic or not—as well as some images that aren't actual nudity. For example, we don't allow implied nudity (such as blurred out images and illustrations), implied sexual activity (clothed or unclothed), or any focus on certain body parts (genitals, pubic hair, male or female butt and female breasts.) You can advertise modeled clothing such as bathing suits and lingerie, as long as the pose and product aren't adult-themed or overtly sexual. Online gambling and lotteries, or games of skill Learn more You can't promote gambling game applications or gambling websites. We also don't accept ads for fantasy sports or other online prize-based games that require payment for entry. Ads for brick and mortar casinos that don't lead to online gambling, lotteries or games of skill are okay. Online pharmacies, prescription drugs and supplements Learn more We don't allow anything that promotes online pharmacies, the sale of prescription drugs, clinical trial recruitment, or the sale of supplements we consider unsafe or questionable, like anabolic steroids, chitosan, comfrey, dehydroepiandrosterone, ephedra, human growth hormones, and prescription medications for pets. Over-the-counter drugs and medicines that don't require a prescription are okay. Online contact lens and eyeglass providers are okay. Pinterest incentives Learn more We don't allow anything that directs people to click on Pinterest buttons to get money, prizes or deals. Products from endangered or threatened species Learn more You can't promote products made from tortoise shell, ivory, coral, crocodile skin, tiger, polar bear or sea otter fur, and other endangered wildlife. You also can't promote medicinal products made from rhinos, tigers or Asiatic black bears. For a full list of prohibited wildlife products, please visit our partner, the World Wildlife Fund. Shocking content Learn more Your ads can't include anything that's sensational, aggressive, offensive, disrespectful, threatening or excessively violent, regardless of the message attached to the image. We also don't allow profanity, censored or not. Tobacco Learn more You can't promote tobacco products like cigarettes, e-cigarettes and chewing tobacco, or paraphernalia like pipes, pipe cleaners or rolling papers. Unacceptable business practices Learn more We don't allow anything that promotes products, services or business models that we consider unacceptable. This includes models like penny or bidding fee auctions, payday loans, and plaintiff recruitment services. We also don't allow business models that don't clearly explain their billing policy or value proposition, or use deceptive tactics to charge customers. Weapons and explosives Learn more You can't promote firearms, ammunition, firearm accessories (like high-capacity loaders and scopes) or other weapons, like knives or bows intended for violent use. We also don't allow fireworks, explosives, instructions on how to make weapons or fireworks, or any other instructions on how to harm or kill people. Weight loss products and services Learn more You can't promote weight loss pills, supplements or fat burners. For now, we also reject ads that focus on weight loss or fat loss. We're okay with ads that promote healthy eating and fitness if they don't focus on weight or fat loss, or make unrealistic claims encouraging unhealthy weight loss goals. We have restrictions on ads for these products and services: Alcohol Learn more You can promote ads for alcohol, including beer, wine, spirits, liqueurs, and alcohol memberships. In all cases, you're responsible for complying with applicable federal and local laws and regulatory guidelines, including age gating where necessary. Alcohol ads on Pinterest: Can't be Buyable Pins or Shopping Ads Can't target minors, or depict minors consuming alcoholic beverages Can't associate the consumption of alcohol to enhanced physical performance, improved social standing or better sexual success Can't imply that drinking excessively is beneficial, or that alcohol has therapeutic qualities either as a stimulant or relaxant Can't depict people under the influence of alcohol, or associate drinking with activities that are risky (such as driving, operating heavy machinery), antisocial or illegal Can't emphasize high alcoholic content as a positive quality Promoting ads about the following products or services are always okay, and won't be considered alcohol advertising: Accessories like wine glasses, beer steins and flasks Homebrewing kits Recipes for drinks or food containing alcohol Recipes that suggest paired alcoholic beverages Events that may involve alcohol consumption, like happy hours, winery tours and homebrewing classes Events sponsored by alcohol brands News and information about alcohol products Contests and sweepstakes Learn more If you promote a contest or sweepstakes, please encourage authentic behavior, keep Pinterest spam-free and be sure to comply with all relevant laws and regulations. In addition, please: Don't require participants to save a specific image Don't allow more than one entry per participant Don't suggest that Pinterest sponsors or endorses you or the promotions Make sure participants use the word "contest" or "sweepstakes" in their descriptions or images when they save Pins for the event See further explanations for these guidelines in our acceptable use policy. Political campaigning Learn more You can only promote political campaigning ads if you're a US federal or state political candidate running for public office, a political party, or a political committee that is advocating for the election or defeat of a US federal or state candidate for public office. We don't allow negative campaigning ads that attack a political opponent, including their personality, record or opinion. Political campaigning ads that promote hate speech will also be disapproved. All political candidates and political committees must comply with the Federal Election Commission's rules. We reserve the right to reject, approve or remove any ad that negatively affects our relationship with people on Pinterest or goes against our interests. We may also remove ads or categories of ads that get lots of negative feedback from Pinners. These rules may change at any time. NEED HELP? LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT TO DO IF YOUR AD WAS DISAPPROVED.
If you'd like to be notified when Pinterest.com makes updates to documents like this, choose which ones you'd like to subscribe to today (it's free!).
