2.0 Advertising Copy

2.0 Advertising Copy

Ads must be clear and accurate so that customers receive correct information before engaging with an ad or deciding to purchase a product.

Ad copy is always required when the ad contains special offers, sweepstakes, or promotions.

Text within ads must run horizontally in most cases. Text that is short and easily readable in a vertical format (i.e. logos) is permitted to run vertically. This rule does not apply to ads in languages that are typically written vertically.

Ad copy is not required on smaller mobile ads, such as 320x50 and 414×125, if the creatives clearly include:

• The advertiser brand and product, which means:
• The advertiser brand or logo and the product(s) / service(s) promoted; or
• The product brand or brand category
• The action and landing page experience, which means:
• An approved call to action "CTA" (if a separate CTA is required); or
• An Amazon brand logo that communicates the landing page experience (for example, an ad for a soda with the Prime Now logo clearly shows that the soda is available on Prime Now).

2.1 Call To Action (CTA)

A CTA is the portion of the ad that prompts customers to take a suggested action. Advertisers may choose to include a CTA but this is not a requirement.

All ads running on Fire devices require a CTA.

CTAs must not contain end punctuation.

If the content you're linking to requires a subscription, this must be made explicit either in the CTA or elsewhere in the creative.

Ads that include an Alexa Voice CTA (e.g. "Alexa, order Bounty paper towels") cannot include a secondary CTA, such as "Shop now". For Fire Tablet only, a "Learn more" button CTA is permitted, because the whole of the ad unit is not clickable.

For FireTV inline banners only, a CTA does not have to explicitly indicate that a customer will be directed to a video (i.e. "Watch video") if the ad links to an autoplay video. All other placements must clearly indicate that a video will play after the customer clicks the ad if that is the case.

For ads on Amazon, the CTA must:

• Be less than 30 characters (15 characters for Japanese)
• Not be used to message the offer, for example, “Save $5”
• Contain no end punctuation (such as ? or !)
• Comply with the additional requirements listed below

A list of pre-approved CTAs can be found here.

2.2 Claims and Substantiations

All advertisements are subject to review. Amazon reserves the right to require modifications to ads, block ads, revoke approval of an ad, and/or require factual substantiation for an ad. The advertiser is fully responsible for ensuring that the claims, commitments, and representations in its ads and other relevant materials are truthful, accurate, complete, and not misleading. This includes, but is not limited to, efficacy, awards, origin, and components claims. Claims in ads must not be limited or contradicted on the product detail page, product website, landing page, or in other advertiser materials.

To ensure accuracy price/savings claims must be communicated via available e-commerce templates. In line with this requirement, e-commerce templates must not include a price or savings claim in the static portion of the ad.

This policy applies to the following message types:

• Price claims
• Savings claims
• Lightning Deals
• Deal of the Day
• Best Deals
• (Amazon) Coupons
• Subscribe & Save
• Amazon Customer Reviews and Star Ratings (please see 2.4.1 and 2.4.2)

Exceptions: Pricing and savings claims may be used on static ads in the following situations, provided claims on those static ads remain valid during the entire campaign:

• Generic/non-specific claims, such as “Low price”
• Customizable ASINs
• Campaigns that link to a non-Amazon destination
• Price/savings claims in categories not sold on Amazon

JP: Starting April 1, 2021, pricing claims must include the consumption tax. For example, when a product price is JPY 1,000, "JPY 1,100 including 10% consumption tax of JPY 100" is approved, but JPY 1,000 (without the consumption tax) is not approved.

In EU Member State locales (excluding the UK) Price reduction claims (e.g. 5% off) displayed on ads must indicate, and be calculated against, the lowest price of the advertised product or service in at least the preceding 30 days.

Singapore: Goods & Services Tax-registered businesses must display and quote prices inclusive of GST. If both GST-inclusive and GST-exclusive prices are displayed, the GST-inclusive price must be displayed at least as prominently as the GST-exclusive price.

Pricing and saving claims must:

• Be the exact same across the ad and the landing page. If the ad promotes a percentage savings (for example, “10% off”), the landing page must also reference the percentage saving, not only the dollar saving.
• Clarify when the amount varies across multiple promoted products (for example, “Save up to X% on selected products.”).
• Be used in the correct context. For example, use phrases like “limited-time offer” for time-bound savings claims.
• Use seasonal claims during the relevant promotional period only. For example, “Back to school offers” or “Valentine’s Day Special Prices” is only acceptable during the periods leading up to the beginning of the school year or Valentine’s Day.
• Be provided to customers upfront. Customers should not have to complete trivial tasks such as in-banner games, quizzes, or surveys to be eligible for a special offer.
• (EU Countries) Price reduction claims (e.g. 5% off) displayed on ads must indicate and be calculated against the lowest price of the advertised product or service in at least the preceding 30 days.
• (AT) Pricing claims addressed to consumers always have to include the VAT.
• (AU/NZ) For Save up to X% claims, at least 20% of the ASINs must be at the maximum discount specified.
• (AU/NZ) Identify any unavoidable additional charges.
• (AU/NZ) Not be 'bait advertising' (i.e. must be able to be supplied for the time period identified or a reasonable time and a reasonable quantity of the advertised products must be available unless otherwise clearly stated).

Travel ads
Prices in ads for travel services must always be given as “from $X” due to the likelihood of price fluctuations. For example, “Fly to Dublin from £40” rather than “Fly to Dublin for £40.”

AT: If a price is indicated for travel ads, it should also include all possible extra costs (e.g. taxes, airport duties, etc.)

2.3 Comparative Advertising

Ads on Amazon cannot explicitly call out your competitors. Ads may include references to a “leading brand” or another generic phrasing.

Ads anywhere can use comparisons with named competitors if they do not criticize or attack the competitors.

Australia and New Zealand: Comparative ads must only compare 'like-for-a-like' equivalent products or services. If the price is the only comparative claim, then the ad must only compare identical products.

Denmark: Referencing a “leading brand” is not permitted if that brand is obvious within the respective industry.

Turkey: The product name, brand, logo trade name or any other distinguishing element of a competitor cannot be included in onsite or offsite ads.

2.4 Customer Reviews and Ratings

2.4.1 Customer Reviews

Customer reviews sourced from third parties are prohibited. You may use editorial and expert reviews (for example, a quote from a national news outlet) if the source of the review is identified in the ad.

Ads may not solicit customer reviews.

Customer reviews are not permitted for Sponsored Display in JP.

To be eligible, products must have an Amazon star rating of at least 3.5 and a minimum of 15 customer reviews.

When permitted, customer reviews must:

• Be genuine and not induced or paid.
• Relate to the specific product advertised (for example, you cannot use a customer review for a 16GB version of a smartphone in an ad for the 32GB version).
• Be discoverable from the landing page (either because they are present on the product detail page, or by clicking on “see all reviews”).
• Not be changed, including the correction of grammatical errors (but you must avoid reviews with gross misspellings or significant grammatical errors).
• Truncations must not alter the meaning of the review.
• Omissions to portions of customer reviews are permissible through the use of ellipses: (“…”) with no spaces before or after.
• Ellipses in customer review headlines may only be used at the beginning or the end of the headline, but not in the middle.
• Aside from headlines, we permit a maximum of three ellipses: one at the start of the review, one in the middle (except for headlines, see the bullet below), and one at the end.
• If a portion of a review forms a complete and grammatically correct sentence then ellipses are not required.
• You may not use ellipses to change the original meaning of the review, for example, by hand picking positive portions of a review with substantial negative content.
• If only the review headline is used, it must be an accurate representation of the tone of the full review.
• You may not use a customer review with text written in all caps (aside from an individual word or product name).
• Not compare the product promoted to a competing product by name.
• Not contain references to medical conditions, profanities, emojis or other special characters.

Customer review quotes are supported in Dynamic eCommerce ads (see specs and guidelines here).

Ads can only include Amazon star ratings. Third-party star ratings are prohibited. There is an exception for movie ads to include third party star ratings, due to the ubiquity of star ratings in that industry, provided the source of the star rating is clear.

To include a star rating in an ad, the product must have i) at least 15 customer reviews, and ii) a minimum average star rating of 3.5. For Automotive campaigns only, we can allow a star rating based on i) at least 8 customer reviews and ii) a minimum star rating of 4.

• For mobile and desktop ads, star ratings may only be used within eCommerce creative to ensure that the information is up to date.
• For Fire devices and video ads, static star ratings are permitted but must be date-stamped. Your campaign cannot run for more than three months with the same star rating to avoid stale data.
• Video ads: Static star ratings are permitted but must be date-stamped. The campaign cannot run for more than three months to avoid old data being seen by customers.
• IMDb star ratings are permitted for digital entertainment products available on Amazon only and only when it is not possible to use an Amazon star rating (for example, if a new product has not received any Amazon customer reviews).
• Do not substitute the Amazon star rating with a higher IMDb rating (use the Amazon rating when available).
• IMDb star ratings must be clearly labeled and be date-stamped.
• IMDb ratings cannot be used in REC.

2.5 Disclosures and Ad Copy Text Requirements

2.5.1 Disclosures

Disclosures must be accurate, legible (both in size and contrast with the background of the ad), and understandable to the average customer. Disclosures must run horizontally.

Except for Homepages, manual scrolling bars (but not automatic scrolling bars) are permitted on desktop placements (not mobile).

Disclosures must meet the specifications listed below, and in our ad specs:

2.6 Editorial Guidelines

Ads must be clean, grammatically correct, and professional just like the rest of the content on Amazon properties. The following are prohibited on all ads:

• Misspellings and grammatical errors such as a wrong verb tense.
• Slang or wordplay (such as “Cuz” as opposed to “Because”) may be permitted if otherwise compliant with these policies.
• Missing possessive apostrophes -- for example: “womens” rather than “women’s” -- may be permitted.
• Missing headline capitalization may be permitted where the lack of capitalization follows the brand name.
• Random capitalization (such as “QUALITY HeadPhones”), except for common abbreviations or trademarks is prohibited.
• Improper punctuation, such as repeated questions or exclamation marks (“!!!”).
• Special characters such as @@, ###, emojis, except when part of the advertiser’s logo or included on the product image. Hashtags (#) are permitted if they do not contain inappropriate content (for example, #[profanity]).
• Ad copy that uses personalized language (such as “you/your”) which may be perceived by a customer as if you are addressing him/her directly and that may cause customer discomfort. For example, ad copy reading “Use our product to solve for your incontinence problems” or “You are overweight. Use our dietary supplement.”
• Ad copy that acknowledges or implies the targeting criteria used for the campaign. For example, an ad copy reading “Did you enjoy your recent purchase of [product]? Try our newest model.”
• Inconsistency between ad copy and landing page. You must present the same offer or product both in your ad copy and on your landing page. For example, we would prohibit ad copy reading “Save on household supplies” with an image of a dish soap leading to a landing page that features vacuum cleaners.
• Ads must not promote the sale of products that are out-of-stock, back-ordered or under recall, or services that are unavailable for purchase at the time that the campaign runs. Ads must be paused when the product or service promoted becomes unavailable. Ads for products that are only available for pre-order are permitted if this is clear in the ad, for example, by using a “pre-order” call to action (CTA).
• Landing pages consisting solely of a sign up/registration form. Your landing page should expand on your ad's message and provide a satisfactory experience before the customer is forced to enter his/her info to find out more. For example, we prohibit landing pages that consists solely of a form to collect contact information. This block only applies to ads running on Amazon. Ads running off Amazon may drive to a page consisting solely of a sign up/registration form as long as the ad copy or CTA makes it clear what the customer should expect on the landing page.
• Interactive ad elements that are not appropriately placed. Inappropriately placed interactive elements like call to action (CTA) buttons, sliders, or video playback buttons can cause customer discomfort. For example, we prohibit placing a CTA button over a model's breasts or a slider over a gruesome image.
• No deal teaser messaging is allowed (i.e. “50% off starting next Friday”).
• Ad copy must not include 3P URLs that differ from the click-through destination, unless this is a legal or regulatory requirement.

2.7 Special or Free Offers

When free products or services, special offers, or discounts promoted are dependent on a purchase (for example, a free case with the purchase of a mobile phone), you must indicate that terms and conditions apply in your ad copy. The terms and conditions, or a link to terms and conditions, must be clearly presented in the ad close to the offer.

The landing page must prominently present the offer advertised.

In Sweden and Israel, ads including a “free” offer must include the value of the “free” item.

2.8 Language

Ads must be in the primary language of the site on which they appear, unless using one of the targeting options below:

• Ads that are targeted at another country can be in the language of that country. For example, an ad in Spanish can run on Amazon.com if it is geo-targeted to Mexico.
• Some Amazon websites allow customers to select what language they wish to view the site in. Onsite ads that reach audiences based on Amazon language settings can be in customers’ selected language. For example, an ad in Polish can run on Amazon.de if it is directed at customers who have selected ‘Polish’ from the Amazon.de language choices.
• Offsite ads that reach audiences based on the language settings of the internet browser can be in customers’ preferred language. This does not apply to ads served onsite. For example, a Polish language ad can run on a German website if it is directed at customers who have set their internet browser to view sites in Polish.
• Fire Tablet wake screen ads can use device’s language preference to target foreign language ads.

Language of Preference (LoP) is only available in US (Spanish) and Canada (French).

There are several approved use cases for advertising using the LoP signal in advertising. All advertising using secondary language in the creatives must land on a page with a portion of the same language present creating a consistent experience. Any important information pertaining to the advertising must be in the LoP. For example, disclosures, legal information, etc. (Note: financial services disclosures must be in the same language as the copy on the creative or offer customer service contact in the LoP.)

CTAs can be in English in LoP ads.

Amazon prohibits pressuring language to avoid creating a sense of urgency which may be disruptive to the customer’s shopping experience.

Ads must engage customers without appearing to shout at or pressure them.

Ads on Amazon must not contain:

• Pressuring language that creates a sense of urgency (for example “Hurry while supplies last”)
• Repeated exclamation or question marks (for example, “!!!”)
• Any end punctuation in calls to action (for example, “Shop now!”, or “Find out more?”)
• Any combination of two or more of the following elements on copy related to a deal or offer: copy in ALL CAPS, between 8.30PM and 5AM, exclamation points, large font sizes (for example, “UNMISSABLE SUMMER DEALS!”).