Can cannabis be advertised in Canada, and where can a promotion run?
Part of US and Canada targeting
The short answer
Cannabis promotion in Canada is prohibited unless the Cannabis Act authorizes it. Licensed producers and sellers may use informational or brand-preference promotion only in set channels: named mail to adults, places closed to young persons, or online where reasonable steps keep young persons out. Lifestyle, testimonial and youth-appealing promotion is barred, and provinces such as Quebec add stricter limits.
Key takeaways
- Section 17 of the Cannabis Act starts from a ban: unless authorized under the Act, it is prohibited to promote cannabis, cannabis accessories or cannabis services.
- Informational and brand-preference promotion is allowed only in listed channels, and online only where reasonable steps ensure a young person cannot access it.
- A young person under the Act's promotion rules is anyone under 18, and promotion that could appeal to young persons is barred outright.
- Publishing a prohibited promotion on behalf of another person is itself prohibited, and promotion from outside Canada is covered too.
- Quebec limits cannabis advertising to text in addressed print sent to named adults aged 21 or over and signage inside retail outlets.
Can cannabis be advertised in Canada?
Only within narrow limits. Non-medical cannabis became legal in Canada on October 17, 2018, but the Cannabis Act (opens in a new tab) did not open it to ordinary advertising. Section 17(1) says that unless authorized under the Act, it is prohibited to promote cannabis, a cannabis accessory or any service related to cannabis. The rest of the promotion rules are exceptions to that starting point, each tied to a channel and to who can see it.
Health Canada's promotion guidance (opens in a new tab), last modified June 18, 2026, puts it plainly: it is generally prohibited to promote cannabis, a cannabis accessory or any service related to cannabis. The Act was current to September 30, 2026 when checked.
Definition
- Brand element
- In the Cannabis Act, a brand name, trademark, tradename, distinguishing guise, logo, graphic arrangement, design or slogan reasonably associated with, or that evokes, cannabis, a cannabis accessory, a cannabis service or one of their brands.
What does the Cannabis Act prohibit in promotion?
Section 17(1) names five forms of promotion inside the general ban. Sections 18 to 23 add rules on false claims, foreign media, sponsorship, facility names and people who publish promotions for someone else. The last two bear directly on a media plan, because they reach the publishers and platforms that carry the message.
| Section | What it prohibits | Planning consequence |
|---|---|---|
| 17(1)(a) | Communicating information about price or distribution, unless authorized | Price and store messages need a permitted channel |
| 17(1)(b) | Promotion that could reasonably be believed to appeal to young persons | No youth themes, wherever the ad runs |
| 17(1)(c) and (d) | Testimonials or endorsements, and depictions of a person, character or animal, real or fictional | No influencer, mascot or spokesperson creative |
| 17(1)(e) | Association with a way of life such as glamour, recreation, excitement, vitality, risk or daring | No lifestyle imagery or lifestyle adjacency |
| 18 | False, misleading or deceptive promotion | Claims about potency, safety or health need care |
| 20 | Prohibited promotion in a publication or broadcast that originates outside Canada | Foreign media is no workaround |
| 21 and 22 | Brand elements or names in sponsorship, or on sports and cultural facilities | No event or venue sponsorship |
| 23(1) | Publishing, broadcasting or disseminating a prohibited promotion on behalf of another person | Publishers and platforms are inside the rule too |
Section 23(2) carves out narrow exceptions: imported publications distributed for sale, lawful broadcasting distribution undertakings and online undertakings retransmitting programs, except promotions they insert themselves, and a person who did not know at the time that a promotion was prohibited. Health Canada gives a foreign media example: buying ad space during a popular sporting event broadcast from outside Canada.
What is informational promotion under the Cannabis Act?
Definition
- Informational promotion
- A promotion by which factual information is provided to the consumer about cannabis or its characteristics, a cannabis accessory or its characteristics, a cannabis service, or the availability or price of any of them (Cannabis Act, section 2).
Definition
- Brand-preference promotion
- Promotion of cannabis, a cannabis accessory or a cannabis service by means of its brand characteristics (Cannabis Act, section 2).
Section 17(2) lets a person authorized to produce, sell or distribute cannabis use either form, subject to the regulations, but only in certain settings. Section 17(3) gives the same exceptions to sellers of accessories and cannabis services. Point of sale promotion is separate: section 17(4) allows an authorized seller to promote at the point of sale if the promotion indicates only availability, price, or both.
| Channel | Condition in the Act | Fit with programmatic buying |
|---|---|---|
| Addressed communication | Sent to an individual 18 or older who is identified by name | Direct mail and email, not open web display |
| Places closed to young persons | A place where young persons are not permitted by law | Physical venues, not websites |
| Telecommunication | The person responsible for the content has taken reasonable steps to ensure a young person cannot access it | Possible only behind effective age controls |
| Prescribed place or manner | As set by regulation | Check the Cannabis Regulations |
How do the Cannabis Act rules protect young people?
Protecting young persons is written into the Act's purpose: section 7 lists protecting their health by restricting access and protecting them and others from inducements to use cannabis. For the promotion rules, a young person is anyone under 18. Promotion that could appeal to young persons is barred in every channel, and the telecommunication exception depends on keeping them out entirely.
Health Canada's guidance sets the online bar. Permitted online promotion requires that the person responsible has taken reasonable steps to ensure that the promotion cannot be accessed by a young person, and it warns that steps that may be easily circumvented by youth may require additional steps. Where no such steps restrict access, the guidance says all promotions must be removed from online sources including social media pages.
Youth protection checks before any cannabis promotion goes live
- The promoter is authorized to produce, sell or distribute cannabis, or sells accessories or services under section 17(3).
- The message is informational or brand-preference promotion, with no lifestyle, testimonial or character content.
- Nothing in the creative could reasonably be believed to appeal to young persons.
- Online placements sit behind age controls that youth cannot easily get around.
- Every third party disseminating the promotion knows the rules, as Health Canada encourages.
- Provincial rules for each market, including higher minimum ages, are checked on the regulator's current text.
How do provincial cannabis rules add to federal law?
Provinces regulate retail, minimum age and, in some cases, advertising itself. Quebec's Cannabis Regulation Act (opens in a new tab), current to August 12, 2026, sets the age at 21 and, in section 53, prohibits cannabis advertising disseminated other than in printed newspapers and magazines sent and addressed to a named person 21 or over, or by signage visible only from inside a cannabis retail outlet. Even there it bars anything apart from text, except a package illustration on no more than 10 percent of the surface.
Section 53 also bars advertising directed at minors, lifestyle associations, testimonials, slogans and references to persons, characters or animals. Factual information about price and characteristics is permitted where it is not prohibited advertising, and the Société québécoise du cannabis may post it on its sales website if it keeps people under 21 out. Contraventions carry fines of $5,000 to $500,000, doubled for a subsequent offence.
| Point | Federal (Cannabis Act) | Quebec (C-5.3) | Manitoba (LGCA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum age in the rules | Young person: under 18 | 21 to buy or possess | 19 to buy or use |
| Advertising channels | Section 17(2) exceptions | Addressed print to named adults 21 or over; signage inside outlets | Not stated on the LGCA page |
| Creative limits | No youth appeal, lifestyle, testimonials or characters | Text only, with a package illustration of 10 percent or less | Not stated on the LGCA page |
| Filings and complaints | Health Canada | Addressed print ads are forwarded to the Minister when disseminated (s. 53) | Advertising complaints go to Health Canada, per the LGCA |
Manitoba's Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority (opens in a new tab) sets the legal age to buy or use cannabis at 19 and directs complaints about cannabis advertising to Health Canada. A multi-province campaign meets the highest age in its footprint.
What does a cannabis accessory brand's media plan look like in practice?
Fictional example
A Denver accessory maker looks north
A fictional Colorado maker of cannabis grinders and storage jars wants to reach Canadian adults with display ads on lifestyle and music sites, reusing its US creative: young-looking friends at an outdoor festival.
Measured against the Act, the plan fails three ways: section 20 covers promotion that originates outside Canada, festival lifestyle imagery is barred by section 17(1)(e), and open lifestyle and music pages are not age controlled. The revised plan keeps the US creative out of Canadian locations and uses a text-led product page behind an age check, plus addressed email to customers 18 or older identified by name, then checks each province's own rules.
Five steps to test a proposed cannabis placement
- Confirm who is promoting. Only authorized producers, sellers and distributors, or accessory and service sellers, can use the section 17 exceptions.
- Classify the message. Keep it informational or brand-preference, with no testimonial, character or lifestyle element.
- Name the channel. Match the placement to one of the section 17(2) channels, or drop it.
- Test the age control. For online placements, write down the reasonable steps that keep young persons out and how they resist workarounds.
- Add the provincial layer. Apply each province's age and advertising rules before booking.
How can PlacementGraph help when a brief touches cannabis content?
A brief for another brand can still sit near cannabis coverage, and PlacementGraph sets the client's tolerance category by category.
Frequently asked questions
Can a news site write about cannabis brands without breaking the Cannabis Act?
Section 16(b) says the promotion subdivision does not apply to a report, commentary or opinion about cannabis or a brand element if no consideration is given, directly or indirectly, for the reference. Once consideration is given, the reference falls back inside the promotion rules.
Can a cannabis company sponsor a festival or sports team?
Section 21 prohibits using a cannabis brand element, or the name of a company that produces, sells or distributes cannabis, in a promotion used to sponsor a person, entity, event, activity or facility. Section 22 bars those names and brand elements on sports and cultural facilities, including in the facility's name.
Do cannabis ads from US media that reach Canadians fall under the Act?
Section 20 prohibits promoting cannabis in a way the Act bars in a publication published outside Canada, a broadcast originating outside Canada or any other communication from outside Canada. Section 23(2) exempts distributing imported publications for sale and lawful retransmission, unless the distributor inserts the promotion itself.
Can a cannabis store post its prices online?
Price is informational promotion, so an authorized seller may communicate it through a section 17(2) channel, such as an online page with reasonable steps keeping young persons out. Section 17(4) separately allows point of sale promotion that shows only availability and price. In Quebec, section 53 of the provincial act sets tighter limits.
Sources
- Cannabis Act (S.C. 2018, c. 16), full text (opens in a new tab)Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada
- Promotion prohibitions (opens in a new tab)Health Canada
- Cannabis Regulation Act (chapter C-5.3) (opens in a new tab)LégisQuébec, Government of Quebec
- Learn about cannabis laws (opens in a new tab)Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba
- Dangerous products or services (opens in a new tab)Google Advertising Policies Help
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.