At a glance
- Direct exhortation to children always prohibited
- No profiling-based ads to minors on platforms
- Alcohol, tobacco, gambling especially strict
Children and young people are specially protected. Advertising is judged from the perspective of the average member of that group (Section 3(4) UWG).
Always prohibited
A direct exhortation to children to buy the advertised product or to persuade their parents to buy it (Annex no. 28 UWG) – including in games prompting purchases of virtual currency.
Case examples
The BGH held that shipping e-cigarette replacement tanks without age verification breaches § 10(3), (4) JuSchG and is unfair under § 3a UWG (11 March 2026, I ZR 106/25).
A children’s mobile game shows “Get the dragon pack now for EUR 4.99!”. Direct exhortations to children to buy are blacklisted.
Under the German Advertising Council’s rules, alcohol advertising must not show minors or people who look like minors, nor target young people.
Further rules
- Youth Media Protection State Treaty (Section 6 JMStV): no exploitation of inexperience or of special trust in parents and teachers
- alcohol, tobacco, e-cigarettes: specific advertising bans; advertising must not target minors
- gambling: advertising must not target minors (State Treaty on Gambling 2021)
- DSA (Art. 28(2)): online platforms must not show minors profiling-based advertising
- influencers: child influencers and family channels are advertisers; labelling rules apply in full
